Theme: The Holy Trinity; One God & One Love for our Salvation
As Catholics, we know that the Holy Trinity is God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit. This means that the three persons in God is one God. It is the mystery of God Himself and is central to Christian Faith and Life (CCC 234). Hence, to become a Christian, one is engrafted mystically and eternally into the Trinity at baptism with the words, ‘I baptize you, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’. This remains a mystery and an article of faith, which cannot be expounded by finite human mind unless revealed by God (CCC 237). The Trinity is one God bound by love, who is the source of our existence & salvation. He has left for us traces of His revelation in His work of creation, in Christ Jesus our savior (Col.1:15-20) and in the Holy Spirit, who remains with us forever (Jn.14:16).
The readings of today are expressions of the great and unfathomable Trinitarian love for humanity. In the 1st reading, we observe that God’s love for us (which started at creation) still remains strong even in our sinfulness. When the Israelites lost patience with Moses and lost faith in the God who delivered them from Egypt (with all the accompanying miracles), God did not abandon them. He called Moses up the mountain for a replacement of the broken stone tablets with the engraved commandments. This shows that He is a God who gives us opportunities time & time again to turn back to Him. He does not want us to die or be lost in our sinfulness because of our mistakes or our wrong choices. Thus, He introduces Himself to Moses as; “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and forgiving God, slow to anger and rich in kindness & fidelity” (Ex.34:6). What a merciful God! Have we lost faith in God because we feel He is taking a long time to hear our prayers or intervene in our situations? Have we lost hope in ourselves or someone else because of missed opportunities, impatience, past mistakes or wrong choices? We have to learn from our God who is always ready to begin again with us. We just need to make the decision to go back to Him (as Moses did today) and have the energy to ‘climb the mountain’ to meet Him where He is waiting for us (this energy comes from prayer, sincere worship of God and a repentant life). God gives us these and similar opportunities in life because He knows that we can do better than we are doing presently. That is why He does all it takes to save us. The climax of this gesture is evident in the gospel passage of today. He came Himself to do all that was needed to save us (after all efforts through the Patriarchs & Prophets of old failed to bear the desired fruits). He came in Christ not to condemn or judge us but to offer us forgiveness, justification and eternal life. Let us rise up from today to take advantage of the many opportunities God gives us to enjoy His mercy and blessings. We have no reason to remain in our regrets.
St. Paul, in the 2nd reading tells us how to capture these opportunities. In his parting words to the people of Corinth, he tells us with tears and with heartfelt love to ‘mend our ways of life, to be an encouragement to one another, to have a loving understanding of others and to live in peace with everyone - so that the God of love and peace will be with us’ (2Cor.13:11). What a beautiful way of responding to God’s love that comes to us through the Trinitarian unity! This message suits the time we are in today. We must be agents of God’s love and forgiveness as a way of reciprocating His mercy and love for us. This is how we manifest the fruits of our mystical union with the Triune God, which we got at baptism. This is the way gain and share the love that issues from the Trinitarian unity to all around us. This is the way we open the doors of success in our lives. Above all, this is what guarantees our salvation & eternal life in/with the Triune God.
May our belief in God the Father, in God the Son as consubstantial with the Father and God the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Father and the Son continue to bind us with the Triune God now and in eternity. Amen.
Remain blessed,
Fr. Timothy
The readings of today are expressions of the great and unfathomable Trinitarian love for humanity. In the 1st reading, we observe that God’s love for us (which started at creation) still remains strong even in our sinfulness. When the Israelites lost patience with Moses and lost faith in the God who delivered them from Egypt (with all the accompanying miracles), God did not abandon them. He called Moses up the mountain for a replacement of the broken stone tablets with the engraved commandments. This shows that He is a God who gives us opportunities time & time again to turn back to Him. He does not want us to die or be lost in our sinfulness because of our mistakes or our wrong choices. Thus, He introduces Himself to Moses as; “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and forgiving God, slow to anger and rich in kindness & fidelity” (Ex.34:6). What a merciful God! Have we lost faith in God because we feel He is taking a long time to hear our prayers or intervene in our situations? Have we lost hope in ourselves or someone else because of missed opportunities, impatience, past mistakes or wrong choices? We have to learn from our God who is always ready to begin again with us. We just need to make the decision to go back to Him (as Moses did today) and have the energy to ‘climb the mountain’ to meet Him where He is waiting for us (this energy comes from prayer, sincere worship of God and a repentant life). God gives us these and similar opportunities in life because He knows that we can do better than we are doing presently. That is why He does all it takes to save us. The climax of this gesture is evident in the gospel passage of today. He came Himself to do all that was needed to save us (after all efforts through the Patriarchs & Prophets of old failed to bear the desired fruits). He came in Christ not to condemn or judge us but to offer us forgiveness, justification and eternal life. Let us rise up from today to take advantage of the many opportunities God gives us to enjoy His mercy and blessings. We have no reason to remain in our regrets.
St. Paul, in the 2nd reading tells us how to capture these opportunities. In his parting words to the people of Corinth, he tells us with tears and with heartfelt love to ‘mend our ways of life, to be an encouragement to one another, to have a loving understanding of others and to live in peace with everyone - so that the God of love and peace will be with us’ (2Cor.13:11). What a beautiful way of responding to God’s love that comes to us through the Trinitarian unity! This message suits the time we are in today. We must be agents of God’s love and forgiveness as a way of reciprocating His mercy and love for us. This is how we manifest the fruits of our mystical union with the Triune God, which we got at baptism. This is the way gain and share the love that issues from the Trinitarian unity to all around us. This is the way we open the doors of success in our lives. Above all, this is what guarantees our salvation & eternal life in/with the Triune God.
May our belief in God the Father, in God the Son as consubstantial with the Father and God the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Father and the Son continue to bind us with the Triune God now and in eternity. Amen.
Remain blessed,
Fr. Timothy