On the Sign of the Cross

Today, on Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the mystery of our Triune God, a mystery that no-one in this life has ever really understood.

For how can one God include three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Yet Scripture often refers to God’s Trinitarian presence: the merciful Father who loved us into creation, the loving Son who sacrificed everything for us, and the Holy Spirit who fills us with so much life and hope. Our finite brains struggle to grasp this sublime truth, but in our hearts we accept it because it’s fundamental to our Christian faith.

CONTINUE READING

FOOTNOTES:

[i] Ann Ball, The How-To Book of Sacramentals. Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington IN, 2005:33-34.

[ii] Tertullian, de Corona. Ch.3:165.

[iii] Ann Ball, Op cit. pp.11-13.

[iv] Bert Ghezzi, The Sign of the Cross. Loyola Press, Chicago. 2004:60.

[v] Bishop Robert Barron, Lenten Reflection

The Holy Trinity

The relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is a communion of love which speaks to our hearts in the aftermath of these last 15 months. In our moments of isolation, tension and stress, may we turn to the Holy Trinity for the grace we need to foster unity in our hearts and with one another.

RELATED: Introduction to the Readings

Homily for Trinity Sunday

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

On the first Sunday after Pentecost of each liturgical year, the Church bids us celebrate in a special manner “the central mystery of the Christian faith and life,” the mystery from which “all the other mysteries of the faith flow” (CCC 234). The mystery in whose name we sign ourselves with the sign of the cross and receive the Sacrament of Baptism. The mystery of God in Himself. That is, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. The mystery that God is one in three and three in one. One in essence and three in persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “One God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity” as the Athanasian Creed tells us.

God in Spaghetti Sauce

God surrounds us in every time and place. God speaks to us in the gentle rustle of leaves and in the wisdom of a dear friend. But we need to be able to listen if we are going to hear what God is saying. God is present in the softness of a baby’s skin or the dampness of the air after a summer storm. But we must be open to sense God’s touch. God’s love is present in the aroma of homemade spaghetti sauce or in the favorite cologne of our spouse. But we must be willing to recognize what is right under our nose. Where do we find divinity? Where do we discover the triune God who loves us and promises always to be close to us? Almost anywhere. But first we must open our eyes.

Holy Trinity (Year B) Homilies

Waiting for the Call
Three New Names for God
Doubting Disciples

The Great Revelation

The Solemnity fo the Most Holy Trinity: The Great Revelation
In the first years of the Church, the Fathers worked long and hard to put into words the reality of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. Christianity, like Judaism, was determined to be monotheistic, believing in One God; yet it was clear from the Christ event that just stating that there was One God was not sufficient for an understanding of God. Jesus spoke about God as His Father. He told us that He and the Father are One, and yet He was one of us. He told us that He needed to return to the Father so they could send their Spirit to continue the presence of God on earth.

Let’s ponder the Trinity by exploring it, seeing how it is exhibited in Scripture, and observing how we, who are made in God’s image, experience it.

I.  The Teaching on the Trinity Explored
II. The Teaching on the Trinity Exhibited
III. The Teaching on the Trinity Experienced

SOURCE: LifeIssues.net Homily Archive

Calling God by His Right Name

Bottom line: When we choose God – calling him by his right name: Father, Son and Holy Spirit – it brings peace and freedom.

RELATED HOMILIES:

2019 (Year C) We Want to Know
2018 (Year B) Roots
2017 (Year A): Life in Christ Week 9: Invitation
2016 (Year C)Levels of Happiness
2015 (Year B): Disciple Makers Week 9: The Final Goal
2014 (Year A): Who Look Into the Depths
2013 (Year C): The Desire to be Known
2012 (Year B): Ultimate Freedom
2011 (Year A): Origin and Goal
2010 (Year C): I Have Much More to Tell You
2009 (Year B): Purpose of Our Existence
2008 (Year A): Family as Origin and Goal
2007 (Year C): Hope Does Not Disappoint
2006 (Year B): Back to the Basics
2005 (Year A): Alone Again
2004 (Year C): I Was There
2003 (Year B): The Name
2002 (Year A): An Excellent Question
2001 (Year C): The Image Within
2000 (Year B): Out of the Midst of Fire
1999 (Year A): A Capacity for God
1998 (Year C): Foundation of the Universe

St. Augustine and the Mystery of the Trinity

There is a story that St. Augustine was walking on the beach contemplating the mystery of the Trinity. Then he saw a boy in front of him who had dug a hole in the sand and was going out to the sea again and again and bringing some water to pour into the hole. St. Augustine asked him, “What are you doing?” “I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.” “That is impossible, the whole ocean will not fit in the hole you have made” said St. Augustine. The boy replied, “And you cannot fit the Trinity in your tiny little brain.” The story concludes by saying that the boy vanished because St. Augustine had been talking to an angel.

RELATED HOMILIES:

Year B: The Most Holy Trinity: God wants the best for us
Year B: The Most Holy Trinity: Abba, Emmanuel, Helper
Year A: The Holy Trinity rescuing us
Year A: We are drawn into the love at the heart of the Trinity
Tear B: The Most Holy Trinity: belonging to the Holy Trinity since baptism
Year C: Father who sought me, Son who bought me, Spirit who taught me

At the Bottom of Reality

Walker Percy in Lost in the Cosmos, mused ironically about the strange fate of postmoderns who spend millions trying to get chimps to talk and billions on space stations attentively listening for an extraterrestrial blip that might speak to us.

Meanwhile, we are sheepish about the possibilities of a personal God and positively skeptical about whether God has anything important to say to us. More strange still, humans wonder whether they have anything meaningful to say to each other. We, like God, seem impoverished in this age of personal deconstruction. Some high-priced academics even pontificate that there is no author, there is no text.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Let’s begin, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Do you see what we just did? We just celebrated Trinity Sunday! We just celebrated what we teach,profess and believe. We said, “In the name” rather than “in the names” because we teach, profess and believe in one God. The ancient Hebrews understood that if we are going to believe in the idea of God, God cannot be more than one. Why? By definition God is almighty. Anything less would be less than almighty and not be God. You cannot have two or more gods who claim to be almighty. That would be nonsensical. You could say they would be mighty, but not almighty,and therefore not God by definition, necessitating us to look elsewhere. If by definition God is almighty, then there can be only one. Even the devil, as powerful and cunning as he can be, is still only a creature and therefore falls infinitely short to the omnipotence inherent in a logical definition of God. Even the time and space we operate in are creatures. They are creations. God,as Creator, infinitely and eternally transcends his created things. Have you ever looked up at thesky at night and contemplated the vastness of the universe? God is infinitely more.