The Most Holy Trinity 2025 - The Central Mystery that shapes our lives

 In seminary, we spent an entire semester considering the theological writings on the Holy Trinity. We studied the scriptural foundations of the Doctrine of the Trinity, and the writings of the early church fathers from the east and the west, the medieval theologians, especially the summa theologica of st. Thomas Aquinas, modern theologians like Karl Rahner, papal documents and saintly reflections.

About three quarters into the semester, I remember one of the permanent deacons taking the class raising his hand and asking, “when is any of this going to be applicable to parish life and preaching?” In other words, “how are the Trinitarian reflections of the Cappadocian Fathers like St. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzan, or the intricate arguments of Thomas Aquinas, or the run-on sentences of Karl Rahner going to actually help us in parish ministry or even the Christian life?”

I can’t remember how the professor answered, but the deacon’s question has stuck with me all these years. Why is seeking to understand the Trinity important? How is this supposed to affect my life? And I think that’s the point. As God’s faithful ones we ought to see understanding of the subject of our Love—God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and to allow that understanding to shape our life. 

Who. Is. God. The answer to that question will shape your life.

It even shapes the lives of Atheists. Atheists treat God as a man-made myth, a lie that believers tell themselves in order to give explanation to the unexplainable. And so they develop an ambivalence toward religion and often a hatred us. 

The question, “who is God” shapes the lives of those who believe in God, but don’t want anything to do with Him. They go from one unsatisfying pursuit of pleasure to the next, because they do not acknowledge that God can be found.

But Christians believe that God not only exists, not only can He be found, not only has He communicated with us and revealed himself to us, but we possess an understanding that God wants us to know him and love him and have our life shaped by our relationship with Him and the truths he has revealed.

Who God is and what God has done is meant to shape our lives. 

Today, on Trinity Sunday, we consider that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a communion of love. In creating the human family, God looked at his own inner life to find the design for humanity. God’s inner life is a loving, life-giving community: the Father and Son love one another, and from their love proceeds the Holy Spirit. If God is communion of love, than humans are made for love and communion and harmony and relationship and peace.

This truth is right there on the first page of the Bible, in chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis: God says, “Let us make man in our image”. A plurality of persons, a community of persons, sharing a nature, says let us make man to be like us. 

God is the source of life, God is love, God is a unity of holiness, and so that means we are made to seek life and love and unity through holiness. 

“Let us make man in our image” also points to the gift of will. God chose to make us—to give us life. And so too, we are able to make choices—to exercise free will, to pursue our highest good, or not. We can choose life or death—goodness or sin—love or selfishness—our highest good or depravity.

Now, the abuse of that free will has gotten us into trouble. Adam and Eve’s choice to separate themselves from the communion of love and obedience has caused ripple effects in every human life and mind and soul.

But even when we abuse our free will, in original sin or every other subsequent sin, God reaches out to reconcile because God desires communion with us. God so loved the world, that he sent the Son, to reconcile us to himself and to each other, and so that means we are to be people who like him, seek to heal wounds, and invite, and reconcile. 

So that students’ question: When will any of this matter?—the answer is: “always” in everything we do. Every sacrament we celebrate flows from who God is, what God desires for us, because he desires life and holiness and communion for us. Every teaching of the Church, every commandment is Scripture, every moment that we are given in this earthly life—all of it is shaped by who God is. 

When we know who God is, we come to know who we are, and how we are meant to live. As the Catechism puts it, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the 'hierarchy of the truths of faith'.  The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men 'and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin'.

God is Trinity, and we are meant to live Trinitarianly—always. We are to live Trinitarianly on earth, so that we may come to share in the Trinitarian life of God in heaven, in eternal glory. 

This is why we begin each prayer in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and end every prayer in the same way because it acknowledges that everything we are doing flows from Him, is to be guided by Him, is to be done in union with Him, and directed back toward Him. 

This is why the task of the Church is Evangelization because we recognize that all people are called to share in the divine life. God made us for life and sends us into the world to invite others to communion with Him.

And so, brothers and sisters, we don’t study the Trinity merely to pass a theology exam or fill a homily with lofty ideas. We contemplate the Trinity so we can live in communion with God in this life more fully, and become what we behold—a people of unity, holiness, and self-giving love.

May our homes mirror the unity of the Trinity. May our parish reflect the life of the Trinity. May our lives be filled with the love of the Holy Trinity To Him be glory and praise, now and forever, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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.

Trinity Sunday 2023 - Divine Truth that conquers our sinful pride

 As I’ve shared before, I had the great privilege of living in Rome for my last semester of college seminary. Rome is truly one of the great pilgrimage destinations of our faith. It is a deeply powerful and moving experience to visit the churches, and the relics of the saints, and the Vatican—not to mention to see all of the sacred art and architecture inspired by our faith. Rome is also a major global destination for tourists—those who really have no intention of a spiritual experience. But, that’s okay. For there have been many who visited Rome as a tourist, but then had a powerful conversions. 

But, one of things about Rome that always bugged me, is that you can’t go a day without hearing—on the subways, on the street corners, in some of the piazza’s—the song “My Way” made popular by Frank Sinatra. 

And to be honest, I liked that song as a teenager. And perhaps that’s not surprising. Willful teenagers are very interested in doing things “my way”. The lyrics to the song paint the picture of a person at the end of their life, not apologizing for doing things “my way”. I took control, I made the plans, I overcame doubts, I’ve pushed past tears, I’ve refused to kneel, because I did things “my way”. 

And I guess I get it, the song is played over and over and over in Rome because it was made popular by an Italian-American, although it was written by a Frenchman—and it’s appeals to the tourists. But hearing that song with its lyrics of boastfully and pridefully rejecting any way but my own, refusing to kneel to any god but my own ego, in the Holy City is deeply disturbing. Because Rome, as our Christianity’s religious capital in a sense is supposed to be about anything but, “my way”. For our faith boasts not “my way” by Thy way be done, God’s will be done, not my own. Willfulness is what got us in trouble in the first place. Willful sinful pride is the cause of our downfall. And sinful pride continues to lead us away from God.

I bring up my mostly rational disdain for that song on this Trinity Sunday because at the heart of today’s feast is faith. Faith in something that I don’t define. Faith in something I don’t control. Faith in something that is bigger than me. A mystery greater than my finite intelligence can grasp. Faith in something that my ego must surrender to. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit whether I understand what that means or not. 

And we are not the source of this Truth. The fact that we know that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—One God, in Three Divine Persons, isn’t something that we figured out for ourselves. It’s not a matter of human ingenuity or industry. This Truth about God—God’s Triune Nature—has been revealed by God Himself as a truth for us to accept. 

And perhaps this is why Christianity is so terribly difficult for so many people in our modern day to accept. Because “My Way”, "my truth", "my opinion", "my body, my choice" is the anthem, the motto, the modus operandi, of modern man. Many may not admit it directly, but it’s certainly right under the surface of so many of our contemporaries: no one is going to tell me what to believe. No Pope. No priest. No holy book. I’ll determine what my own truth is, thank you very much. 

But that sounds a lot like Adam and Eve all over again, doesn’t it? It’s our downfall. Choosing to be closed to the truth that comes from God will always lead to our destruction—separation from God and division within the human family. 

One of my  favorite documents coming out of the Second Vatican Council was a document called Dei Verbum—latin for the Word of God...on Divine Revelation--how God communicates His Word, His truth to us. Right at the beginning of the document, Dei Verbum explains God’s desire to make Himself known, to make his truth known to us. It says, “In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature. Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends and lives among them, so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words…the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.”

As a bit of a theology nerd, that paragraph makes my heart go pitter-pat. God has revealed this Truth—that He is Triune—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to draw us closer to Him in Love--that we may know Him and love Him and have friendship with Him. 

Today’s feast used to be one of my least favorite to preach on because I thought it was about coming up with some analogy to help you all better understand the relationships between the three divine persons, or the nature of God, or what the word consubstantial actually means, or explaining the heresies which misrepresent the truth about God. But really, at the heart of today’s feast is God desiring us to him—to draw us into a friendship that will change your life. 

That’s why “My way” is such a terrible idea. It’s lonely as it is closed-in on itself because it’s godless and divergent from friendship with God, if me and only me determines what is good and true. Rather, Trinity Sunday invites us to Faith that opens us to the peace, joy, life, and fulfillment that comes from knowing God. And this offers us a firm foundation for the whole of our life. 

There is a well-known prayer called the Act of Faith which expresses this: “O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen.”

Faith. Faith in God. Faith in the teachings of the Church. This is the firm foundation which enables us to resist being swept up by the chaos of this world.

In the second reading, St. Paul says, “Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.” Agree with one another, on what? This isn't about agreeing on who makes the best pizza pie, over here, but on matters of Ultimate Truth. Possessing the unity of faith in the truth that comes from God. And when we do that, we will live in peace. So, trust the teachings of the Church—all of them—even the ones that might bring you ridicule from the worldly. 

In my experience as a priest—those who trust the Church have greater peace—just like Paul says. If this is a struggle for you, know that I pray for you, because I hope that you can discover the peace that comes from faith that is deeper than your feelings. Faith that is grounded in the Truth of God Himself. Seek deeper faith that you may have deeper peace for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Trinity Sunday 2022 - God revealed in Creation, Cross, & Church

 Throughout the Church year, the feasts and solemnities of the liturgical calendar celebrate different dimensions of our Catholic faith. We celebrate events from the life of Jesus: like his joyous birth at Christmas, his salvific death on Good Friday, his glorious Resurrection on Easter Sunday. We also celebrate the feast days of the saints, typically on the anniversaries of their martyrdoms or natural deaths – like the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch on October 17.

But today, on this solemnity of the Holy Trinity, we don’t celebrate an event from the life of Jesus or one of his holy saints, we celebrate the nature of God, who God is, and what God has done.

And as a way of gently handling this most august and mysterious of topics, I’d like to reflect on three C’s. Three C’s. Creation, Crucifixion, and Church.

In the first reading, we heard of the glories of Creation: mountains, hills, fountains, fields, earth and dirt, the heavens and skies, sea and water. God Created all these things and therefore must have pre-existed all of these things. God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has existed from all eternity—and the three divine persons, working together, have brought all aspects of creation into being. 

What is the most beautiful place you’ve ever visited? A mountain top, the grand canyon, the ocean, a lush forest, a secluded lake? I’ve been blessed to have been able to travel to a lot of different locals. I remember vacationing in Canada one year, up in the Kawartha Lakes of Northern Ontario and waking up one early morn and seeing the first glimmers of sunlight on the glassy lake, the morning mist just gently hovering over the waters, the calm ever-green forest lining the shores of the lake, just being moved to tears at how grateful I was to take in the beauty of Creation.

Creation is beautiful-- because God—the Creator—is infinitely beautiful—and He has made creation very good. Pope Pius XII back in 1955 reflected upon how finite Creation hints at God’s infinite beauty. He said, Creation, “which offers itself to the inspection of the attentive observer, reveals an inexhaustible wealth of goodness and beauty, reflecting back with transparent sincerity the infinite superabundance of the perfection and beauty of nature's Creator.”

“Sometimes one is enchanted and overcome by the majesty of towering mountains, at other times by the irresistible fury of the ocean tempest, the solitude of polar glaciers, the vast stretch of virgin forests, the melancholy of the desert sands, the loveliness of flowers, the limpid quality of water, the violent rush of waterfalls, the distinctive beauty of the Northern Lights... Greater astonishment and wealth of knowledge are offered by... the secrets of the animal kingdom... in forests and in inhospitable deserts, on rivers and in the depths of the sea. What a testimony to the richness and manifold variety of nature... to soothe, recreate and refresh the spirit."

So, on this Trinity Sunday, reflect, perhaps on the beauty of nature, tell someone about the most beautiful place you’ve ever visited. Thank God for his beautiful creation. And endeavor to be a good steward of that creation.

The first C—Creation. The Second C--The Cross. The Cross too reveals something about God to us, it reveals God’s love. On the Cross we see the love of God made visible. The Father so loved the world, that he sent his Son to suffer and die to redeem us. God is love, and there is no greater love than one who lays down his life for others. Creation was a labor of love, well, so was the cross, the greatest labor of love: the labor that saved us from the grasp of hell. 

And through the Cross, through the Crucifixion, the Holy Trinity has transformed the ugliness of suffering into an instrument of human sanctification and redemption. Suffering now has meaning and redemptive power, so much so that we can say with St. Paul in our second reading: “we are able, now to boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

On this Trinity Sunday, turn to a crucifix, contemplate the love of God for you, in suffering for you, dying for you, you a sinner, loved with love beyond all telling. Ask the Father to help you to love as much as he does, Ask the Son to help you to love as much as he does, as the Holy Spirit to help you love as much as He does.

Creation, Cross, and finally, Church. The Church also reveals something about God—she reveals that God is still at work. The Church’s very existence is willed by God, she is sustained by God, animated by God, taught by God, directed toward God, protected by God, ordered by God, sent out by God. The Church reveals that God involves us in His work—to save souls. 

Also, St. Basil the Great, the fourth century doctor of the Church, taught that the Church has the duty to reflect God’s nature. The world is to know that God is a Trinity—a Communion of Love—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—through the way we worship and treat each other.

The Trinitarian nature of God is certainly seen in the way we worship. In the celebration of Mass, we unite ourselves to the Son, who offers Himself to the Father, that the grace of salvation may redeem the human race through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our sacred hymns today especially invoke, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Sins are absolved in Sacramental Confession in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. The dying are comforted and the sick are brought healing and strength in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

But the nature of the Triune God is not just revealed by the Church’s worship and sacramental life, but the Church acts in his name out in the world. We seek to be faithful to the Commands of the Father, as Christ was obedient. We seek to imitate Christ’s goodness, his self-sacrifice, his self-donation, his endurance, his love for sinners. And we seek to be animated by the gifts of the holy spirit and the fruits of the holy spirit for the building up of the church and the mission of spreading the Gospel. Just like the beauty of God can be detected in creation, just like the love of God was revealed on the cross, the truth, goodness, and beauty of the living God—Father, Son, and Spirit, are to be manifest in the life of the Church.

So, on this great Solemnity consider how your life is called to mirror, reflect, make manifest, make known the Triune God—His Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Baptism of the Lord 2022 - Embraced by God

 
On the feast of the Lord’s Nativity—on Christmas—we celebrated how the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin in a stable in the midst of night in Bethlehem in the piercing cold. Part of the tenderness of Christmas, no, is to contemplate how on that cold night, Our Lady embraced the Christ child, and gazed into his eyes, and held him close, nursing him for the first time. Also St. Joseph embraced him, committing to guard him, protect him, labor for him. In addition to our Lady and St. Joseph, we consider too how the jewish shepherds left their flocks in order to come and embrace the newborn lamb of God.

Last Sunday, on the feast of the Epiphany, we celebrated the first gentiles, the first non-Jews, to embrace the Christ child. Magi from the East scoured the biblical prophecies and scoured the night sky, and sought him out, and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They embraced him through faith, and they embraced him with adoration.

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Lord’s Baptism.  If he was embraced by Mary and Joseph and the shepherds on Christmas, and if he was embraced by the Magi from the east on the Epiphany, in a sense we can say, that Christ is embraced at his baptism by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. 

Where at Christmas, the mother caressed the tender baby on her lap at Christmas; at his baptism the Father enshrines his Son with his loving testimony: “this is my beloved son”. Where the mother held loft the child for the Magi to adore on the Epiphany; at the Baptism the Father reveals that his Son is to be obeyed by all the nations—“listen to Him” says the Father. Obey him. Where the stars at Christmas, pointed to the Son’s identity, at the Baptism the Holy Spirit anoints the Son for his mission—as Christ and Lord—to save us from our sins.

He is embraced by Mary and Joseph, he is embraced by shepherds, he is embraced by Magi, he is embraced by the Father and the Holy Spirit. If the feast of Christmas, and the Christmas feasts of Holy Family and Epiphany and today’s feast of the baptism teach us anything, is that Christ is to be embraced. Embrace—embrazzio—literally means to wrap your arms around him…but not just your arms, but your mind, your heart, and your life. Have you truly embraced him this Christmas?

The Feast of the Baptism is also cause for us to consider what happens when Christians celebrate the Sacrament of baptism. God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, embrace us. We are embraced by God and brought into new relationship with God. The word baptism, literally means, to immerse. When we were immersed in the waters of baptism, we were being embraced by God in an embrace of love and spiritual adoption. 

The entire Christian life can be said to be a response of being embraced by God. Our days and our deeds, our attitudes and our decisions, are to be constantly guided by this knowledge and experience of being lovingly embraced by God in our baptism. It’s certainly something that should get us out of bed in the morning and inspire and motivate us on to remain on the straight and narrow path.

Sadly, fallen human nature often rejects that embrace, don’t we. Like an obstinate child who refuses to sit still, the lie enters our heads that we will be happier if we break free, if we make our own way, if we follow our own impulses. We can fall so deeply into sin, that we forget altogether about God’s embrace.

Now you might say, “I don’t feel embraced by God, I don’t feel like God loves me,” this is certainly a sign that you need some time in quiet prayer, a good examination of our lives, probably a good confession, perhaps even a real spiritual retreat. When we allow television and internet and worldly anxieties to take the place of faith, it’s no surprise we feel disconnected from God. 

Tomorrow/Today, at the 11 o’clock mass, we will be celebrating two rites of the RCIA process, the rite of acceptance and the rite of welcoming. In the rite of acceptance, those who have never been baptized will state their intention in front of this community their desire to officially seek baptism and full initiation in the Church. To be embraced by God and the Church through the holy sacraments. In the rite of welcoming, those who have already been baptized outside of full communion with the Church, will state their intentions to officially seek full reception into the Catholic Church.

In these rites, the Church embraces these souls, promising to pray for them, to assist them in any way we can, as they seek full participation in the sacramental, ecclesial, and charitable life of the Catholic Church. We are to set good example for them, living not simply by the values of the world, but by the wisdom of God, and show them what it means to be Catholic—to embrace our beautiful Catholic traditions, devotions, sacraments, charitable endeavors, and living in peace with one another. 

This is a new year, and we are certainly being invited to embrace Christ, God, and the things of God in a deeper way. But if we are embracing worldly things—if our arms and lives are wrapped around worldly things—how can we embrace God? So there are some things we have to let go of. We have to let go of foolishness in order to embrace wisdom. We have to let go of comfortable lies in order to embrace truth, we have to let go of selfishness in order to embrace generosity, we have to let go of worldly vices in order to embrace the pursuit of sanctity. We need give up embracing the godless ways and worldly desires, as St. Paul writes to Titus, to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, by embracing Christ.

May the Holy Spirit assist all of us to give up all that keeps us from embracing Christ with our minds, our hearts, and our lives, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Trinity Sunday 2021 - Mysterious Love

 

We have come again to the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  I don’t know who dreads this Sunday more, the priests who have to attempt to explain this most mysterious of all Catholic Dogmas in a short homily, or the people, who have to listen to it.  

I think many priests on Trinity Sunday, like Saint Patrick depicted in our stained glass window with the three-leaf clover, try to explain the nature of the Trinity with some analogy: the trinity is like three burning candles twisted together to have one flame, or like a three-stranded piece of rope.  Or the Trinity is like an egg, and the three persons are like the egg shell, an egg white and an egg yolk.  Some have said the Trinity is like Water which can come in three modes: ice, liquid, or steam, or a tree that has branches, leaves, and roots.

The problem with each of these analogies is that they are ultimately wrong, yes, even Saint Patrick’s use of the three-leaf clover.  To say that the Trinity is like some created thing will never fully explain the Trinity.  The three divine persons of the One Supreme Godhead –Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are not three modes of God, three parts, three divisions, or three different masks that God wears. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three separate entities, like three separate Gods. In a sense, it’s easier to say what the Trinity is not, than what the Trinity is.

In the end, all analogies fail. God is greater than our human comprehension. And I think that’s one of the reasons we celebrate Trinity Sunday: to acknowledge that God is greater than my human comprehension, and I’m okay with it. 

Saint Augustine, who is one of the most profound reflectors on the Trinity said, “Si comprehendis, non est Deus” which means, “If you understand, it’s not God.”  The minute you say, yes, I got it now: that’s not God, says Augustine.  The Trinity is greater than human understanding. 

And that’s a wonderful thing. God is bigger than us. He’s greater than us. He resists being limited by our human categories and prejudices. 

We all know the famous story of the Israelites, after crossing the red sea, they come to mt. sinai. And they fashion for themselves an idol to worship. A hunk of metal. Though their action was way off the mark, and yet, it’s somewhat relatable. It’s a perennial temptation to fashion for ourselves gods which are less mysterious, less demanding, gods that we can see and touch and obtain. Why do people worship money and the accumulation of material things? Because they are right there! Why do people make idols out of athletes and politicians? Because they are right there. Listen to them talk—they’re so charming; they tell me what I want to hear. Watch them play—they’re so talented! It makes me happy.

But we are made for so much more than the happiness offered by the false idols of our own making. We're made for the eternal blessedness of communion with the One True God.

So on one hand, God is mysterious—beyond the comprehension of any created intellect. On the other hand, we were created in order to love God.  And an old proverb says, "You cannot love what you do not know."  God’s nature might be ultimately unknowable, but God has revealed something about Himself--He loves us. 

Catholics don’t believe in some generic faceless nameless divinity like the unitarians because God is not generic—He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Catholic don’t worship some uncaring divine force—but a communion of love whose goodness overflows for us. The Father has a plan for his creation, His Son is sent to enact that plan: to suffer and die for it, the Holy Spirit enflames our hearts and incorporates us into that plan.

While mysterious, the Holy Trinity desires that we seek to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this life, that we may be happy with Him in the next. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength, the Lord tells us. Okay. How?

Just as you get to know someone by spending time with them and doing work with them, so too, we come to know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit spending time with them in prayer, by reading what the Scriptures reveal about Them, what the great Church Fathers have written about them, and by spending time in their service.

Why do a growing number of people in this country claim to have no relationship with God? Because they do none of these things. Instead of prayer, they seek the superficial status of social media. Instead of reading the Scriptures, they turn their minds to the perverse entertainments of our day. Instead of engaging in the holy works of mercy, they seek to build up for themselves treasures on earth.

Many people today blame God for their troubles, instead of recognizing God’s desires to help them in their troubles. They say, there is evil in the world, there is evil in my life, therefore God does not exist. In this case, they’ve fashioned such a small, impotent God. Rather, Catholics know, that God is doing something about the evil in the world, he has done something about the evil in the world. The Father has sent the Son to conquer evil and sin and death. And he is victorious. And we can share in that victory by belief in Him, by handing our lives over to Him, by bearing our crosses in union with Him, with the sure and certain Hope, that discipleship leads to resurrection and eternal life.

The Holy Trinity is mysterious, but as we encounter Him in our liturgical worship in our daily prayer, and in our charitable service, we begin to know with our minds and fix in our hearts that the Lord is God. 

In the celebration of Mass, particularly, the Holy Trinity is acting now in history: Father, Son, and Spirit, breathing new life into the Church, nourishing us with the Eucharist, enkindling our hearts for the work of the Gospel. As we continue this sacred celebration and as you go forth from here into the world, let us open our minds, hearts, and souls to the goodness and providence of the Trinity. Let us trust Him, and seek to know Him ever more intimately, and serve Him always and everywhere for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

4th Week of Ordinary Time 2021 - Wednesday - Bonum Diffusivum Sui

 

There is an medieval latin aphorism:  bonum diffusivum sui, goodness spreads out from itself. A saint for example, spreads the goodness of God. The light of Christ, like that which we celebrated at Candlemas, yesterday, isn’t to be hidden under a bushel basket, right, but spreads, as it is lived devoutly and generously. 

This truth can be seen even in the life of the Holy Trinity. God is perfect, perfect goodness, perfect joy, and yet, he chooses to bring creation into being, and share that goodness, and life and joy with his creatures, particularly mankind made in his image.

We are happiest and most fulfilled in life when we are engaging in acts of goodness because that’s what we’re made for, not for selfish self-centeredness, but selfless self-giving, even self-sacrifice.

It is true that bonum diffusivum sui, but, in our first reading today, we also find that goodness’s opposite also spreads. “See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled.” In other words, the bad apple can spoil the bunch. Selfishness, sin, the deprivation of grace, can also spread and defile and spoil the bunch.

We have to be very careful when we are in the presence of a gossip, for example, that we aren’t drawn into their habit of gossiping. We have to be very careful when we are in the presence of drunkards and gluttons, that we don’t begin to mimic their behavior. 

Of course, we are all sinners, and have the potential to set bad example for each other, from time to time. And yes, we need to be out in the world of sinners spreading the Gospel and doing our best to set good example for each other and non-believers. But we also have to be very careful that we don’t begin to assume to errors and sinful lifestyles of the world.

Discipline, is needed. “Do not disdain the discipline of the Lord”, we hear today. Endure your trials as “discipline”; discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.

In two weeks, we’ll be beginning once again the great season of Lent, a time of discipline. We do well to identify those parts of our lives that do need to be brought under the Lord’s dominion once again, for God’s Word promises the peaceful fruit of righteousness, to those who endure their trials. 

The disciplined soul, therefore, becomes a tree for others, a fountain, a spring for the refreshment of others, and instrument which draws others to the grace of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -  

For a deeper openness to God’s will, readiness for service, attentiveness to those in need, endurance to do the will of God, and peace in our world and our hearts.  Let us pray to the Lord.

During this Catholic Schools week, for all young people, for their teachers and catechists and parents who are the first teachers of the faith, and that the truth of the faith may be learned, cherished, and practiced in every Catholic school and Christian home.

For the discipline necessary to resist temptation and to build virtue. 

For those who struggle because of addiction, discouragement, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind:  that the new wine of God’s grace through Christ will bring them consolation and peace.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for the souls in purgatory and for…N. for whom this mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

Trinity Sunday 2020 - Belief in the Trinity Matters

From all eternity there were certain truths so profound that they were known to God alone. Neither man nor angel could discover these truths through the use of reason nor by natural intellectual ability. Created intellects could only learn of these supernatural truths by divine revelation—by the direct activity of God revealing truth. The most profound of these supernatural truths is that God exists as Three Divine Persons sharing One Divine Nature. I speak of course of the dogma of the Blessed Trinity, which we enshrine in our liturgy today—the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity.

Christian belief in the Trinity—that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is evident from the very beginning of the Church, appearing in our earliest Creed, the Apostles’ Creed. The early Church councils were preoccupied with addressing confusion about this dogma or combating blatant attacks against it. The doctrine of the Trinity was so important that the Council of Constantinople in 553 declared that  “If anyone does not confess that there is one nature or substance of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and one power and one might, and that the Trinity is consubstantial, one Godhead being worshipped in three substances or persons, let such a one be anathema.” Anathema, that’s a strong word. It means officially excommunicated, outside of the body of believers, the body of Christ, outside of reasonable hope for salvation.

That God is a Trinity of Three Divine Persons is hinted at, foreshadowed, hidden in the Old Testament. On the sixth day of Creation, God says, “Let US make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” Also in Genesis we read of the three mysterious heavenly strangers sitting down to eat with Abraham and Sarah. Isaiah the prophet reports hearing the Lord say, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for US?” The Old Testament is not shy about calling God Father, but we also hear of the Son of Man coming upon the clouds on the day of judgment from the prophet Daniel, and the Spirit of God descending upon David when he was anointed in the first book of Samuel.

The monotheistic Jews had great difficulty explaining this mysterious language of plurality. But the doctrine of the Trinity becomes clear in the New Testament, in the preaching of Jesus, who speaks of his Father, his oneness with the Father, and how He and His Father Will Send The Holy Spirit Upon the Church. This doctrine was so important, that in the very last lines of the Gospel of Matthew, we find our Lord telling his disciples to go and Baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The mark of the Christian disciple is to be their baptism using the names of Three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity.

When St. Paul discovers a group of believers who had only received the baptism of John the Baptist, the ritual washing for the repentance of sin, St. Paul says that John’s baptism is not enough, they must be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The great doctor St. Athanasius wrote, “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith…And the Catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the substance.”

Why does this belief matter…that God is a Trinity? Well, for one, Our God revels in revealing Himself—he wants us to know about Him. He wants us to cultivate a relationship with Him, with each of His Three Divine persons. Jesus taught us to call upon the Father. We need to invoke the Holy Spirit throughout the day. We need to pray for Sweet Jesus, Pie Iesu, have mercy on us, poor sinners.
Secondly, this doctrine matters because the preaching of Our Lord is pretty clear, St. Paul and the Apostles are pretty clear, the early Church councils are pretty clear, belief in this doctrine is required for membership in the body of Christ and for eternal life.

St. Francis Xavier, perhaps the greatest missionary in Church history after St. Paul, baptized thousands of people. As a missionary in the far east, he wrote about the difficulty he had in catechizing all these people—preparing them for baptism. Thousands of people would be in the villages, clamoring for baptism, yearning for membership in the Church.  Francis Xavier wrote that he considered it enough if he could properly teach them that in making that sign of the cross they were professing their faith in the one true God—if he could teach them that, that God the Father, sent God His Son to die on the Cross, and that God the Holy Spirit has been sent to the Church--he felt that that was enough for baptism.

Friends, there is a terrible trend in both academic theological circles and also among laity and I dare to say even among some members of the clergy, to diminish the importance of this dogma, to seek to refashion God or redefine God using modern terms. But to do this is to essentially deny that God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we start messing with this doctrine it leads to a sort of creedless Christianity like the Unitarian Universalists. And maybe that’s what some people want, some sort of undefined God so that they can refashion God in their own image and thereby refashion religion in their own image. But this is not the Gospel preached by Jesus Christ, True God and True Man. Creedless Christianity is not Christianity. To deny this doctrine is to be separated from the font of Divine Revelation—separated from clear Scriptural evidence and Sacred Tradition.

But O! When we cultivate a love of the Holy Trinity—when we seek to know and love the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we begin to understand who we are as adopted children of God, who we are as instruments of God in this broken world. We are marked by the trinity, changed by the trinity, forgiven by the Trinity, made fearful to the devil by the trinity, justified by the Trinity, and given hope of heaven by the Trinity.

The Father is not some psychological symbol for the unknowable origin of Creation. The Son is not merely a psychological symbol for the importance of the spirit of self-sacrifice and love of neighbor. The Holy Spirit is not merely a symbol for sociological improvement or psychological growth. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are Three Persons who love you. Who call you to believe in them and worship them to Communion with them, that you might have life. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

June 16, 2019 - Trinity Sunday - In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

We do that so naturally, so instinctively, don’t we?  I’m speaking of course about the sign of the cross.  It’s almost as reflexive to us Catholics as breathing or blinking our eyes.  And it should be! For the sign of the cross is the first prayer most Catholics learn—invoking the three divine persons of the Holy Trinity while marking ourselves with the sign of our salvation—the Holy Cross of Christ.

Most of us were taught by our first catechists, our parents, how to sign ourselves. I always love to see parents picking up their little ones, dipping their little fingers in the holy water font and tracing the cross, forming a habit that they will take with them into eternity. We do well to begin each day invoking the trinity with the sign of the cross, signing ourselves before getting out of bed—hopefully, even before checking our iphones.  Most of our formal prayer, as Catholics, begins invoking the trinity with the sign of the cross. We are absolved, we are confirmed, we are anointed, and we will be buried with that sign of the cross. 

We invoke the Trinity in moments of danger and difficulty and penitence. Sometimes we even find baseball players making the sign of the cross as they come up to home plate. Whenever I go to restaurants I look around to see if people are making the sign of the cross before they eat.  At funerals and weddings you can often tell who the non-Catholics are by who makes the sign of the cross or not.  And this makes sense because the sign of the cross signifies an IDENTITY!  You know if someone is Catholic if they begin their prayer “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

The sign of the cross professes the two most important doctrines of our Faith.

The first doctrine is of course the Doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity, which we celebrate in a special way this Trinity Sunday. God is a Trinity of Divine Persons—the Divine Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are consubstantial, coeternal, coequal, distinct, yet united.

The catechism says, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and life.  It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the ‘hierarchy of the truths of faith’. The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men “and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin.”

I had a class in seminary one semester simply called “Trinity” in which we studied the theological history of the Church’s understanding of this great mystery. It was one of the most difficult classes in seminary—as we attempted to grasp infinite mystery revealed in the primary Christian doctrine.

The second doctrine expressed in the sign of the cross flows from the first: by the cross we are saved.  Every time we sign ourselves with the cross, we confess our faith that by the cross, the incarnate Son, the second person of the Trinity, won for us eternal life.

Trinity and Cross. It’s no accident that these two themes converge in the Church’s most fundamental prayer, the sign of the cross: for the cross is an image in time of the Trinity’s life and love in eternity. The love poured out on the cross is the most powerful sign of the love of God in himself and his love for us. So when we make the sign of the cross, we call to mind the love that conquers all sin and death and evil, the love which is the cause of our salvation.

St. Francis Xavier, perhaps the greatest missionary in Church history after St. Paul, baptized thousands of people. As a missionary in the far east, he wrote about the difficulty he had in catechizing all these people—preparing them for baptism. Thousands of people would be in the villages, clamoring for baptism, yearning for membership in the Church.  Francis Xavier wrote that he considered it enough if he could properly teach them that in making that sign of the cross they were professing their faith in the one true God—God the Father who creates us and loves us, God the Son who took flesh and died for our salvation, and God the Holy Spirit who strengthens us with his gifts—if he could teach them that, and that Jesus, God the Son offered them salvation through the cross that he would trace over them—he felt that that was enough for baptism.

When we stand before the judgment seat of Almighty God, our passports won’t help us, any academic degrees aren’t going to do much good, any stock portfolios, our check book, our driver’s license, our proof of American citizenship or lack thereof aren’t going to do us a bit of good.  But by the sign of the cross, we are claimed for Christ, we are identified as those children of God redeemed by the Cross of Christ, members of God’s Holy Church, who profess, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to be our Loving and Almighty God.

Just as we make the sign of the Cross each time we pray, in order to direct our prayer to the one true God, may this Trinity Sunday, help direct our lives. The true God is not a creature of our own making, a product of our imaginations. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we bow our lives to his majesty, we surrender our wills to His Divine Will, his commandments, and plead his mercy.

Everything we do is meant to be directed to the Holy Trinity, done to honor the Holy Trinity, out of love for the Holy Trinity. May we invoke the Trinity many times every day, that God’s very being, His Life, may infuse us, change us, propel and animate us, that our choices may lead us to his presence, that he may possess us, in the words of our first reading, and that we may possess the mind and heart of Our Lord and Redeemer.

May our faith in the Triune God keep us from all sin, protect us from all evil, and may all of our actions, all of our choices, all our decisions, all of our sacrifices be done for the glory of the Triune God and salvation of souls. 

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” 

Holy Trinity 2018 - To KNOW the One True God

I’ve found that today’s Feast, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, is one of the most difficult to preach on. The Trinity is the supreme mystery of the faith, and how do you put mystery into words. The Trinity is the most sublime and exalted of our Christian doctrines, how do you distill that down into something manageable?

I think there is the temptation for the preacher to turn this homily into a Catechism lesson. I could summarize what the Catechism says about the three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Catechism after all spends about 800 paragraphs on the Trinity, which itself is a distillation of what the Scriptures, Church fathers, Church councils, Popes, and saints have said about the subject for the last 2000 years. And again, I think there is a temptation to make this homily, and our entire treatment of the Trinity, about head knowledge. But our faith is about much more than head-knowledge.
Many languages have two words for knowledge, they differentiate between head-knowledge and heart-knowledge. In German, for instance, the two words are wissen and kennen. Wissen is the head-knowledge, the facts that you get from reading a textbook. Kennen is the heart-knowledge gained from intimate, personal experience.

In espanol, as well: saber is to know the facts about something. Conocer is your relational, experiential knowledge. In italiano, we find the same thing, sapere and conoscere.  Sapere la risposta giusta. - To  know the right answer. But, conoscere un amico nuovo…to know a new friend…by having  spent time with them.

So, this Trinity Sunday, we are challenged to grow in our knowledge of the Trinity. But not just head-knowledge; heart-knowledge too. To grow in head knowledge, we turn to the Scriptures, to the Theologians, to our Catechism. Two books every Catholic should have on their night stand: the Holy Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

For some head-knowledge of the Trinity you can start with Catechism number 234 which says: “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself .It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith.” The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men “and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin.”

Christians do need to have some head-knowledge about God. We should be able to answer some basic questions about God: what does it mean that God is Father and Creator. What does it mean that the Son is consubstantial with the Father. What does it mean that the Holy Spirit is the Lord the Giver of Life. We seek to grow in our ability to explain our faith to non-believers, to seekers, questioners, and doubters. Parents, of course, have the great responsibility of teaching the faith to their children, helping them to understandit and articulate it. And that certainly comes partially from that head-knowledge.

But our faith also requires us to grow in our heart-knowledge of God. “This is why you must now know, AND fix in your heart, that the LORD is God” we heard in our first reading. Jesus at the Last Supper even taught that “Eternal Life consists of knowing the only true God”, and that word ‘knowing’, is the Greek word GiNOsoke, it’s that heart-knowledge, the intimate knowledge two lovers have of each other.

And I believe sharing our heart-knowledge about God is very attractive to non-believers; our ability to speak from the heart about God draws them in. To share with others how we have encountered Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is part of the mission of going and making disciples, we heard about in our Gospel.

Our heart-knowledge about God the Father, comes from encountering God as a loving Father of mercy who accepts us back with open arms when we’ve strayed from his household. It comes from learning to trust in the providential care of the Heavenly Father instead of worrying all the time. It comes from learning to see the Father’s hand guiding the events and relationships of our life. People long to hear about our heart-knowledge of the Father, who provides, guides, forgives, and gathers.

What about our heart-knowledge of the second person of the Trinity, the Son? How is your life different because of Jesus Christ? Heart-knowledge of Jesus comes from listening to his voice, looking into his eyes, encountering the warmth of his heart in daily prayer. It comes from being challenged by Him to repent. It comes from encountering his love-outpoured on the cross, his love-outpoured in the Eucharist. People long to hear about our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And finally, our heart knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we are to share the head-knowledge THAT the Holy Spirit was sent upon the Church at Pentecost 2000 years ago, as we celebrated last Sunday. But people long to hear how the Holy Spirit animates the Church now in 2018. They long to hear how you have experienced the Holy Spirit’s healing presence, his enlightening presence. When have you heard His consoling whisper in a time of grief, or his mighty light at a time of confusion?
The Holy Trinity is mysterious, but as we encounter Him in our liturgical worship in our daily prayer, and in our charitable service, we begin to know with our minds and fix in our hearts that the Lord is God.

The celebration of Mass is the Holy Trinity acting now in history. Breathing new life into the Church, nourishing us with the Eucharist, enkindling our hearts for the work of the Gospel. As we continue this sacred celebration and as you go forth from here into the world, Let God the Father teach you how much he loves you. Let God the Son teach you about how much he loves you. Let God the Holy Spirit teach you about how much he loves you for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

Trinity Sunday 2017: Are all religions the same?

It is common in today's world to run into people who believe that all religions are basically the same. In fact, it is even becoming common to run into Catholics who have adopted this viewpoint. It is considered the “tolerant, open-minded” point-of-view.

But in reality, it is just the opposite: to claim that all religions are the same is the most close-minded and intolerant viewpoint someone could have in regards to religion.

Sure, every religion tries to address our basic desire for happiness.  Most religions try to answer the great question about life after death, and address the difference between right and wrong, each makes assertions concerning man’s relationship with and understanding of the spiritual realm.

But study the religions for more than 15 minutes and it’s clear that they deal with those ultimate questions in different ways and even come up with vastly different answers.

Atheistic religions say there is no God at all. Pantheistic religions say that everything in the universe is a part of god or identical to god. Polytheistic religions say that the divine realm is full of numerous, competing gods. Monotheistic religions, like Christianity, believe in one, all-powerful, eternal God.
But the differences don't stop there. Inside each of those groups are different explanations of the nature of God, the nature of salvation and happiness, and how eternal life can be achieved.

It is a sign of close-mindedness or laziness to simply say that all religions are the same: it's a refusal to show respect for what religious people really believe.

When a Christian discusses the nature of God with a Muslim, one of the first issues that arises is the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

Muslims, like Jews and Christians, believe there is one God, all-powerful and transcendent. Their concept of God somewhat resembles what is revealed about God in the Old Testament. Mohammed, the founder of Islam lived in the Middle East in the sixth and seventh centuries, grew up among Jews and Christians, and inherited Monotheism from us.

One of the factors in his rejection of the Trinity, that God is Three Person, was that at the time, Christians in the middle east were scandalously seeking to resolve their theological differences in violent ways, and rejecting the authority of Rome. Muhammad was exposed to the Arian, Nestorian, and Monophysite heresies from an early age. And these heresies, denials of Jesus’ divinity, play out in the Koran, which portrays Jesus not as God, not as the Second Person of Trinity incarnate, but simply a man.

So this divided Christianity was the environment in which Mohammed adopted and popularized the Muslim, non-Christian idea of God. He rejected what Jesus and the New Testament revealed about the Holy Trinity, that God is three divine persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

It is true that the Trinity is hard to understand: How can God be both one and three? How can the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be fully God, and yet distinct persons? Our minds cannot grasp this completely.

And yet, that very fact makes the doctrine of the Trinity ring true. It shows that no merely human mind would have been able to come up with it. And it also shows that God, the Creator of the universe, exists in a way that we, mere creatures, cannot fully understand - and that makes perfect sense. God should exceed our ability to understand him; if he didn't, he wouldn't be much of a God.
Saint Augustine, who is one of the most profound Trinitarian Theologians said, “Si comprehendis, non est Deus” which means, “If you understand, it’s not God.”  The minute you say, yes, I got it now, I fully understand it: that’s not God, says Augustine.  The Trinity is greater than human understanding.

But that doesn’t mean he is totally unknowable or unapproachable. God invites us into a living, vibrant relationship with Himself. He has revealed that he is a Trinity. He has revealed that He is a loving Communion and desires to share His life with us.

He invites us to become the people He made us to be by placing faith in what He has revealed, and to grow in union with Him through His Church—through the practices of our faith, the sacraments, the reading of Scripture, and prayer.

The world claims there are many paths to eternity: Our faith claims there is One: through the One who says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Christianity is not simply a religious system among many; it is The Way, it is the relationship that God Himself established that we might become the people he made us to be, for the forgiveness of sins and the granting of eternal life.

No, Catholics don’t believe in some generic idea of God, or the god of the philosophers, some faceless, nameless divine force. No, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are real, and we can know them, and have an intimate relationship with them, and become their instruments in the world.

Just as you get to know someone by spending time with them and doing work with them, so too, we come to know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit spending time with them, by working alongside them, by along them to work in us, by reading what the Scriptures reveal about Them, what the great Church Fathers have written about them, and by spending time in their service.

God has revealed to us that He is Trinity because he wants us to know Him and he wants us to share His love.

Today, as we profess our faith in God, One and Three, may we be ever more transformed into His instruments, that we may spread the True Faith, that he may draw souls to Himself through us, for His glory and the salvation of souls.