THE
SPIRIT OF WISDOM
I read a story that I want to share with
you as I begin this reflection today. A priest was sitting in a Chicago airport waiting
for his plane. A man sat down beside him and began to give his opinion about
religion. He boasted, "I won't accept anything I can't understand. Take
this business of three Gods in one God or whatever it is. I can't buy that.
Nobody can explain it to me, so I will not believe it."
Pointing to the sun streaming in the
window, the priest asked, "Do you believe in the sun?" "Why, of
course," the doubter admitted. "Alright," the priest continued,
"the rays you see coming through that window are from the sun, 90,000,000
miles from here. The heat that we feel comes from both the sun and from its
rays. The Holy Trinity is something like that. The sun is God the Father; the
sun sends out its rays, God the Son. Then, from both the sun and its rays -
from the Father and the Son - proceeds the Holy Spirit, the heat." Father
Dennis then asked the man, "Can you explain how that happens?" The
doubter quickly changed the subject!
Today we honor the Holy Trinity. We are
the first to admit that this is a mystery - something that is true and yet
something that we cannot fully understand or explain. We know it is true
because Jesus told us about the Trinity several times, especially in today's
Gospel. Why do we, as Christians, accept
it? Why do we believe it? God is the possessor and the giver of all truth. What
Jesus told His disciples holds true for us as well; it is the role of the Holy
Spirit to reveal what is true. It is our Faith that we trust and believe in and
God's truth liberates us from doubts, illusions, and fears. Since God is the
Source of all truth, then the closer we draw to Him and listen to His Word the
more we will grow in the knowledge of Him and of His great love for us.
Jesus reveals to all of us the great
mystery of our Faith. He said to the disciples, "Go, therefore, and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you" (Mt. 28:19-20a) - the triune nature of God and the inseparable union
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus' mission was to reveal the glory of
God to us; a Trinity of Persons - God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and to
unite us with God in a community of love. The ultimate end - the purpose for
which God created us - is the entry of God's creatures into perfect unity of
the blessed Trinity.
And so, every day we honor the Blessed
Trinity, but on this day we honor the Trinity in a special way. In many ways
the Trinity is like the sun in the heavens. The sun is the source of physical
good; the Trinity is the source of God's life in us. The sun gives energy and strength; the Trinity
gives inner power and strength. The sun gives light; the Trinity lights the
minds and hearts of people. The sun produces heat; the Trinity pours forth
spiritual heat - love for God and neighbor. The sun heals sickness and disease;
the Trinity heals our souls from sin. The sun helps resist germs and infection;
the Trinity drives off spiritual illness. The sun cheers and brightens the
world around us; the Trinity cheers the heart.
No wonder some primitive people
worshipped the sun as God. They did not know there was Someone greater than the
sun itself. As we recall in today's Responsorial Psalm, there is Someone Who
made the sun, "Upright is the Word of the Lord...He loves justice and
right; of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full" (Ps. 33:4-5).
In our Profession of Faith as Catholics,
we proclaim our faith in all three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Likewise, one
of the first prayers we learned as Catholics is the Sign of the Cross - our
belief that there are three Persons in One, True God. For God is the possessor and the giver of all
truth.
We all come together through the unity
of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Deacon John Ruscheinsky