Daily Reflection _ the spirit of wisdom

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