Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign this is Sundays with Bishop Ken. Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Brenda Piazza.
Brenda is a parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Mendon, New York, where she joyfully serves in a variety of ministries.
Brenda also shares her gifts with us each liturgical season, narrating our little book's reflections Here is today's gospel and homily.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel According to John Jesus said to his disciples, I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify Me because He will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine.
For this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you the Gospel of the Lord Christianity is the only religion that has a trinity. Islam, for example, stresses there is one sole person who is God.
Other religions have several gods, but they compete with one another.
The Greeks pictured many gods dwelling on Mount Olympus, but between them there was rivalry, treachery.
Christianity and Christianity alone has one God in three persons.
We use symbols analogies to talk about the Trinity.
St Patrick used the three leaf clover, the stem representing one God and the leaves representing the three persons in the Trinity.
A more ancient analogy is the sun God. The Father is the sun itself. The rays coming from the sun are the second person of the Trinity, and those rays touching and affecting us are the Spirit.
I like to use a musical analogy. Think of a song you like.
Let's say White Christmas. We all know the melody and we can hum it.
If someone played the melody on the piano with one finger, we would recognize it.
That's the song White Christmas, and in the analogy it represents God the Father.
But the words of the song express its meaning.
They're not simply attached to the song, they're part of it.
The words represent the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God.
We refer to him as the Word of God.
But there's more than just the melody line in the words, the harmony of the song. The chords bring out its richness, and the rhythm does too.
Think of the difference between listening to White Christmas played with one finger on the piano, and someone singing the words with a full orchestra playing White Christmas.
The chords and the rhythm represent the Holy Spirit.
And yet the Trinity is not simply an abstract dogma.
It affects Us.
Let's look at this.
All creation bears the imprint of its Creator. That includes us.
For we are made in the image and likeness of God.
So if you want to know what God is like, look about you.
What do we see? As you look at the universe, as you look at the people who populate this earth, we see variety, beauty, interconnectedness, motion, life.
This is a clue about what God is like.
God is not a stony faced, solitary figure staring blankly at us.
God is not an impersonal force.
God is variety, beauty, interconnectedness, motion, life.
The three persons are united to one another in a relationship of love.
The Trinity is brimming with life, goodness and unity. And we are invited to be part of it.
Did you ever wonder why in the human race there is an instinct for family and relationships?
It's in our blood, in our bones, in our genetic makeup, in our spirit.
It's because we're made in the image and likeness of God.
We're made to connect with other people, to have relationships, to experience loving and and being loved.
Which brings us to the Trinity.
God is not a solitary person.
God is three persons.
There is one God in three persons.
We don't quite know how to put it together in human concepts.
It's beyond our limited comprehension.
That's because God is beyond our comprehension.
There is a wonder to God that goes beyond our human categories.
And the greatest wonder of all is we are made in the image and likeness of this God.
And more than that, we are created to relate to this God.
We are not simply objects God looks upon.
We are loved by God and we are able to love God in return.
We are in a relationship with God.
We are daughters and sons of God, as though we were equals.
Actually, it's not as though we are equals with God.
By God's grace, we are lifted up to God's level.
God's own spirit is poured upon us.
We have God's own life within us.
We are divinized, somehow made like God.
When Jesus died, rose, and ascended to God, a human being went where we thought only angels could go.
Think about it.
There is a human being, one of our own, at the heart of the Trinity.
Jesus took us there and it is now part of our destiny.
It's not simply something in the future, it has already begun.
We have God's life within us now.
That is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday.
And that's what we do. We celebrate it, think about it, take it in and enjoy it.
There is no therefore we must go out and do such and such we simply savor the greatness and goodness and wonder of God.
We marvel that we are made in the image of this God.
We experience wonder and awe, and we give thanks.
Keep in mind, all of this comes together in the Eucharist.
The Mass is not a reenactment of the Last Supper.
It is the Risen Lord who is present to us in a special way throughout the whole Eucharistic celebration.
The Risen Lord who died, rose from the dead and ascended to heaven.
The Risen Lord enables us to enter into his dying and rising and ascending the Risen Lord brings us into the heart of the Trinity.
The Eucharistic prayer reaches its crescendo when we say through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
All glory and honor is Yours, O Almighty Father, forever and ever.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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