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A Father’s Witness
Today we celebrate Father’s Day in the United States, a day we give thanks for God for the gift of our fathers and father figures, whether they be brothers, uncles, grandfathers, stepfathers, godfathers, or spiritual fathers, and to ask God to bless them. The readings for today, the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, I feel are very appropriate for today’s holiday.
In the first reading we hear of Jeremiah who feels he is being surrounded by people who denounce him and reject him, yet he places his trust in the Lord. In the responsorial psalm, the Psalmist expresses a similar sentiment, crying of the “insult” and suffering he willingly endures because of his witness to the Lord, reminding the listener of God’s kindness and mercy. St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that although through one man sin entered the world, bringing about death, the obedience of Jesus, the New Adam, opens for us an ever overflowing fountain of mercy and grace. Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus affirms us in our dignity and worth in the Lord, that even the smallest detail of our lives are important to the Father. All this, our earthly fathers ought to reflect and to bear living witness.
Rejoicing in Love
The first Sunday following Pentecost Sunday the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. We will perhaps hear homilies at Mass about the essence of the Trinity, about how our God is three divine Persons in One God, and many different analogies explaining the life of the Trinity and how each of the three Persons are distinct yet one. We may hear how St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, explaining each of the leaves to be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet all held together by the one and same stem. Or maybe we will hear how St. Augustine described the Trinity as a community of love where the Father is the Lover, the Son is the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit as the Love that is present. Whether we prefer the theological explanation of the Oneness of the Trinity or the emphasis on the personal attributes of the distinct Divine Persons of the Trinity, at the core of why we celebrate Trinity Sunday is to remind ourselves of one very simple but profound truth: that God is Love and that we were created in that love, for that love, and so we rejoice.
Living in the Spirit
The fiftieth day after Easter the Church celebrates Pentecost Sunday. It is on this day that the Church is born. In other words, Pentecost is the “birthday of the Church.” I have always found it interesting that some other feast or solemnity is not the “birthday” of the Church, such as the Annunciation or Easter. However, it is most fitting that Pentecost Sunday is the birthday of the Church for on this day, the Holy Spirit, the promised Advocate, descended upon the Apostles and all those gathered with them and all were able to understand what each other was saying in their own language. You see, it was on this day that the Holy Spirit broke through the barrier that separated the people, liken to undoing the effects of the Tower of Babel, where now they all spoke one language, a language that transcends words, a language that is rooted in THE WORD, a language that is love and God Himself.