A Word from Your Pastor - June 15 Trinity Sunday

Dear Parishioners:

Trinity Sunday celebrates the central Mystery of our Christian Faith.  We know in Faith that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This Revelation has come through the Gospel and through the Person of Jesus Christ.  The Church has been guided by the Holy Spirit to come up with a way to express the Mystery so that we can have a glimpse of the Divine Life that we are called to share in Christ.

How to understand the Trinity is not merely something abstract.  Because we are speaking of God, we are speaking of the very foundation of Reality.  The essence of existence is Being in Relationship.  The Life of the Church is a mirror of the Triune God.  We live in relationship to the Living God.

An analogy that may be helpful is the interdependence of the States of Life in the Church.  God is Father, Son, and Spirit.   Each Divine Person shares in the Fullness of Being God.  The Church is made up of Religious, Clergy and Laity.  The Religious – Sisters, Brothers and Religious Priests – make vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, living the life of “Evangelical Perfection.”  They follow the Lord’s Counsel: “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect.”  Clergy are incorporated into the Person of Jesus Christ sharing in His ministry among us as Servant and Priest.  The Laity are dispersed in every walk of life among human beings, just as the Holy Spirit is to be found everywhere.  All are members of the Church and have the task of proclaiming the Gospel and bringing the world to God.

Even within the varied States of Life, there are analogies that serve.  Husbands and Wives in their Sacramental Marriage are one Body, sharing in the reality of their Union, being fruitful and life-giving to one another and to the world.  Deacons, Priests and Bishops, as Shepherds and Servants, can only be who they are in relationship to the People of God whom they serve.  Members of Religious Communities find their identity in their Community and in relationship to the other members who share their charism.  Laity – married and single – have relationships that move them beyond their isolation, sharing their gifts in the wider society.

The Life of the Trinity is our eternal destiny.  It is also the Reality in which we live and move and have our being, and the experience we share in the Sacraments.  As we contemplate the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Triune God, may we grow in our willingness to share the Good News of the Kingdom with our world.

This week, I will be away to participate in the Reunion of my Seminary, the North American College, which will be held this year in New York.  I look forward to seeing some of my classmates and renewing friendships with others who were part of my preparation for priesthood as I complete 29 years of ministry.  Please keep priests in your prayers and remind your children that God is calling them to lives of service among His People.