In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
To put it simply the mystery of the Holy Trinity says that in God there are three distinct persons. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet, there are not three Gods, but only one.
We can think of the three persons of the Holy Trinity as three faces smiling upon us, the children of the Lord. First, there is the face of God as Father. When God smiled, it resulted in our origin and the origin of all things: the bright stars in the sky, the birds that fly in the sky and the fish that swim in the sea. Second, there is the face of God as Son. When the face of God as Son smiled, God came down from heaven, taking flesh, walking side by side with each of us showing us how to love and live our lives. Finally, there is the face of God as Spirit. When the face of God as Spirit smiled, God entered within us, dwelling within our souls.
Dwelling within our souls is the Holy Spirit who, as St. Paul tells us gives us a variety of gifts, and those gifts come from the Father through the Son. There is almost like this chain of command in which we can begin to understand the Trinity, yet there is one ultimate person who these gifts come from. We have God (Father) who bestows the gifts through the Word (Son), and the Spirit makes us aware of them in our lives. Similarly, the gift of the Trinity is given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. When we share in the Spirit, we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
The Trinity truly is a trademark of our faith, whether we realize it or not. Every time we gather together for Mass we call to mind the Trinity. Before we eat a meal we pray and recall the Trinity. The Sign of the Cross, that Trinitarian action has become the trademark of our faith- Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
We tend to forget that Pentecost marks the moment when God began to dwell among God’s people in a totally new form. For 30 years God literally was in our presence, he dwelt among the people as Jesus Christ. But, because Jesus was fully human, as well as fully divine, his presence among God’s people was limited to a human life span. Thus, if God were to continue to dwell among us after the life span of Jesus, it would have to be in a new form-a form different from a human body. Pentecost marks the moment when God began to dwell among us in a totally, and radically new way-no longer in the physical person of Jesus, but in the spiritual presence of the Holy Spirit.
But, Pentecost also marks more than the change in the form of God’s presence among us. It also marks the change in the form of Jesus’ presence among us. Jesus now dwells among us, but as someone dwelling inside us.
One of the privileges of being a seminarian is being able to serve as a Master of Ceremonies for a Bishop. I have the pleasure of being one of the Masters of Ceremonies for Bishop George Rassas which allows more than anything to see the different parishes of the Archdiocese, but also to share in one of the most important moments in the lives of us Catholics, and that is the reception of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation. When you speak of Jesus dwelling within us, I am immediately drawn to us receiving Jesus, in the form of the Holy Spirit, through Confirmation. A truly beautiful moment in the lives of Catholics, and one that we should not take for granted. We now have within us! Jesus, the Holy Spirit, who is there to guide us throughout life, more than ever through those seven special gifts that we receive. The gifts of piety, courage, wisdom, knowledge, wonder and awe, understanding, and counsel are given to us as a sign of our now, full membership in the Church. We should therefore realize that these gifts are within and when we see them or feel them in action it is because the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us, using us to bring forth the Kingdom of God.
We often forget that the Holy Spirit is within us! We forget that the Holy Spirit ultimately is Jesus, which makes all of us his children; children who are made in the image and likeness of God, children who are brothers and sisters, who are one in the Spirit. May God continue to bless us with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and may He continue to renew the face of the Earth.
Today’s Gospel is another one of those Gospels where we find Jesus at prayer. It’s another one of those Gospels where he is praying for us. He did that well! He prayed for us always even until the point of death on the cross. But how often do we pray? Jesus constantly urges us to use the greatest power He gave us: the power to address Him in prayer!
Jesus prayed a lot! We see him praying at His Baptism, before he picked His twelve Apostles, and before teaching his own disciples how to pray. Now, knowing what we do about Jesus’ approach to prayer, we could safely say that he prayed for discernment, for the ability to know God’s will and do it. Then he acted!
It sometimes happens that our prayer becomes a request from God. It’s like we expect this tiny little package of something or other- like a job or relief from sickness. We think this prayer-parcel will come all wrapped up in a bow, or perhaps even be delivered by UPS. But that’s rarely what we get; we have to do something as well.
Perhaps we need to fall back once again to the example of Jesus and understand prayer as a two-part process. We can and should pray for discernment- for the ability to know God’s will in our lives and in our world. That is, we have to listen to God. Then comes the hard part. We can’t stand around waiting for some “package” to fall out of the sky, or come via the UPS truck, that’s not how prayer works. We have to do something too!
Jesus tells his disciples in the Gospel today to "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” Are we not commissioned to do the same? Are we not called to spread the Gospel? Are we not called to cry the Gospel? Are we not called to live the Gospel? Here we stand together, hand in hand, at the gateway of our faith, on the rock of Peter and the saints, with the Holy Spirit showing us the way to be holy, and cry the Gospel, cry the Gospel with OUR LIVES! God's love and gift of salvation is not just for a few, or for a nation, but it is for the whole world – for all who will accept it. The Gospel is the power of God, the power to forgive sins, to heal, to deliver from evil and oppression, and to restore life.
This great commission is given to whole Church. All of us share in the task which Christ has given us. From children just born to the oldest members of society, all believers have been given a share. It’s a scary task, but Christ tells us that we are not alone, because he works in and through us. He promises us that he will always be with us, forevermore. All we have to do is put ourselves in His hands and trust in his love. Bring it all to him; all your worries, all your anxieties, all your cares, and just trust that He is with you. We receive Christ constantly both physically through the Eucharist and spiritually through all the Sacraments and our own prayer, now it is our turn to go and spread His word, taking comfort in knowing that He is within us and we are with Him. He loves us because we are His children, take comfort in that, and be not afraid because he is always with us, even until the end of the world.
Well Ladies and Gentlemen it has begun again, Summer Apostolate 2009 at the wonderful and vibrant parish of St. Thomas of Villanova in Palatine!
I moved out here, after a few days at home to process the end of the year at the seminary, not going to lie, it was a rough transition into parish life, I think only because I truly realized next year when I come back to St. Joseph College Seminary, I am at the top of heap, and two of my closest friends are not going to be there with me. None-the-less the summer had to come, certainly a time for me to process things, and really dive, again, into the parish priesthood dimension which I love so much and which we, in Chicago, are ordained to be!
I arrived here Wednesday mid-morning and really just picked up where I left off, it was like I never left. After the usual welcome back, we missed you, we are glad you are heres from people and the Staff, which truly made me feel right back at home, I really spent the rest of the day simply relaxing and enjoying being back out here. Basically what that means, is I had to unpack and "Bradify" my room here at the Rectory.
Thursday was a good day, spent the majority of it in the office just doing some clerical work and things of that nature with Tom. Not a whole lot went on, again, had the usual morning, Mass at 8:00 a.m. and then went to Breakfast with Tom and two of the faithful 8:00 a.m. Mass go-ers. Came back to the office after that and did some work, and then I was back at the Rectory and spent the rest of the day just relaxing in the room.
Friday was an extreme day of office work. After helping at a 10:00 a.m. Funeral, Tom and I were back in the office getting him ready to go off on vacation. So after we cleared out his mailboxes, did some major shredding and things of that nature, we were off to run some errands and then back at the Rectory so he could back, while he was doing that, I wrote my article for next weeks Bulletin on Ascension, look later this week for the article. We then went out to dinner with Connie at Barnaby's a nice little pizzeria on Rand Road out here, it was nice to go out and just relax. I had been feeling sick all day, so I called it a night very very early, well 10:30 p.m. and did not wake up till about 9:45 a.m. this morning. GOTTA LOVE SATURDAY'S!!!!
Today does not bring much other than the usual Saturday Parish activities, basically that means NOTHING!!! Tonight we have Family Mass so I will be helping a lot with that, but after that, pretty much just going to relax and chill for the evening. Have all three Masses on Sunday, figured I should make an appearance it being my first weekend back and all, and then rumor has it, one Mr. Michael Olson, one of my bestest friends, is coming out for a visit. It will be good to see him and hear his stories from his first week of parish life at St. Hilary.
Today’s first reading spoke of the void in society of a priest, prophet and king, type figure. I can’t help but wonder if that same phrase is true in today’s society. In a society, today, full of euthanasia, killing of school children, abortion, and a push for the recognition of gay marriage by the Church, it could be easy to fall into a rut and think that such a person is truly missing.
However, while we know that Christ is the P-riest, P-rophet, and K-ing, I beg to also offer that we are also a part of that priesthood, of that prophet-ness, and of that kingship. When we were baptized, we were baptized, just as Christ, to be priests (not in the ontological change sense), prophets, and to be a part of that KING-dom. So there really is no lack of a person being a priest, prophet and king.
We have seminarians studying to become priests, wanting to be in persona Christi, wanting to give of themselves for others and for the kingdom. We have priests in parishes now who are not only fulfilling Christ’s role, but also are like prophets, like Jeremiah and like Paul before them, they are preaching the Word and truly evangelizing their communities of faith with the Word of the Lord. But, when it comes to being Kings, there is only one King, the King of Kings, Christ Jesus the Lord. But, we are a part of His KING-dom. It is up to you and I bring forth the kingdom, to live out the gospel values everyday of our lives to truly bring the world we live in temporarily, more like the world we will live in eternally. Each time, we as Catholics, come to the Eucharistic Banquet, heaven, that glorious KING-dom, is presented right before our eyes to make sense of the trials and tribulations of everyday life.
Yet still, having said that, and knowing that myself, we still need an example to get us outside of ourselves to stand up for these values which are evident in the Gospel and in the teachings of Christ. We have to be like John the Baptist. We have to counter-cultural to preach what people do not want to hear and be a living witness to the kingdom, literally saying “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” The season of Lent is really the perfect time for the devil to act on us, because we really are waiting to be saved, we are vulnerable. Lent is not a time to loose sight of why we are fasting, praying and giving alms for 40 days. Our eyes need to be, and should always be, FIXED ON CALVARY! We need to constantly keep at the forefront of our lives the CRUCIFIED CHRIST, because there is no better image then why we must be witnesses to Him than that. We gave us THE SIGN of witness and obedience to the will of God. May we, His children, constantly return to Him, who is Priest, Prophet, and King, so that we too might share in the glory of His cross that is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Its hard today not to pick up a newspaper, magazine, or turn on the TV, and not hear some sort of critique or criticism of the Catholic Church. Our Church is very forthcoming and transparent in who we are and what we stand for and believe in. While it is hard to hear and see these things today, it is nothing new. Jesus told us it would also happen since such attacks have always been the consequence for those who follow his Father.
In today’s Gospel Jesus foreshadows his passion. He tells his twelve disciples, that in Jerusalem he will be handed over to the authorities and will be mocked, scourged and crucified. Jesus was ridiculed, mocked and put to death because he surrendered to His Father’s plan. Now the question is posed to us just as it was to the sons of Zebedee, “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said they would and they did. So can we? For many, the chalice entails the long routine of living a Christian life, with l its daily sacrifices, disappointments, set-backs, struggles, and temptations. The challenge today is for us to do the same. We can’t be surprised when we find ourselves experiencing the mockery and ridicule that Jesus and his apostles all had to suffer before us. As Disciples of Christ we must be ready to lay down our lived each and every day in the little and big sacrifice required. St. Patrick told us we need to arise through the strength of His Crucifixion with His Burial, for as long as Christ is with me, before me, behind me, in me, beneath me, above me, on my right and left, and in the heart of every person who thinks of him, we can all drink of that chalice. For it is only in suffering with Christ that we might truly follow him in glory.
