HOMILY – FEAST OF THE HOLY TRINITY
ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA CHURCH
JUNE 10/11, 2006
5PM SAT. CLARES, 8 & 11 ST. Anthony’s
May our God, Father – Son – Holy Spirit, give us peace.
My Father who art alone in heaven. The adoption agency. In the Name.
When the disciples wanted to know how to pray to Jesus’ Father he gave them the words that begin “Our Father.” They also heard Him say, “Give us, Our bread, forgive us, Our trespasses, against us, lead us, deliver us.” Jesus didn’t lead me to pray my Father, lead me, deliver me. Why? The answer to that question is very very important in understanding God and God’s will for US.
God in God’s self is community. We didn’t always understand God that way. God spoke His Word to Abraham, but then the Word later became flesh. God’s Spirit was at work always, but manifest itself as comprehension and a purifying fire after Jesus had ascended to the Father. For Jews and Muslims God is not the Trinity of persons we celebrate today. We Christians understand our God as relationship within God’s self, eliminating any exclusive “me and God” religiosity. But in case we think this a quaint theological notion reserved for seminary professors let’s take a closer look.
If we decide to praise God, we are praising relationship. If we decide to pray to God we are praying to a group. If we decide to follow Jesus, we do so together or we do so in an ungodly manner. I am not diminishing the power of quiet time alone with God, say, in my room, or before the Eucharist in the tabernacle on a weekday at 3. I am saying that when I spend that time I ought to do so to the real God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit together. Me and God doesn’t cut it. We does. God says “Let us listen to this one’s prayers – let US.” How rich when I pray then that I pray in a Catholic way – All of God being prayed to by me and all of us through me. Emph!
The Adoption Agency. Here we sit, not alienated from God by God’s choosing but alienated because of sin by our choosing. The adoption agency, the Church, wishes to introduce us to what could be our adoptive family a healing family. Are we willing to belong, to invest, to take the Name. Your last name will be Christian.
All families have certain ways of doing things you know. In my family you never came to the dinner table with dirty hands, you never ate at any meal before thanking God, and you came home before the time set, or you wouldn’t have to worry about hands or grace. Well God’s family has ways too. See if they’re for you.
Saying you are a sorry before the lights go out at night and meaning it, showing up for the meal Jesus prepares in Church, yes, with clean hands so to speak. In God’s family there are 3 parents (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and you cannot get one thing from one, that you would not get from the other - no these are healthy heavenly parents. Some of everything we have is given away in our family Name.
Will you allow yourself to be adopted by this family? Isn’t being orphaned boring?
Won’t you throw yourself into it, trusting, participating? Come home.
In the Name. Have you ever done something in someone else’s name? Secretaries write the initials of the letter writer next to their own indicating they typed and corrected a letter in their boss’s name. You can deliver something in another’s name, speak for someone else, stand in for someone else, we stand in as surrogate parents to our children’s or our neighbor’s children. We do things in another person’s name.
To do something in God’s Name is like that. We allow ourselves to be used because of our love for the one we are representing. I am standing here right now representing – which is why I get so upset when I am mentioned and Jesus is not. One day someone will say to me, I was touched by Jesus today. Then I will sleep in peace knowing I did something in HIS NAME and He got the praise.
Welcome to God’s Feast. The Holy Trinity. Together they adopt us and send us out (US!) to give in their Name. What a joy to be called to represent the creator, the healer, the life-giving God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Them together, praised by us together. Emph, emph, emph!