This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity…when we talk about the concept of the Holy Trinity many eyes glaze over and some of us experience something akin to “brain fog”. Most of us learned about the Trinity as children, and it was all quite confusing at the time.

Well, all these years later it can still be quite confusing. However, if we move towards understanding the Trinity as “relationship”….Jesus said “the father and I are one”… “I am in Him and He is in me”, then perhaps we may become ever slightly more comfortable. Jesus presents it as a relationship, a Divine indwelling. It is a relationship of intimacy, not just doctrine. So if we focus more on the Trinity as relationship perhaps then we can better open up our hearts to an intimate relationship with the Trinity.

It is far more important to have a relationship with God rather than try to explain God. Many a theologian has spent their life trying to explain the Holy Trinity. Thomas Aquinas wrote most eloquently about the Trinity but some claim that after having a mystical experience declared that all he had written was as of straw compared to the beatific vision he had been given. What is clear is that the Word made flesh, the Spirit of God that swept over waters and the Creator who spoke the universe into being were and are a vital unified Divine presence in which “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

The great American theologian, Catherine Mowry Lacuna wrote: “Living a Trinitarian faith means living God’s life: living from and for God, from and for others.” She goes on to say it is about “living as Christ lived, preaching the gospel, relying totally on God; offering healing and reconciliation…living together in harmony and communion with every other creature in the common household of God, doing all things to the praise and glory of God.” How might I better live in harmony and communion with all of creation? What might “living from and for God, from and for others” look like in my life?

Easter Blessings,
Fr. Tim

St. Augustine said that the Spirit blows where the Spirit wills…not exactly comforting if you are someone who likes things neat and orderly or if you prefer to have life all figured out and neatly packaged. Most of us would prefer to see life’s decisions as right or wrong, good or bad…as if everything in life were black and white. The problem with life is that most of the time we are living in the grey, everything is not black and white! This is where the Holy Spirit offers counsel, the challenge is to be open to Her counsel! The Holy Spirit blows where She wills and inspires and guides whomever She chooses, whenever and wherever She chooses.

Most of us get used to a particular routine and we find comfort in doing things in a particular way and we find discomfort when our routine gets changed by outside influences or when we are forced to do things in a different or new way. It is no different in the church, we all get comfortable in the way we worship, in the way we pray, in the way we sing, in what we sing, and then when change comes we suddenly are set off center and we feel “off balance” at the change or new ways.

I am sure that many in the church today see the Pope’s challenge to live a radically gospel centered life as a change from what they were used to. In answering the Gospel’s call, Pope Francis has called us out of the church buildings and into the streets to be a “field hospital” where binding up the wounds of the poor and brokenhearted is a priority. The Pope is following the call of Christ, who calls us to be a welcoming presence to immigrants and refugees, to seek out the lost and forsaken and to “be” the word of peace in the presence of war, to “be” the word of love spoken to the lonely and marginalized of the world, to “be” the word of justice and equality spoken in the midst of injustice, racism and exclusion. As well, we are called to be care takers of creation, to take responsibility for the way we live on the planet -- personally, communally, nationally and internationally.

While all of this can all seem overwhelming, we need to remember that we are not called to do all this by ourselves but rather it is in and through the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit within us and around us that we are able to do all good things! As we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost let each of us ask ourselves to where and to what is the Holy Spirit calling me in my life?

Easter Blessings,
Fr. Tim

As we celebrate the feast of the Ascension I cannot help but reflect on the many ideas and concepts that swirl around this feast…some with unintended consequences! The word “ascension” itself conjures up images of Jesus rising up into the clouds to join the Father and the Holy Spirit somewhere “up there”…far, far away. The problem with this is it can lead us to believe that heaven is “up there” and we are “down here” and that God is far off and distant from us and from our lives. This is in stark contrast to the heart and soul of the meaning and significance of the incarnation. The truth of our God having become “incarnate” (in the flesh) in Jesus means that God is with us…and not off, watching us from afar.

We need to recall Jesus’ promise “I am with you until the end”! These simple words are most profound…there is no need for us to stand gawking skyward with our jaws hanging open. While the physical presence of Jesus Christ as a singular human and divine presence no longer walks the earth…Christ is here, as close as our own breath, keeping us alive to be his presence in our world. As we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus, let us celebrate the presence of the Risen One in our midst!

Before his ascension Jesus gave a clear command and mission to his disciples…to us. We are charged with preaching the “Good News” of Jesus Christ and to be that healing, loving and welcoming presence in a world filled with sickness, hatred and exclusion. How am I a “healing, loving and welcoming presence” to the immigrant, the refugee and to those who experience discrimination, racism and bigotry? How do I “preach” the Good News to my family, friends, coworkers, and to those in political power? How and where do I experience the presence of God in my life?
​
Easter Blessings,
Fr. Tim

 On this sixth Sunday of Easter we hear one of the foundational beliefs of our Christian faith: Jesus proclaims to his disciples that just as the Father has loved him so he loves them and that there is no greater love than for someone to lay down their life for a friend (which, of course, is exactly what he is about to do!). In the second reading St John tells us clearly that God is love itself! And Jesus calls us to abide in that love, to dwell in it, to live from it.

During this Easter season we are invited to reflect on this amazing deep and passionate love that God has for each one of us, that we are loved even in the midst of our brokenness and sinfulness. Jesus was willing to lay down his life to show us that boundless love of which he spoke to his disciples. This deep and passionate love that God has for us is for all people and even St Peter comes to realize this, and we hear him recognize that God shows no partiality. And we are called to love one another as Christ loves us, and we are empowered to do this in and through the grace of the Eucharist which not only empowers us but emboldens us to reach out to embrace “the other”, especially those most in need -- those most despised and dejected, those marginalized by ourselves and by the broader society.

Just as St Peter came to recognize that God’s love stretched beyond the people of Israel so too we are called to see God’s amazing and transformative love for all peoples and allow it to change our hearts and minds that we might draw near to all those who suffer and are in need and whom others dehumanize and distance themselves from. This then shapes and impacts our world view and how we see other people, other cultures and other countries and how we are called as disciples to interact with them. Reaching out and embracing “the other”, the one who is different, is difficult but it is precisely what we are called to do as Jesus’ disciples.

What can I do to better accept God’s love for me in my life that I might share it with others? To whom is God’s love calling me to love and accept, in my family, my school, my community, my country, the world?

Easter Blessings,
Fr. Tim