Hope everyone is having a great weekend. This is one of my favorite weekends of the year, not because we are celebrating the Trinity, not because it is Memorial Day Weekend and everyone gets an extra day, but because it is Ordination Weekend.
This year we had one ordained to the Transitional Diaconate which means he will be ordained a priest next year - Dcn. Hung Le, and one ordained to the Priesthood - Fr. Greg Lambert.
It is a great joy to see the new guys get ordained - of course it is fun to be with all of my brother priests - but it is renewing and rejuvenating for my own Priesthood, remembering the promises that I made six years ago today.
And just like six years ago, the weekend falls on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, which the Church calls “the central mystery of our faith” (CCC 234) aka “the hardest thing to preach about.” I don’t envy Fr. Greg having to preach at his first Mass in front of his family and friends today, I remember what that was like and it was very difficult!
Yesterday a priest friend said to me, “Preaching on the Trinity is a trap, don’t fall for it! Preach about the love of the Trinity.” So that’s what I will attempt to do today… our readings today help us to remember what we need to be prioritizing as we live in this mystery of love.
In today's Gospel, we actually jump backward sequentially, back two weeks to another Ascension account, because this is Jesus’ only explicit mention of the Trinity. In it we heard Jesus refer to the Trinity in the same way that we do every time we start Mass, really most times when we start a prayer, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” - this invokes the three persons of the Trinity.
So this is the last thing Jesus says before He ascends into Heaven, He says “to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."”
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,” - this is the main task of a Christian. Our goal is to make disciples, which is really to pass on the fire of our love for God to other people… like I was talking about last week on Pentecost, fire starts other things on fire.
So Jesus assumes this step, that we are already on fire ourselves. The Apostles had seen everything up to this point and still had their doubts, (which should give us some hope) the Apostle had seen all the signs and wonders and were still growing in belief, and they were about to get lit up in a tangible way ten days later at Pentecost, a definite sign and wonder took place then, that’s why I say we need to get lit up too, it decreases our doubt by encountering God in supernatural ways.
The first reading was powerful in that regard, asking the people of Israel, “have you ever seen a God like this that speaks to you from a fire and works such great signs and wonders as our God has?” This is what I was saying two weeks ago, the signs and wonders of God are here for us to stir us up to grow in our faith, if we want to, if we want to believe it.
Signs and wonders set me on fire back in August 2007 and are a big reason why I’m here, I still remember learning about Marian Apparitions and how I really came to believe in God, putting aside all other gods. Moses said in that first reading, “This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.”
When God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are fixed in that central place in our hearts, that is when we are on fire to help others become disciples.*
Our second reading said, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, "Abba, Father!"”
When we are baptized we are adopted by God, God enters into our lives, and this is what Jesus is really saying when He says He has all “power” - He is giving us that same power and authority to do what He did here, His power has been invested in us, given to us to use.
I can't help but think of my mom this weekend. She loved Ordinations, but she was on fire with God’s love, and she spoke with power and authority that came from God, in love. For many years she wrote this Blog, Morning Reflection (which you can still find at https://morningreflection.blogspot.com/). She usually wrote on Mondays, pulling from the Sunday Readings and Homily, but she taught as Jesus asked us to do, with the authority that comes from Him.
Jesus said, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Even though He says this just as He is about to ascend to Heaven, it is true, Jesus isn’t lying, He gives us the Holy Spirit so He is with us in that way, He gives us the Eucharist to be with us also. God is with us always, He never abandons us.
As you receive the Eucharist again today, ask the Holy Spirit to stir up the ways He wants you to Go and teach with the power and authority He has given you, to help others know of God’s love for them, lighting them on fire along the way.
#END HOMILY
*Here today I am struck thinking of the Saint of the Day, St. Philip Neri, who claimed that he had a mystical experience in prayer in 1545 that a flame entered into his mouth and went down into his heart and set him on fire with the love of God. He claimed that his heart increased in size and broke two of his ribs. When his body was examined after death in 1595, they found his heart was doubled and his ribs had been broken in that unusual spot.