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The Great Commission Trinity Sunday Matthew 28:16-20 Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, what a wonderful feast day to have a heart-to-heart conversation with you — Trinity Sunday! Please accompany me during this time of prayer, and help me to be a more effective instrument in your hands. My only desire is to please you. Lord, please flood my heart with your grace so that I may fully accomplish your will in my life. Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to better understand this great mystery of the Holy Trinity. Never allow me to forget that you are always watching over me and looking after my greater interests. More importantly, please help me to know and love you more so that I can put this love into practice in my daily life. 1. Standing Between Heaven and Earth. Jesus Christ stands on the mountain of the Ascension, drawing all creation back to his Heavenly Father. He stands between heaven and earth as our God, our redeemer, our best friend, and as one who will walk with us every step of the way. With the disciples, let us adore him. Lord, we worship you, we thank you, we adore you. We thank you for your great goodness, burning love, and unfathomable mercy. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory. 2. Go Therefore and Make Disciples of All Nations. What does Jesus do with his power over heaven and earth? He uses it to unite sinful men with the all-holy God. How almighty his power must be to transform sinners into children of God and heirs of heaven. And how does Jesus bring about this transformation? He empowers his apostles to teach his truth and transmit a participation in his divine life. Lord Jesus, thank you for the light of truth that dispels the darkness of our minds. Thank you for the life of grace bestowed upon us in baptism. And thank you, Lord, for the bishops and priests who bring us -- through your divine power -- God’s own truth and a share in the life of the most blessed Trinity. Thank you for St Peter and all his successors who keep us united in one, holy and universal Church as we journey toward the heavenly kingdom. 3. Baptizing Them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Without water, we would die of thirst. Without the Redemption, we would die in our sins, forever excluded from our destiny — union with God in the eternal happiness of heaven. How fittingly then, Jesus uses water to give us the fruits of his glorious Redemption. Not water alone, but water blessed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let us bow down in adoration before the infinite power of Our Lord. Through the ministry of his priests, Jesus raises the dead to the supernatural life of grace. Thank you, Lord, for the awesome gift of baptism and for adopting me as your child. Dialogue with Christ: Dear Heavenly Father, you are now my own Father. I am your beloved child in Christ. Holy Spirit of God, gift of the Father and the Son, make your home in my heart. Direct my every thought, word and deed to glorify the most Holy Trinity. Resolution: I will often repeat with the holy children of Fatima: “O Most Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most Precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of thy dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world.” |
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Moses: “Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before? … This is why you must know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God…” If we search all the religions of the world for some unique property - for some unique message - we come back to the “message of distinction” that resides in Christianity. This message is the culmination of a huge mystery: We are made in the image and likeness of God. The Church, in her wisdom and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit has called us to proclaim this great mystery immediately following the conclusion of the Easter season. Trinity Sunday is a chance for us to examine - in our own frail human intellect - the amazing reality of God in His Love. We have been taught that all creation comes from within the desire of the Love that is God. That the desire of God to share the wonder of His love is why creation - including humanity - came into existence. That is part of the way we share in His divine life. What? Yes, we share in His Divine Life. How are we made in the image and likeness of God? What is that “image and likeness"? We do what no other creature can. We - with the grace of God - create something eternal: Other human beings. God, in His Love, could not remain only in Himself. The very nature of His love - without implying anything lacking within Him - required more. That more is His creation. His Love within the Family of the Trinity generated more love and that became our created universe. As a husband and wife come together, generating their love, sometimes - with the grace of God - there is a new creation in a child. This is something the devil, nor any other creature is able to do. We alone participate in God’s ongoing creation. And it is from the family that God is revealed. As Christians, this Family is something unique in our understanding of God. It grew from within the understanding of God’s self revelation through Moses that “the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other…” It grew through the prophets of the Old Testament where God was first revealed as a father. It grew to the declaration of Jesus (God the Son) of God the Father, and the Holy Spirit as our Advocate. We have come to see this as God: Three-in-one; a community of persons, but one God. I know you know this. But think again on the mystery of the Family … and of the family. We participate in the creative power of God through our families. This is central to our identity in the image of God. Is it any surprise there is such an attack on family and children? Why is abortion so demonically strong? Because it denies the creative power of man and woman and the dignity of the eternal beings husband and wife create with God. Why is there such an attack on family? Because by distorting or destroying family, the devil distorts or destroys the image of God in the hearts and minds of people. All the attacks we see against family today - the myriad variations, distortions, denials, and (yes) perversions - are ultimately an attack on the very image of God in which we were made. God said: “Let us make man in our image” … male and female He created them. The image of the Trinity is under attack today. So I repeat what Moses said: “…This is why you must know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God…” and we are made in His image. |