Living the Trinitarian Life

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen].  As we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity today, we do so in the secular context of Father’s Day.  Now, if priests are honest, today’s liturgical celebration of the Most Holy Trinity is one of the scariest to preach, because we preach about God who is infinite using finite words.  Most of the heresies of the Church concern how we speak about God, and priests want to accurately communicate this central teaching of our faith, that which truly makes us Christian, without misstating who God is.  And sometimes individual Catholics deputize themselves as the heresy police, with mixed results.  So I have to be careful as I preach about this revealed and yet beyond our intellect mystery of the Trinity.  
    And our understanding of God starts with the Father, who revealed Himself as one God (but not yet fully as Three Divine Persons) to the Chosen People.  Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph number 239 states, “By calling God ‘Father’, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children.”  God as Father does not mean that He has a body or any of the male parts that make one a human father.  God is utterly spirit, and yet, He is the Creator of all things and has authority over all things.  Still, He exercises this power and authority in love and for the benefit of His children: men and women He created in His image.  

    The Father, paragraph 2789 reminds us, is also the source and origin of the Godhead, that is, of the Trinity.  Here, again, our finite words fail to adequately express what is beyond them.  It seems odd to think of the Trinity having a source or origin, because the Son and the Holy Spirit are also eternal, also equally God, not lesser gods.  God the Father eternally begets the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Father eternally spirates, or breathes forth, the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son in a single procession.  And yet, there is a deference the Son gives to the Father, even as they are consubstantial, as our Lord will say both: “The Father and I are one” and “The Father is greater than I.”  Rublev’s icon of the Trinity demonstrates this reality, as the three Divine Persons are imaged as three angels, but the heads of two, the two representing the Son and the Holy Spirit, bow their heads ever so slightly towards the one representing the Father.
    But what do we do with this knowledge?  It’s one thing to know, in some limited way, how the Trinity operates.  But if it’s the central teaching of our faith, then it should impact how we live.  And certainly, it does.  First of all, it affects how we worship.
    Now, I know, worship in a modern context doesn’t seem all the important.  But how we worship guides the rest of our lives.  Our Lord told us that He desired us to worship “in spirit and in truth.”  So if we wish to give back to God some little bit of the amazing things He has given to us as Creator, then we need to worship Him as He has revealed Himself: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Wrong worship means we don’t give back to God what He desires, which is, to be frank, rude.  Imagine for a second that you asked your spouse for a copy of the painting “The Starry Night” by van Gogh, but she bought a star chart poster instead.  Yes, it’s a gift; yes, it’s connected to the request, but it’s not what was desired, and if we have the possibility of giving what is desired, we should.  We can worship God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and, in fact, our entire Mass, the perfect prayer of Christ and His Church, is offered to the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Almost all of our prayers in the Mass we direct to the Father, through the One (Jesus Christ) who reveals the Father to us, in the power and authority of the One (the Holy Spirit) who allows us to call on God as our Father by making us adopted sons and daughters in the Son of God.

    Secondly, if God created us in His image, then understanding the Trinity helps us to be who God created us to be, both men and women.  Yes, fatherhood is connected necessarily to men, but God is the source of all fatherhood and motherhood, and surpasses all fathers and mothers in His goodness.  But He encourages us all to be loving, to work for the good of others, to create out of love and beauty and truth, and to exercise whatever authority we might legitimately have as serving the communion of human persons and creating a more loving world.  When we focus on ourselves, and work only for our good, we fail to show forth the love of the Father and the entire Trinity.  When we exercise authority to keep others under our thumb and dominate them, we fail to live as icons of the power and authority that the Father truly has by nature, in which He lets us share by mere participation.  When authority is only used as a hammer to beat others into submission, rather than a guide to help others grow into the full potential of their human nature and according to their legitimate freedom, God looks more like a despot or tyrant when we talk about Him as Father, and it draws others away from belief in and love of God.
    As we pray at this Mass on Father’s Day, we give thanks to God for our earthly fathers, but we especially worship God the Father who created all things, and whom the Son revealed to us to be loving, patient, and merciful, even as He is just.  May our worship help us each to be icons of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.   

Listening

 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Jim Rolph

    Last Sunday I went to a family’s house for dinner, a family that I have visited before.  When I visit, the adult children in the family like to tease me and say how much more they like Fr. Jim Rolph, the chaplain at Powers Catholic.  So during dinner conversation last Sunday I was talking to someone else at the table, but one of the kids interjected and said something, but all I heard was “in Flint.”  At first I just let it pass and figured it wasn’t anything important, but then young man started laughing, and realizing it was connected to what I had missed, I said, “Wait; what did you say?”  He started laughing and said, “I wondered why you didn’t react.  I said, ‘After all, Fr. Jim is the best priest in the Flint area!’”  
    Sometimes our attention is divided, and we don’t hear what’s going on.  And because we don’t hear, we miss something that we would want to know.  It’s not such a big deal when a young man is poking fun and saying that a brother priest is better than you (for the record, Fr. Jim and I are good friends, and I respect him greatly!).  But if it’s not teasing, but the voice of God, it’s much more important to pay attention and listen.
    In our first reading, Moses prophesies that God will send another prophet, like Moses, to whom the people need to listen.  This prophet will have very important messages to communicate.  Of course, we know that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the prophets, and was a prophet Himself, since He spoke for God.  But He didn’t even speak like the other prophets, but spoke with authority, authority that came from Himself, since He is God.  The people listening to Jesus recognize this, and they recognize “a new teaching with authority.”  
    Part of this authority is that Jesus, unlike the other rabbis of His time, would not appeal to an earlier rabbi.  That was the way the interpretation of laws and teachings worked for the Jewish people.  If you were a rabbi, people wouldn’t necessarily believe what you were teaching or interpreting.  But if you could appeal to an earlier rabbi who was well-respected, then your teaching took on more authority.  And the closer you could get to Moses, the more authority you would have.  
    But Jesus did not appeal to any other rabbi.  He simply spoke as if it were true.  Think back to Matthew chapter 5.  Jesus keeps saying, “You have heard it said…but I say to you…”. He teaches as one who is authentically interpreting God’s will, authentically speaking for God, like Moses, but even more authoritative than even Moses.  And even unclean spirits respond to the words that Jesus speaks.  It’s not even a contest about who has authority; Jesus speaks and they have to obey, because He is the Creator, and they are mere creatures.
    It is with this same authority that the Church, when teaching on faith or morals, speaks.  Because the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, and because Jesus has given His authority to the pope and bishops who lead His Church (remember that Jesus said to the apostles that whoever listens to them listens to Him), the Church can say that, to be in union with Jesus, you have to believe this, or you can’t believe that.  The Church can also say with the authority of Jesus that, in order to be living as a disciple, you should do this or you shouldn’t do that.  It’s not simply the opinion of some old men who wear pointy hats; it is Jesus Himself teaching.
    Our psalm today encourages us: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”  How often do our hearts harden when someone tells us something that we have to do, especially in the area of faith (what to believe) or morals (how to live).  It’s almost like an instantaneous reaction that someone tells us what to do and we automatically want to do the opposite.  That’s our fallen human intellect and will.  When the Church says we cannot support abortion, or we need to assist the poor, we have a responsibility as followers of Jesus to obey.  When the Church says that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Jesus, or that marriage is only between one man and one woman, to be loyal to Jesus we conform our lives to that teaching.  Sometimes it’s hard.  Sometimes it’s very hard, and may even seem counterintuitive, but God asks us to listen to His Son, who will never lead us astray if we follow Him.
    But besides the struggles to listen to Jesus as He speaks through His Church, it can also simply be hard to listen to Jesus.  Our age is filled with cacophony, which comes from the Greek meaning “bad sounds.”  We often surround ourselves with noise, and in doing so, drown out the God who likes to speak to us like He spoke to the Prophet Elijah: in the whisper in the silence.  Hardening our hearts can include not making time for God in daily prayer.  Maybe the only time you have is five minutes; maybe it’s turning off the radio in your car; maybe it’s coming to a daily Mass, or spending time in adoration.  But in order to hear God, we have to carve out time for Him, especially in silence, not only speaking to God, but listening to how God responds.  Sometimes silence can be scary, but God will, in His way, in His time, speak to us.  All we have to do is pay attention and listen.
    Don’t miss the conversation God wants to have with you.  Don’t miss out on how God teaches us to follow Him and to find true happiness.  Listen to the Church when it comes to faith and morals.  Make time for silence with God each week.  You will find the happiness for which you long.

Whose Authority?

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last week I announced that I was going to DJ the St. Valentine’s Day Dinner Dance.  A number of people wondered if I was serious; and though I might get some help, I certainly am!  A number of people asked if the dance was only going to have country music; it won’t.  I do also appreciate other genres of music.  The 9th grade confirmation class asked if I was going to play “All About That Bass,” a current song that is not, despite its title, about a certain register on an instrument or in a voice.  

Musical taste is always a funny thing.  Some people only listen to one kind of music.  Some people listen to many.  Some have genres that they’ll never listen to (like rap or country), while others go back and forth between different styles.  What I love about country music is that, more often than not, the words are profound, funny, or insightful.  What I dislike about many current songs, be they rock, rap, or R&B, is that you can’t even understand the words the artist is singing.  And if you do find out, well, you probably wish you didn’t understand them again.

Music shapes us.  When we listen to a song and we come to know it, it impacts us.  Sometimes the impact is small, especially at the beginning, but it often grows.  When we actually memorize a song, it becomes almost a part of us.  I often chuckle at students who tell me they hate memorizing poems or dates in history, but then can sing me all the words to “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift.  Where do most of the fights occur about the Mass (though not all of them)?  Music.  We hear hymns or other music and they become a part of us.  We are changed by what we listen to.

Moses tells the Jews in the first reading that they need to listen to this prophet that God will send who will be like Moses.  When God wanted to speak to His People at Mount Sinai, he spoke from a cloud, with earthquakes, fire, trumpet blasts, and thunder.  And the people were so scared that they told Moses that they only wanted to hear from God through Moses.  And so at this point in the Book of Deuteronomy in our first reading, Moses promises them another prophet who will also speak for God, to whom they will need to listen.  

Jesus, of course, is the fulfillment of the promise.  Though He is more than a prophet (He’s the Son of God), He speaks for God the Father and reveals God the Father by all He says and does.  And He is not scary (at least not at most times, though Peter, James, and John do find wonder and awe in the presence of God at the Transfiguration), and God speaks through Jesus: just what the people wanted.  And the people recognize that Jesus is speaking with authority, unlike the scribes.  Even the demons obey the words of Jesus; even they recognize His authority. To have authority, one must be the author.  Our English word “authority” even includes the word “author.”  Jesus speaks with authority because He is the Author of everything; He is the Author of Life; He created the world. 

To what or to whom to we listen?  To what or to whom do we give authority?  There are all kinds of businesses, groups, and persons that want us to listen to them and to recognize authority in them.  How easily we can buy into the lie that if we don’t have the newest phone we won’t be happy?  How much would Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC love us to base our life on their reporting?  How much would the New York Times or the Washington Post love us to view the world through their lens?  How much do certain TV shows or songs try to convince us that what they say is right is right?  There’s nothing wrong with buying a new phone, or watching cable news, or reading newspapers, or even watching certain TV shows or listening to songs in and of themselves.  But some of them (more and more I would suggest) are trying to change our life.  They are trying to claim what only belongs to Jesus: the authority of obedience.

Is it a wonder that so many people think sexual acts outside of marriage are not wrong?  We see it (even if not graphically) on primetime television and in popular music.  Is it a wonder than women are treated simply as toys to entertain?  So many movies, shows, and songs treat women as if their only purpose in life is to satisfy the libido of men.  But the more we listen to the world, and the less we listen to Jesus, the more our problems will increase.  Because Hollywood, the media, artists, and businesses don’t care about our ultimate happiness.  They may want to do more than just make money, but I can assure you that Apple, Clint Eastwood, and Taylor Swift don’t truly care about me.  They can’t because they don’t know me.  Jesus cares about me.  He wants me to be happy and be fulfilled.  He knows me, even better than I know myself.  He knows me because He created me, and sustains me in love.  And He invites me to listen to Him, to acknowledge His authority, because He is my Author, and wants to have me with Him forever in heaven, enveloped in love.  But I have to listen to Him.

I enjoy listening to music.  I enjoy watching movies and TV.  But I have to guard my ears and my eyes to make sure that I am not giving more authority to music and shows than I give to Jesus in determining the direction of my life.  To whom do we listen?  Whose authority do we recognize?