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1ST PASTORAL VISIT AFTER BASILICA STATUS, (MAY 17-18 2008)
THEME: “TRINITY OF LOVE INVITES US (TO PARTICIPATE)”
Introduction:
This is the greatest mystery of our faith. It tells us that God is Father, Son and Spirit, One God in three divine persons.
Readings:
The readings from the Old Testament to the new revealed the triadic nature of God.
First Reading: Ex. 34: 4b-6, 8-9.
God reveals himself to Moses as God of tenderness and compassion, gracious, merciful, filled with loving kindness. It is important to note that it is God who initiates the encounter, God who reveals his name and God who empowers or prompts Moses to respond. We recall that in revelation, both at Sinai and in Christ, the transcendent God gives out in self-communication, out of the depths of his own being. He also creates the response to his self revelation. Hence, the triadic structure of events at Sinai can be summed up as follows:
- Yahweh in his own being,
- Yahweh going out of himself in self revelation,
- Yahweh creating in the heart of Moses the response to his self revelation.
This triadic pattern corresponds to the revelation of God in the New Testament as Father, Son and Spirit.
2Cor. 13: 11-13
This is the end of the 13th and last chapter of this letter to the Corinthians, showing the Trinity character of God. Paul advises the Christians to be at peace with one another and to share love, exchanging what Paul calls “a holy kiss.” Paul exhorts the Corinthians: to rejoice in the Lord, find their delight in Christ, mend their ways, encourage and be a comfort to one another, be at peace, be of one mind.
Paul ends with the Trinitarian Benediction – Grace of God… in Christ, the love of God… and the communion with God the Holy Spirit.
Jn. 3: 16-18:
Some have called this passage John 3:16 as the summary of the whole gospel, namely; that God sent his Son to save us. God the Father sent his Son Jesus Christ, to save us by redeeming us and sending us the Holy Spirit (to teach and abide with us).
Comments:
The Trinity calls more for life and practice than theoretical postulations. We recall the experience of St. Augustine who saw a vision of a little child trying to empty the ocean into a little hole he dug in the sand, and the story of the farmer who could hear the sound of the cricket while his neighbour could not hear it. We hear the Trinity when we open our hearts. We understand the Trinity when we dispose our minds. We live the Trinity and experience his power when we approach with faith.
What can we learn? What are we called to do?
- We are called to learn the generosity of God disclosed in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
- In Ex. 3:7 God says, “I have witnessed the sufferings of my people and have come to save them.”
- In Ex. 34: 4-6a, He reveals himself as merciful, gracious, slow to anger, rich in loving kindness and truth. Since name in that culture contains part of the very essence cum being of the person named, these are descriptions of the divine essence.
Merciful (rahum) is womb love. The kind of affection or attachment one has for the child of one’s own body or those from the same womb. Gracious (hannum) meaning compassionate or merciful, loving kindness (hesed) and fidelity (emet). These show how God unfailingly clings to his people. This is the being – the love of God and the God who is love revealed in Jesus Christ.
- Christ teaches us how to be God’s children, that is, by doing his will.
- The Trinity teaches us love and how to share. The Father sends the Son, the Son does the Father’s will, always does what pleases the Father, always there to do not his will or what pleases him, but what the Father wants.
- The Father entrusts everything to the Son.
- The Son sends the Spirit; it is the Spirit who will teach them all things.
- But the Spirit will also remind them of what the Son has taught and carryout what the Son has directed him to do.
- In the Trinitarian communion, everyone thinks and cares about the other. No selfishness, no individualism; but union and communion.
- Moses exhibited that example when he prayed for his faithless people.
- Christ did the same.
- We are called to share in the life of the Trinity, the life of love.
May God help us through the prayers of our Mother Mary. Amen.
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