Today Thoughts: Perhaps, the comment theme of our feast today can be summed up in the word mystery. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is mystery that is the only way we can think about it. Our human language gives us our imperfect way to express it, One God, Three Persons – how can that be? Mystery!
Yes, our three short readings today move us from Mystery to the practical living of life and back to Mystery again. In our first reading from the Book of Exodus we are reminded of God’s love, which at times in mystery. Moses reflects on God’s love in for a people who are stiffed necked and sinful. Why is God so willing to love? Mystery! As I read our second reading from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, I could not help but think of our current struggles as a nation and world. St. Paul is laying out a way to live life. A way to overcome the difficulties and sinfulness that we face as a country and a world. We are to mend our ways, treat one another with respect and trust in the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the friendship of the Holy Spirit. Simple, right! Yet, we seem to make it so complicated. We seem to fail at every attempt. Finally, in our Gospel, we return to the Mystery of God’s love. “God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17) Mystery, why does God so love us given our struggles and sinfulness? The answer rests in the Mystery of God. As I have shared with you in the past, a number of years ago I read a book entitled Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor. Barbara is one of my favorite authors, I love the way she writes and how she tells a story. In one of the chapter Barbara tells a little anecdote about life as pastor/rector of her first parish in northern Georgia. After services one Trinity Sunday she found a miniature Three Musketeer Bar and a note on her car. They were from an eccentric woman who lived across the street from the church. The note read, “One for all and all for one, Happy Trinity Sunday.” I could not help but laugh as I read the story and the story has stuck with me over the years and I keep coming back to it. Taylor writes the story as she is talking about settling into her first parish as a pastor/rector. It wasn’t easy, there were challenges and struggles, but this story seemed to reflect an acceptance, a fitting in for her. Perhaps that is what this feast of the Holy Trinity is all about. We celebrate the mystery of God as Trinity, three persons but one God. Just saying it seems odd. How can we have three persons but just one God? How can we talk about three individuals yet still only be talking about one God? In human language it is impossible yet that is what we believe. We celebrate the gift of three persons so connect, so intimate, so focused that they are one. Believing means that we are part of that one, members of the relationship, accepted. We believe in, we celebrate our God today who is all for one and one for all. Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Trinity Sunday everyone!
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Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
April 2024
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