Trinity Sunday

June 3, 2012

Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40; Psalm 33; Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28:16-20

                Moses reminds the people of God's benevolent and caring relationship with them by pointing to the marvels of creation, the promise to make the Israelites a chosen people, by speaking to them in a burning, but unconsumed bush, and by delivering them from the oppression of a strong and fierce nation. Moses says, "You must know and fix in your heart that the Lord is God in the heavens above us and on earth below and that there is no other." In a Mediterranean culture where other cultures worship multiple gods with dominion over certain spheres of life, Moses instructs the people that the god of the Israelites is One. No other god can coexist with the Lord God and no other god has quite the same personal relationship with humans as our God does, but while God is One, certain aspects of God' personality can reveal something new and distinct.

          Paul emphasizes the close personal relationship that God has with us in Romans 8 when he writes that those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. God wants to bring us closer into the divine family so we can cry out the same words Jesus did, "Abba, Father!" We can turn to God when we most need help or simply to ask for what we need and want. We become God's protected children who receive special graces because we have been ready to suffer with God's own Son.

          I witnessed the special bonding of family at my mothers' 80th birthday party the other day. First, we experienced the happiness of being with one another merely because we have something in common. Second, something larger than us was happening around us. We came to show honor to my mother for giving us life as hers is creeping closer to its natural end. Third, we easily provided hospitality and welcomed others into the household. Fourth, we made alive our deceased ones and absent brethren (because of work or distance) through our memories, sharing of stories, or our display of compassion to one another. Fifth, we marveled at the ways we introduced ourselves with the multiplicity of roles and relationships. It is not easy to sort out all relationships, but it became abundantly clear that Holy Spirit was at work bringing us together in a way that has not been done before.

          I marveled at the ways we related to one another because roles and relationships are complex. While my sister is my sister, she is also daughter, mother, niece, in-law, friend, aunt, and wife. This in itself is a mystery. The important aspect is that we are continually in relationship with others and we have to continue to build and nourish those relationships. The Trinitarian God is such because Father and Son through their Spirit relate to each other with and for us. Each of these relationships are meant to be strengthened, and we become happy when we relate easily to each aspects of God. We experience fullness.

          It was easy for me to imagine God's happy family when I was at my mother's party. Each Sunday, God gathers us together because something larger is going on around us. God delights in us and wants us to relate to one another in the complexity of our relationships. They give us a good model for doing so. I can't imagine God is happy with the divisive factions and the terrible splits that are occurring in his family because of our terrible actions and attitudes. I would think God wants us to come together to focus upon how God provides for us and nourishes us. The special bonding the Trinitarian God has with us is an example of the way we are to bond with other family members. We actually can experience joy in belonging to God's family.

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading: Peter continues to encourage his disciples to remain in the knowledge of God by building up one's faith with virtue, built on knowledge, gained by self-control, achieved through endurance, that comes from devotion, experienced through mutual affection, that derives from love. He asks us to wait for the Lord's day by remaining without blemish and by being at peace. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, asks us to remain in the Spirit of Christ that is evident in the power of love and self-control. He also asks them to bear with one another patiently so they present no factions to the outside world. These factions serve no positive purpose. Paul explains that understanding Scripture is useful for righteousness, but to be aware that everyone who wants to live religiously will be persecuted. Lastly, he tells them to proclaim the word: be persistent, convince, reprimand, encourage through patience and teaching.

Gospel: In Mark, Jesus tells a story to the chief priests and scribes about a landowner who leases his property to those with selfish desires. They kill the first servants and the landowner finally sends his son. To everyone's horror, they kill him too. The moral: the one rejected by the chief priests will become the cornerstone of faith. Herodians question Jesus about a person's responsibility to pay a census tax to Caesar; Jesus does not get twisted into their story and demands that everyone respect the earthly leader and God at the same time. Sadducees ask about property rights when a widow has seven husbands and reaches heaven. Jesus reminds them there is no marrying in heaven and God is not of the dead, but of the living. A scribe asks Jesus about the greatest commandment and answers correctly. Jesus praises his well-thought and honest answer. He reminds the people not to be like the scribes who receive public praise and do things that are not admirable. Be more like the poor widow who puts in her two cents into the treasury.

Saints of the Week

June 3: Charles Lwanga and 22 companion martyrs from Uganda (18660-1886) felt the wrath of King Mwanga after Lwanga and the White Fathers (Missionaries of Africa) censured him for his cruelty and immorality. The King determined to rid his kingdom of Christians. He persecuted over 100 Christians, but upon their death new converts joined the church.

June 5: Boniface, bishop and martyr (675-754), was born in England and raised in a Benedictine monastery. He became a good preacher and was sent to the northern Netherlands as a missionary. Pope Gregory gave him the name Boniface with an edict to preach to non-Christians. We was made a bishop in Germany and gained many converts when he cut down the famed Oak of Thor and garnered no bad fortune by the Norse gods. Many years later he was killed by non-Christians when he was preparing to confirm many converts. The church referred to him as the "Apostle of Germany."

June 6: Norbert, bishop (1080-1134), a German, became a priest after a near-death experience. He became an itinerant preacher in northern France and established a community founded on strict asceticism. They became the Norbertines and defended the rights of the church against secular authorities.

June 9: Ephrem, deacon and doctor (306-373), was born in the area that is now Iraq. He was ordained a deacon and refused priestly ordination. After Persians conquered his home town, Ephrem lived in seclusion where he wrote scriptural commentaries and hymns. He was the first to introduce hymns into public worship.

June 9: Joseph de Anchieta, S.J., priest (1534-1597), was from the Canary Islands and became a leading missionary to Brazil. He was one of the founders of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero. He is considered the first Brazilian writer and is regarded as a considerate evangelizer of the native Brazilian population. Alongside the Jesuit Manuel de Nobrega, he created stable colonial establishments in the new country.

This Week in Jesuit History

·         Jun 3, 1559. A residence at Frascati, outside of Rome, was purchased for the fathers and brothers of the Roman College.

·         Jun 4, 1667. The death in Rome of Cardinal Sforza Pallavicini, a man of great knowledge and humility. While he was Prefect of Studies of the Roman College he wrote his great work, The History of the Council of Trent.

·         Jun 5, 1546. Paul III, in the document Exponi Nobis, empowered the Society to admit coadjutors, both spiritual and temporal.

·         Jun 6, 1610. At the funeral of Henry IV in Paris, two priests preaching in the Churches of St Eustace and St Gervase denounced the Jesuits as accomplices in his death. This was due primarily to the book De Rege of Father Mariana.

·         Jun 7, 1556. Peter Canisius becomes the first provincial superior of the newly constituted Province of Upper Germany.

·         Jun 8, 1889. Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins died at the age of 44 in Dublin. His final words were "I am so happy, so happy." He had written "I wish that my pieces could at some time become known but in some spontaneous way ... and without my forcing."

·         Jun 9, 1597. The death of Blessed Jose de Ancieta, Brazil's most famous missionary and the founder of the cities of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro.