8-Jun-2014 Dear Friend,
In the light of the election of Pope Francis, and his down-to-earth style of being Pope, there seems to be a renewed interest in spirituality and religion. Book publishers have come out with a spate of books on him and daily spirituality, theology, as well as new approaches to God. Can God be known by us? Can we do anything to know God? Today's celebration of Trinity Sunday reminds us that God himself takes the initiative to reveal his inner life to us. May his Word reveal and renew his life in us. Have an enlightened weekend! -Fr. Jude Sunday Ref: Trinity Sunday 'Called to be and live as the Family of God!' 15-Jun-2014 Readings: Exodus 34: 4-6, 8-9; 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13; John 3: 16-18; Today's first reading from Exodus speaks of the intimate relationship between Yahweh and Moses as he approaches Yahweh on Mount Sinai. Yahweh had done much for his chosen people: He had led them out of slavery from Egypt, and provided constant signs of his protection for them. In spite of this the people forgot Yahweh and preferred to worship a molten calf. Moses pleaded with God to pardon this 'stiff-necked people' for their sins. God reveals himself to Moses as the forgiving God ever compassionate to his people. The Hebrew Scriptures reveal God as the creator and Father who cares for his people and has adopted them as his own. Our Father-God loves to include us into his family. Welcome in! There is a beautiful Russian icon of the Blessed Trinity painted by a monk named Rublev. It depicts the three Divine Persons sitting at a table. A dish of food lies on the table. But the thing that immediately strikes you is the fact that at the front of the table there is a vacant place. The vacant place is meant to convey openness, hospitality and welcome towards the stranger and outsider. That vacant place is meant for each one of us, and for all the human family. It signifies God's invitation to us to share in the life of the Trinity. God doesn't exclude us. He invites us to come in and sit at his table. He wants to share his life with us. Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies' In the Gospel we have yet another facet of God revealed by Jesus in his encounter with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was impressed by what he saw and heard from Jesus yet he was a cautious disciple, who did not want to be identified as a Jesus-follower and so he comes in the darkness of the night. He wants to follow Jesus but in secrecy. For Nicodemus, as for so many people, religion should be a private affair. Jesus' response to this caution is not more caution but a clear and open declaration of God's attitude to the world. At the very heart of the Gospel is God's declaration of love for all peoples. "God so loved the world that he gave his only son. For God sent his son not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved." God is a God who openly reveals his commitment to His people, even when they have abandoned the covenant and repeatedly gone away from him. It is the nature of God to give and forgive, just as it appears to be the nature of men to get and forget. The feast of the Trinity is truly the celebration of a God who reveals himself as a God who shares his life and wishes to include all into his family, with no terms and conditions. The gospel concludes with Jesus inviting Nicodemus to believe and accept the unconditional love of the Father revealed through His son Jesus Christ. We experience something of the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit when it is communicated in simple ways through the people of grace we meet in our lives. Most of us experience it first in the generosity of our parents' love, one that is so important in the growth of every child of God. If we believe in God's love, our whole life is changed forever, if not, we are forever searching and struggling to merit that love from human beings, seldom finding it. The Irish writer Clare Boylan reflected in a radio interview on the lasting power of her parent's love: "My parents did two things for me: they gave me a sense of my own importance and they let me know that I was loved. I think that a lot of parents don't give to their children a sense of their own importance in case it becomes over-inflated; but we were always told that we were absolutely marvellous and that if anyone said otherwise they were wrong. That gives you tremendous confidence -and it lasts. If your parents have given you these two things -a sense of self and being loved, -you have them all your life. If not, you are forever looking for them. I don't think anything else matters." Interpreting the Theology of the Trinity In his book The Theology of the Trinity, Lawrence Cantwell devotes a chapter to interpreting the Trinity in the light of the universal religious sense of mankind. This sense first makes itself felt in a feeling of awe at finding ourselves in a world we did not make. We see evidence of God's hand in creation, but we don't see God himself. Our awe expresses itself in worship. Second, a religious sense is felt by an insight into God's presence at the heart of the world. Poetry, music, art and human love awaken in us an awareness of divine presence in our very midst. We perceive that human activity has a divine dimension. If the first religious sense can be characterized as vertical, pointing beyond the world, then the second way can be characterized as horizontal, pointing the way within the world. There is a third dimension to the ways a religious sense is felt, a depth dimension whereby we detect a presence within ourselves. Great artists, for example, testify to an inspiration from within their very being which moves them to creative activity. That divine spark within us we call the Holy Spirit. Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds' I Know Who Holds Tomorrow There is an uplifting hymn entitled: 'I Know Who Holds Tomorrow' and this is how it came to be composed. A pastor and his little son were walking through a field. At first the little fellow would hold onto his father's little finger, but he found that when he stumbled over something, his grip would fail and down he would go in the dust or the snow. The pastor was lost in his own thoughts and did not pay much attention to the repeated stumbles of his little son. He would just lift the little fellow, dust the dirt from his trousers, and let him grab his little finger once again, perhaps a little harder each time. As can be expected, this kept happening often. Finally, the little son turned to his father and said, "Daddy, I think if you hold my hand, I will not fall." That set the pastor thinking, and he said later as he was inspired to compose that soul-stirring, uplifting hymn: "You know, my little son stumbled many times after that, but he never hit the ground. Now, as you walk with God, don't try to hold on to him; let Him hold onto you. You may stumble but he'll never let you fall." James Valladares in 'Your Words, O Lord, Are Spirit, and They Are Life' You don't need to understand God for Him to take over your life Thomas Edison, the inventor, once remarked: "We don't know what water is. We don't know what light is. We don't know what electricity is. We don't know what heat is. We have a lot of hypotheses about these things, but that is all. But we don't let our ignorance about these things deprive us of their use." The truth of that statement is real. Most of us do not know how an electric light works, how a telephone or a TV works, but this does not prevent us from using them. Let us try to apply the same common sense to our faith in the doctrine of the Trinity. John Pichappily in 'The Table of the Word' May we relish being included in God's family, and live as His family! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
