From our Pastor’s Desk
Dear Parish Family:
“The Bible readings for this Sunday, feast of the Most Holy Trinity, helps us to enter into the identity of God. The second reading presents the departing words that St. Paul bids to the community of Corinth: “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor 13:13). This — as we say — “blessing” of the Apostle is the fruit of his personal experience with God’s love, that love which the Risen Christ revealed to him, which transformed his life and “impelled” him to take the Gospel to the peoples. Beginning from his experience of grace, Paul exhorts Christians with these words: “… rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another” (v. 11). The Christian community, even with all its human limitations, can become a reflection of the communion of the Trinity, of its kindness, of its beauty. But this — just as Paul himself testifies — necessarily passes through the experience of God’s mercy, of his forgiveness.
It is what happens to the Hebrews in the Exodus journey. When the people break the covenant, God presents himself to Moses in the cloud in order to renew that pact, proclaiming his own name and its meaning. Thus, he says: “the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity” (Ex 34:6). This name implies that God is not distant and closed within himself, but is Life which seeks to be communicated, is openness, is Love which redeems man of his infidelity. God is “merciful”, “gracious” and “rich in charity” because he offers himself to us so as to fill the gap of our limitations and our shortcomings, to forgive our mistakes, to lead us back to the path of justice and truth. This revelation of God is fulfilled in the New Testament thanks to the Word of Christ and to his mission of salvation. Jesus made manifest the face of God, in substance One and in persons Triune; God is all and only Love, in a subsistent relationship that creates, redeems and sanctifies all: Father and Son and Holy Spirit.
Today’s Gospel “sets the stage” for Nicodemus, who, while playing an important role in the religious and civil community of the time, has not ceased seeking God. He did not think: “I have arrived”; he did not cease seeking God; and now he has perceived the echo of His voice in Jesus. In the nighttime dialogue with the Nazarene, Nicodemus finally understood that he had already been sought and awaited by God, that he was personally loved by Him. God always seeks us first, awaits us first, loves us first. He is like the flower of the almond tree; thus says the Prophet: “It blooms first” (cf. Jer 1:11-12). In fact Jesus speaks to him in this way: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). What is this eternal life? It is the immeasurable and freely given love of the Father which Jesus gave on the Cross, offering his life for our salvation. And this love with the action of the Holy Spirit has shined a new light on the earth and into every human heart that welcomes him; a light that reveals the dark corners, the hardships that impede us from bearing the good fruits of charity and of mercy.” (Pope Francis homily on June 11, 2017)
Dear family: To tell you the truth, this mystery of the Blessed Trinity is very difficult to explain. But we can explain this in our own experiential way. By trying to explain this, our own explanation and answer will become another question and that is a mystery! We believe in the Blessed Trinity through faith and nothing more. In my own experience, God is a parent to me. I know that out of nothingness He begot me. I pass through my human parents in my journey toward Him, the ultimate parent of us all. From moment to moment, He reminds us of His sustaining and loving Presence and that in every bit of creation, He nourishes us and continues to give us life.
Jesus as God is my Brother, my friend and my Guide who leads me back to Himself from my wayward ways. He is among us and became one of us. When we suffer, he suffers with us. When we rejoice, He shares our joy. He leads to the only meaning of life on this earth – to love and be loved.
The Holy Spirit as God is the very life within me, my every breath, the divine energy that burns within me, moving me to reach out and offer my petty, little life or any part of this life to whoever may need, whenever and wherever it is needed. So, both Jesus and the Spirit lead to the Father of us all – The God of Love.
All that and more is the meaning of God as Trinity. It is this God as Trinity whom we need most especially these days when we are experiencing political, economic, socio-cultural, religious, and moral crisis, and especially too, when our relationship with one another is in crisis. But if we can only allow our Trinitarian God to cure the woundedness in our own hearts, we may learn to really love one another as he loves us.
Finally, I would like to remind you about our gathering after all masses next weekend to welcome Fr. Saul and bid farewell to Fr. Yonhatan. Also, please join me in giving thanks to Agustin Hays and Maria Andrade for being in charge of the Young Adult’s Group for the past two years; both of you are simply amazing young people who love and understand God and His people. Job well done! They are passing the torch to Juan Sanchez and Cecilia de las Carreras; I am sure they will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors with honors. Blessings upon your heads!
May God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit continue making us One Body, One Spirit, One Family! Blessed Virgin Mayr, St. Katharine Drexel, St. Michael The Archangel, Pope St. Pius X, and Blessed José Gregorio Hernández, pray for us.
Yours in Christ Jesus!
Fr. Omar
