Completing the Trinity

Trinity Sunday – Year C
 
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31                                                  
Psalm 8                        
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
 
A fundamental belief of Christianity is the Trinity, which, while we know is important to us, is not always easy to explain.  The word Trinity means three are one, and comes from the Latin noun "trinitas."  Essentially, the Trinity suggests that God is one Being made up of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who have the same essence, and who share a special interrelationship. 
 
While the word Trinity itself does not appear in the Bible, it didn't take long for the early Church leaders to develop this concept based on numerous scriptural passages and personal experience.  That this spiritual tripartite exists seemed rather evident, but explaining why it exists or how it works is somewhat more difficult.
 
In the 12^th century, Richard of Saint Victor offered a good explanation on the Trinity when he noted that, “For God to be good, God can be one.  For God to be loving, God has to be two because love is always a relationship.” And then he continued with, “For God to be supreme joy and happiness, God has to be three.” It's the sharing of this love about something else that makes love complete.
 
Are we then worshiping three Gods or one?  We humans sometimes have trouble thinking in unitive terms – we have trouble accepting things as being more than one thing at a time.  We usually think in binary terms – things are either this or that, but not both. 
 
One of my favorite analogies for the Trinity is the prism.  There is a natural, whole light that is essentially invisible until it reflects from some surface into our eyes.  But if this light passes through a prism (whether the prism is glass or water droplets in the sky), it separates into a broad range of rainbow colors.  Three of these colors are known as the primary light colors – red, green, and blue.
 
So, which is it?  Is this light beam a clear, single "color", or is it all these separate colors?  We have to accept that it is both, depending on one's perspective.  Many things in life, in fact, are like this – they can be more than one thing at a time.  God is the single, clear Light.  But as He passes through the Prism of Love, He can serve as the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sustainer – each separate and distinct, and yet each having the same source, substance, and purpose.
 
We worship One God who can serve in (at least) three known ways.  As has been pointed out by many writers, each of the three parts are not added to the other to make three Gods (1 + 1 + 1 = 3); but each part magnifies the presence of the other, thereby increasing the impact of them all, but remaining as One (1 x 1 x 1 = 1).
 
But the Trinity cannot stop there, or it would be self-serving.  To be truly complete, it must reach out with its love and touch its creation, not just to nature in general, but to mankind specifically.  "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life."  (John 3:16)
 
God indeed loves the world and especially the people of the world.  There are numerous references, particularly in the Gospel of John, that demonstrate how God wants mankind to a part of this unity.  For example (Jesus praying to God), "I ask ... that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:20-23)
 
The Eucharist is a joining of our souls to that of the Trinity.  (John 6:56)  It is a regular remembrance that we are part of God's family, very much loved by Him – a love that cannot be broken.
 
Reflection Questions & Activities

1. How do you think of the Trinity?
 
2. Look up some of the following verses from John that also support God's desire for unity with mankind:

      1:4, 12-13
      5:24
      6:35, 40, 63
      10:11, 28
      14:3, 17, 20, 23, 26
      15:4, 5, 9, 10, 15
      17:26
 
3. How do you respond to this love?
 
4. Read through the scripture lessons for this Sunday again, and spend some time journaling your thoughts.

Show Us the Father

Day of Pentecost – Year C
 
Acts 2:1-21                              Alternate - Genesis 11:1-9                             
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b                          
Romans 8:14-17
John 14:8-17, (25-27)
 
Jesus had just finished talking about the unity between the Father and himself, making comparisons so that the disciples and those around Jesus would have a better idea about what the love of God really meant.  As though he totally missed the connections, Philip requested that Jesus "show us the Father, and we will be satisfied."
 
Probably somewhat exasperated, Jesus responded, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?  How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" 
 
What Philip wants is what many of us would like to have – the actual physical presence of some giant superhero that is unmistakably the Creator of the universe.  Maybe we want to believe that there is absolutely no question about God's existence, that He is a specific thing in a specific place, and has everything in control. 
 
We want God to be like that because that's how we see everything else in this world – specific objects with specific boundaries that behave in understandable ways with color, shape and mass.  We need to be able to put things, people and objects in labeled boxes in our mind so that they fit into our ability to comprehend.  Because if they don't fit in there someplace, then they may not be real.
 
"Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied," asks Philip. 
 
How can you see something that is an all-powerful, loving force that permeates every atom, every galaxy, every thought, every breeze, every hope and kind word?  How can this Father who roams the cosmos and yet rests in every single heart reveal Himself to us?
 
To reach us, He must communicate to us through things we can comprehend.  How about taking the form of a human being and visiting us, to teach us and heal us?  Good idea; so He sent His Son, Jesus, to do just that.  Jesus told Philip and the disciples, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father...Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?"
 
But it's not just seeing Jesus as the Father, but also listening to his teachings and wisdom. "The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does this. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me."  Or, how about the works that Jesus did?  "But if you do not believe the words, then believe me because of the works themselves."
 
But this is not all.  Jesus will have the Advocate sent to us, the Holy Spirit, to be with us forever.  The advocate is also known as the Spirit of Truth, who will abide in us to guide us, and to teach us. The Holy Spirit stimulates our conscience.  The Holy Spirit will remind us of all that Jesus has told us, so "do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."
 
The psalmist in today's reading offers us another very important way to know the Presence, power and love of God.  "O Lord, how manifold are Your works!  In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great."
 
A sincere walk through nature will reveal the Presence and love of God.  As scientists explore the mysteries and complexity of our material world, they are discovering that at some point the lines between mass and energy disappear.  Things in the atomic world behave differently.  More questions than answers emerge from these explorations, and they continue to point toward a creative designer.

It is hard to see the Father through the eyes of mankind's world.  To do so would require a change in the way we live, and we can get rather comfortable with our routine.  It also threatens what has already been accomplished.  Power structures would topple (like the Tower of Babel), and we would have to live together like the family of God we are supposed to be.  Mankind's way is not sustainable, and eventually, like Philip, we'll have to open our eyes to see reality.
 
What to see the Father?  Look at all the good that is happening around you.  It's Him, working through His children.

Reflection Questions
 
1. How and where do you see God?
 
2. What's the hardest thing for you to believe about God?
 
3. How can you listen better to the Holy Spirit within you?
 
4. Read through the scripture lessons for this Sunday again, and spend some time journaling your thoughts.

Birds of a Feather...

Seventh Sunday of Easter – Year C
 
Acts 16:16-34                                                  
Psalm 97                                  
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26
 
It's the evening of Jesus' arrest, and he's speaking from his heart to the disciples, knowing that this will probably be his last chance he'll have to speak with them for a while.  He concludes the evening with a prayer to God; a prayer for his disciples and all the people of his Church, now and in the future.

The essence of his prayer is that all men and women, as children in the family of God, be united as one in love.  "May they be as one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one...so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
 
This unified love is the greatest commonality we can have with each other.  It makes us all part of the same thing; not something that divides and separates, but something that unites. 
 
This unity in Christ's body, the Church, leads us to a different approach in living with other people.  Typically, when we try to relate with other people, we follow the old adage, "Birds of a feather flock together."  This means that only people with some commonality with each other will like each other, trust each other, and want to be with one another.  Common characteristics are the basis for forming groups, whether around politics, sports teams, social causes, or hobbies. We want to be with other people of like mind.  Those who do not share some similar characteristics are not valued as much, and usually draw little concern from the group.
 
Christ, on the other hand, is asking us to look at all this from a slightly different (but all-important) perspective.  All people already have a singular commonality – we are all children of God, all brothers and sisters, and we all share the same Father, the same Son, and the same Holy Spirit.  It is by this virtue that we are already all one, and really need look no further for common characteristics.  Because of this, we share a common concern for everyone.
 
Once we really believe this, and start to treat people as though they really are our brothers and sisters, we will be living in a universal commonality, and there will be no need to seek out other commonalities just for the purpose of "flocking."  Perhaps what might happen at this point, is that we would have time and patience to discover the uniqueness of each person, or the variety and diversity each cultural group has to offer, and celebrate that, too.  How much we could learn from each other!

Knowing that we are all part of one family, the family of God, removes some of the fear we usually have of the unknown.  Certainly, there are still those who don't or won't recognize their spiritual attachments to each other, and may choose ill will.  Love is given freely, but trust must be earned.  Some people, because of what they have done, or will still do, to harm others, may have to be perpetually contained.  That's part of the price we all pay for having free will.  But without free will there can be no love, for love is a choice.
 
Christ's prayer is that we all recognize this commonality of family that is inherently built into us.  There is a piece of God in each of our souls, or they could not exist.  Our challenge is to first awaken to this truth and then learn to live it in service to God in our own unique way, using the special gifts, interests, and opportunities each of us has been given.

 

Have you met Lydia today?

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C
 
Acts 16:9-15                                                     
Psalm 67                        
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5                                             
John 14:23-29                or         John 5:1-9


We are given a valuable reminder in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles that the spreading of the Gospel comes down to one-on-one interaction, face-to-face with another person.  We can’t set our expectations too high, and we need to realize that even mass communications aren’t always as good as one person sharing God’s intended love with another person, one person at a time.
 
We read in Acts that Paul gets a vision about a man from Macedonia who pleaded with Paul to come there to help.  Paul was convinced that God had called him to proclaim the good news to these people, so he set out on a journey with some others to get there.
 
They traveled a number of days from Troas to Samothrace to Neapolis to Philippi.  After several days, on a Sabbath day, he went down to the river to pray.  There, he met a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in special fabric.  The text records that she opened her heart to listen to Paul, and was then baptized into God’s family.
 
Paul traveled many miles that brought him into a conversation with one person, who listened to what he had to say, and it changed her life. 
 
How often we have been sent to some unknown place, or given some task or goal to achieve, only to find out that the important part of the journey turned out to be the people we met along the way, and not the achievement of the original objective. 
 
Mankind often measures success by what has been achieved, and how well it was achieved, and how fast it was achieved.  But God gives us projects, and goals, and missions because they bring us into contact with other people, often in one-on-one encounters, hoping that we all grow in love from the experience.  The task or goal is actually the means, not the ends, and what we usually think of as the means is really the ends.  God once again turns our thinking upside down.
 
What is your mission?  Is it big and idealistic, designed to save the world?  Or is your mission to stop off at the food store and bring home some bread and milk?  It really doesn’t matter, does it?  Whatever your task or mission, you will encounter a Lydia somewhere along the way who needs some good news from you.  It may be a smile, a silent blessing, a cup of coffee, a few minutes for someone to listen to them, a helping hand, a flower…

That’s how the Gospel, the good news, is spread – by each person actually living it, moment by moment, in the presence of other people.  That’s what makes it more believable – when someone can see that it works in others.  And, when you live it and use it, it grows in you, too!
 
How about making one or more of these commitments:
 
Today I will be more alert for someone that I can share something good with.

Today I will be more loving toward myself.
 
Today I will be more thankful when someone shares something with me.

An Incredible Response

Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year C

Acts 11:1-18                                                    
Psalm 148                                
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
 
The disciples had gathered with Jesus for their last earthly meal together.  At one point during this meal, for a brief moment, tension and great evil surrounded Jesus.  He looked into the heart of Judas, and saw what Judas was about to do.  Then Jesus looked into Judas' eyes, and said, "What you are going to do, go do quickly."  Without another word, and unable to look at Jesus any longer, Judas got up and walked out of the room.  He went to meet with his co-conspirators.
 
The greatest betrayal in history was now set in motion – and Jesus was the target of it.
 
It's at this point that we enter the Gospel reading for this 5^th Sunday of Easter.  The reading begins, "When he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said..."  If we had to turn the page at this point, or reading a contemporary Hollywood movie script, we would have reasonably expected some response from Jesus like this on the next page: "Well, boys, that scoundrel Judas did it this time!  He set me up, and now I'm in really big trouble.  Probably you guys, too!  If I ever get my hands on that snake I'll tattoo his face with my fist!"
 
Normal human responses to such a betrayal would probably include things like anger, fear, hatred, or revenge.  To be betrayed, especially when one's life is involved, is a highly grievous assault.  And it seems only natural to want to "get even."
 
But instead, Jesus took this incident to drive home the whole point of his ministry.  He said nothing more to Judas; he didn’t yell at him, or strike him or gossip about him.  Instead, he turned to his disciples and said two important things: first, that he [Jesus] was now glorified in God as God was glorified.  And second, he gave the disciples a new commandment: "Love one another, just as I have loved you.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
 
Thomas Merton wrote that for a person to glorify God meant that that person would become who God made them to be.  That person would grow into who they truly were, and they would live the way that God would want him or her to live.  Since God is love, and Jesus and God are One, it was Jesus' destiny to live a life of pure love regardless of what happened to him.  He glorified God because he knew that his earthly life was soon to be over, and that he would face the events of this next day in total love, just as he conducted himself throughout his ministry.
 
God did not send Jesus to earth just to die on a cross.  He sent Jesus to earth to demonstrate to us the meaning of love in the face of any of life's challenges, even if it meant that he would die on a cross.  This is what St. Paul meant when he wrote, "And [Jesus] became obedient to the point of death – even if it meant death on a cross." (Philippians 2:8)   Jesus maintained his love for the world even in the face of the greatest injustice – the murder of the Son of God.  Even with his last few breaths he was able to say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
 
So there he was, sitting around the last supper table with the remaining disciples knowing that at that moment Judas was arranging to have him killed, and yet he gave his disciples a new, overarching, commandment of love.  "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
 
And now, we are faced with this deepest of Christian principles – to love in the face of whatever befalls us.  What does this mean?  How do we do this?
 
It has to start within each person, and gradually spread outward.  So, start with yourself – Jesus said earlier to love your neighbor as yourself.  Don't forget this last part – it's key to the whole thing!  We need to deal with ourselves in a loving manner regardless of the mistakes we make, or the decisions that may lead us astray.  How would a loving person treat you in these matters?  This is how you need to treat yourself.  This will give you practice in loving someone else, too.  And eventually, this will cause us all to reach out with love into the community and eventually into the world.
 
Psalm 148 expresses the joy one finds in this loving approach God takes toward us.

Reflection Questions
 
1. What does it mean to you to glorify yourself in God?
 
2. Think of some issue or concern you are faced with right now.  How can you respond to this in love?
 
3. How can we, as the Church, respond to the world's issues in love?
 
4. How can we, as a country, respond to the world's issues in love?
 
5. Read through the scripture lessons for this Sunday again, and spend some time journaling your thoughts.

Seeing Clearly

Third Sunday of Easter – Year C
 
Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)                                                        
Psalm 30                                   
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
 
Easter is the season of awakening – the risen Christ awakens us to the proof that God's love can't be compromised by anything, even as humanity stoops to its lowest point.  We become aware that we are, indeed, children of God, and that we are really all one family, all loved by God.  God yearns for our companionship, wanting us to be one with this unity.
 
But seeing the truth about this love is less likely if our minds are pre-occupied with something else, something false, something sinister.
 
The readings for today show several examples of this.  Paul (then Saul) could not see the loving truth about Christ because he was filled with a misguided hatred for the new Christians.  He was "breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord," and was actively persecuting them.  Who could think clearly with all this on his mind?
 
Even Peter and some of the disciples initially failed to recognize Christ standing along the shore of the Sea of Tiberias.  Why couldn't they see clearly through to him?  Perhaps their minds were still reeling from the events of the past Easter weekend as well as reflecting on their whole experience of Jesus' ministry.  They were still somewhat confused and uncertain about what to do.  Filled with grief and lack of direction, they returned to the things with which they were most familiar.  Peter finally said, "I'm going fishing."
 
Even today, we don't often see clearly.  We often miss the presence of Christ in our lives because we have our minds focused on something else we think is important.  Our awareness of his presence in our lives is often clouded in varying degrees by things that have been given birth in our false selves; things like fear, worry, shame, prejudices, self-pride, power-lust, or even lack of self-esteem.
 
Luke (the presumed author of the Acts of the Apostles) describes the inability of Paul to see clearly as having "scales" over his eyes. After he had been helped by a man named Ananias, Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, "and immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored."  He could now see clearly because the scales of his hatred fell away.
 
From this point on, Paul had an understanding of God's love, the interconnectedness of all people under God's family, and the truth about life itself.
 
When the disciples listened to the man on the shore trying to help them, they suddenly realized who it was.  "It is the Lord," they shouted.  And when they finally recognized Jesus in their lives, they went to him, and were renewed.
 
The scales in our lives are usually things that have attached themselves to us from the shadows of our past, or are pulling us into the illusions of the future.  The only place we can see clearly is in the present moment.  One of the first things we can do to remove the scales from our eyes is to recognize these visitors from the past, or these tempters of the future.  They will all rob you of life today.  Awareness of them, seeing them for what they are, is 80% of the victory.
 
Then, work with your spiritual support team to shed more of God's Light on these scales.  The more of this Light that shines, the fewer of these shadows can survive.  None of these scales are from God – they do not belong to you as part of your true self.  The full Light shines in the NOW, the portal to the Kingdom of Heaven.
 
Leave the past to God's mercy, and the future to God's providence.  God's love is in the Present.
 
 
Reflection Questions
 
1. What scales are blocking you from seeing "straight," from seeing how much love God has for you?
 
2. Who can help you bring Light to the scales in your life?
 
3. How can thinking about the past help you in the Present Moment?
 
4. Read through the scripture lessons for this Sunday again, and spend some time journaling your thoughts.

On Forgiving and Retaining Sins

Second Sunday of Easter – Year C

Acts 5:27-32                                                    
Psalm 118:14-29                                  
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31
 
In the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Easter we encounter the passage:
 
"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."  (John 20:23)

The first reading of this passage leaves one with the impression that Jesus is giving the disciples (and the Church) the power to either forgive sins, or to retain them and not forgive them.  It seems to make sense – either you forgive sins, or you do not.
 
But something about this approach goes against what I understand to be Christ's underlying theology of the forgiveness of sins.  It troubled me that, on the one hand, Christ spent much of his ministry healing people and forgiving sins – even dying on the cross for the redemption of sins – and then giving the option to "retain sins" right at the end of the Gospels.  What's up with that?

I reflected on this for quite some time, and eventually realized that what may have happened here is that Christ was offering his disciples, and his Church, more than one way to heal someone's "sins."  Perhaps at this point Jesus felt that his disciples were ready to understand the healing of relationships at a higher level.
 
Jesus forgave sins, and taught us how to forgive them.  He even included this all-important act in the Lord's Prayer – "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us."  And how often should we do this?  Not just 7 times, but 70 times 7, he instructs. 
 
But he was also suggesting to us in this passage that our sins, and the sins of others, can be handled in another way – by "retaining" them. 
 
Our western mind is quick to assume that "retaining" means to "hold against" in the sense that we do not forgive the person whose sins are retained.  But if we explore the original Greek word used here, κρατητε, we can see a slightly different sense of the word is possible: to hold, or to hold fast, almost an embracing.
 
Paul describes this well in his first letter to the Corinthians when he uses the analogy of the body to explain how the family of Christ works.  "For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts - all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body - so it is with Christ." (I Corinthians 12:12) 
 
We are baptized into one body in a single Spirit, he goes on to explain, and are all given the same Spirit to drink.  The key point is then laid out in verse 26: "If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain."  This is a unitive way of looking at life, an inclusive way, a way that Jesus tried to emphasize so many times in his parables and teachings.  It is counter to our individualistic way of living life, a way that Jesus often criticized.
 
If one of us is hurt, then we all share to some degree and in some way in that pain.  Sharing in the hurt and pain diminishes the effects of that hurt or pain, because it's spread out and received by the rest of the body.  It is 'retained', or held fast, by the entire body, and not just one of its members.  It is shared, and as a result, it can be remedied more effectively.
 
Jesus' appearance to the disciples included the marks of his crucifixion: pierced hands and feet, and a spear mark in his side.  These are marks of his sharing in the problems and shortcomings of the human race.  By absorbing these, by taking them on as part of his body, he diminished them for all of us.  This is vicarious assumption of our shortcomings as a whole.  Jesus appeared with these marks to remind his disciples that as a family, we all share in human shortcomings.  We are not to segregate or separate those who are "sinners" from those who are not, because as a body, we are all what each one of us is.
 
Jesus was reminding us that there are two ways to deal with sin – to forgive or to retain.  To forgive is to simply release from blame; to no longer carry the anger or need for remembrance, and to open the way for renewed relationships.  To retain a sin is to bring it in, to know it, to understand it, and to dissolve it in the Light of God's love.  We help those in trouble to understand the impact and consequences of a wayward thought, word, or deed.  We use friends, and counselors, and therapists, and pastors, and guides; we join together to absorb the pain and sorrow of the trouble, and then place it at the feet of Jesus. 
 
Forgiving or retaining doesn't necessarily mean that there are no restitutions or amends offered.  It simply opens new collective avenues for dealing with our troubles in this world. We listen, we help where we can, we pray, we stay aware and alert, we forgive, we understand, we remember that when one of us hurts we all hurt.  We remember that we are all imperfect, and yet we are all One.  Therein is our strength.  We are the Body of Christ.
 
Reflection Questions
 
1. Does this perspective on dealing with sins help you forgive others?
 
2. Does this perspective on dealing with sins help you forgive yourself?
 
3. What might still be keeping you from forgiving someone else or yourself?
 
4. Read through the scripture lessons for this Sunday again, and spend some time journaling your thoughts.