Trinity Sunday 2024 - Deliverance from false gods and empty promises

 Last week, we had a strange occurrence here at St. Ignatius. On Friday morning, as we were opening up for school, we found a three and a half foot painting leaning up against the statue of St. Ignatius at the parking lot entrance. It took us a while to figure out what it was a painting of. But after some internet research, it turned out that the painting was undeniably an image of a Sumerian deity--the pagan goddess known as Ishtar—or Ashtaroth--inthe old testament. I’ve seen a lot of interesting things in this neighborhood, but this was a new one for me. 

We couldn’t help speculating where this strange painting came from. Perhaps it was used in some of the witchcraft prevalent in our neighborhood. But in the end, who knows. For whatever reason, someone wanted to get rid of this thing. I’d like to hope that may it was someone’s way of giving up belief in a false god in exchange for faith in the one true God, whom we celebrate today—the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

That’s our hope, isn’t it? That’s what we labor for. That’s why the Church exists, right? To witness to the one true God. To help souls come to know Him, love Him, and serve Him. From the lips of Jesus in the Gospel this weekend, we heard our marching orders: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” 

And I’d like to think that this pagan image being left on church property is a sign that we’re doing our job. That our labors are having an effect. That our parish—all of us, brothers and sisters in the Lord, are bringing about some good. That God is working in us and through us, to deliver souls from their false gods. 

So let’s keep it up: the prayers for the conversion of the pagans and non-believers of this neighborhood—the works of mercy-the witness of our striving to conform our lives to Jesus Christ. Let’s keep it up. It works. 

In the first reading today from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, Moses is giving a sort of catechetical lesson—a doctrinal instruction to the Israelites on the One True God. And what does he say? That the God of Israel is the only God in the heavens above and on the earth below. We say the same thing in our Creed, every week: I believe in one God, Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

And remember, these people, whom Moses is teaching, had been in a culture that worshipped a whole pantheon of gods—the gods of Egypt. And they were about to enter the promised land, which was still filled with a bunch of different peoples who worshipped a whole other pantheon—the gods of Canaan. 

And he instructs the Israelites so that they’ll cling to the One True God by obeying his statutes and commandments and loving Him with their whole hearts minds, souls, and strength.

We, too, show our fidelity and our belief in God by following his commandments. Our obedience to the commands of God marks us as believers. Whether in private or public, Catholics are to act differently and speak differently than the rest of the world. We are to show to the world the freedom that comes from our relationship with God.

This is why Paul writes in our second reading, that Christians are not given a spirit of slavery to fall back into our old pagan ways, but a spirit of adoption, which enables us to cry out to God as Father. Unlike the pagans who are still enslaved to their emotions and bodily passions and worldly influences, Christians experience that freedom that Our Father wants for us—freedom from patterns of sin and selfishness and resentment and violence. 

Our Faith is truly salvific and healing and liberating, which is why we are excited about sharing it with others. Because the freedom from error and sin and selfishness that we come to experience, we want others to experience, don’t we? We know that the one true God of the universe loves us and calls us to holiness, and we want others to know that as well. So that they can know the goodness of God, the peace of God, the strength and power of God, that animates our lives.

St. Paul goes on to say,  that “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit.” In other words, God uses the Christians whose lives are changed and filled with God’s presence to to witness to the freedom and salvation offered to humanity through Jesus Christ. God wants to use me and you to draw souls to himself. 

And when the presence of God can be detected in us, when we’ve cultivated those gifts of the Spirit, well that’s very attractive to those who are wandering around in the darkness of the world, who continue to be unfilled by the false gods of the world.  Our task is to witness to God through the Christian way of life.

In his great 20th century document on evangelizing the modern world, Pope Paul VI wrote, “It is by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus—the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity.”

So again, God uses our witness of being detached from the things of the world and the powers of the world and the false gods of the world, to bring souls to himself.

But then Pope Paul wrote, “it is not superfluous to emphasize the importance and necessity of preaching… Preaching, the verbal proclamation of a message, is indeed always indispensable.”

Pope Paul, that first Pope of the modern world, echoes the timeless instruction of Jesus—that we must teach and preach by our conduct and by our words, in order to bring souls to faith—faith which includes a living relationship with God through Christ and His Church.

What a powerful message for us to consider: how and in what ways, by my conduct and my words and my manner of life, does God wish to use me to set souls free. 

And that’s a profound calling. God involves us in his work of salvation. And consider that any one of us might be the only mass going Christian, the only believer that some people out there (or maybe even in our own families) might encounter. And so we have a responsibility to that people that we encounter out there, to cultivate that holiness of life that makes us effective witnesses. 

May we take seriously the call to holiness. Your sanctity is the instrument God wishes to use. So ensure you are praying as you should, confessing your sins, adhering to right doctrine, and engaging in those works of charity, that you might  be ready, willing, and effective, in the work God has for you, for the glory of glory of God and the salvation of souls.