Trinity Sunday (Mt. 28:16-20) “Trinity and Unity”
Trinity Sunday (Mt. 28:16-20) “Trinity and Unity”
The Feast of the Holy Trinity has a permanent place on the Liturgical calendar. Why? The idea of the Trinity seems so rudimentary. We believe that God is three persons in one God. But this teaching of the faith is something we can meditate about often. Each time we do, we can be more impressed with the nature of God. We can also come to understand that this teaching is also about us.
Religions have often described the makeup of the universe in this way. God is said to be distant from the world. God is in the heavens above looking down on humanity. Everything is holy in heaven. All good originates from there.
Another part of the Cosmos is what is below. Anything opposed to God is placed there. Everything in Hades (the underworld) is evil. All who dwell there are enemies of God.
We live on the earth which lies between the heavens where God dwells and the Gehena where evil resides. We are constantly wrestling with the forces that lie below us and the forces that exist above us. Religious people have looked at the Cosmos in this way for centuries.
When we look at the universe in this way it is easy to make God a distant figure that we worship. One event in history changed how we view this. What happened is what Christians call the Incarnation. Our Lord showed us, in the person of Jesus Christ, what God is really like. We know that until we really interact with another person it is hard to understand them.
Recently, Pope Francis advanced the sainthood cause of a man named Mateo Ricci. Mateo Ricci was a man who believed that to understand someone different we must have an intimate encounter with them. Ricci became a Jesuit in the 16th century. He could have had a great career as a professor in Europe. But he wanted a bigger challenge. He was a man who wanted to go on a mission in the most difficult place possible. No place was more closed to Christianity than China. Ricci decided to go there.
Many missionaries considered the Chinese people as backward. For the Chinese to become Christian they would need to accept the ways of the West. The missionaries believed that Christianity and Western European culture were the same thing. Western Civilization, some believed, was superior to every other culture in the world. Ricci didn’t believe that. From the moment he arrived in Macau in China in 1582 he began to live as much as he could like the Chinese. He first mastered their language. He adopted Chinese dress. He did not present himself as a priest but as a scholar. Mateo Ricci studied Chinese philosophy. He dialogued with native scholars.
He gained the respect of the leaders of the Chinese people. He tried to find the similarities between Chinese religious beliefs and Christian beliefs. Eventually, he ended up at the court of the Chinese emperor. He stayed there for many years. His tactics helped Christianity gain a foothold in China that has never gone away even though there have been countless persecutions since. He was the first missionary to be buried in Beijing. Ricci didn’t believe he was superior to the Chinese, but he believed everyone reflected God.
The thing we celebrate today is oneness. Everything has a fundamental unity. We say Jesus came to dwell among us. He came to show us what God is like. He walked like us. He dressed like we do. Jesus spoke our language. He listened to the deepest longings of humanity. He reminded us that we are made in the image and likeness of God. We are created to mirror the divine nature to others. The truth is that Jesus always has been in the world. Jesus will always be in the world.
Jesus didn’t come to us. He never dwelt apart from us. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that, Jesus, at a certain moment in time revealed himself to us. Jesus is one with us. We are like him. He is like us. We all are one with creation. And it is that all embracing unity that we celebrate on Trinity Sunday.
Reflection Questions:
1. What does the Holy Trinity mean to me? Am I a reflection of God?
2. Do I feel one with the universe? What is that like?
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Dear Parishioners,
On the 22nd of June we will be having what we are calling our parish reunion. We hope this is an event we can repeat.
Every summer when I was young, we would have a family reunion. My father’s extended family would gather early in August before the school year started. The event was a culmination of our summer activity. My great aunts and uncles would gather with their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Everyone would catch up on what was happening in our relatives’ lives. Some family members would have to travel great distances to be present.
We would have a meal. Children would play games with cousins they had not met before. It was a fun time. It was a way of remaining connected. Unfortunately, that reunion died away. The bond that we felt as a family is a memory. Perhaps someday we will restart the tradition.
Sacred Heart is our parish family. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We have new members of the family. We have family members who have moved away. Wouldn’t we like to see old friends and reminisce? The Sacred Heart Reunion in June is an attempt to reconnect. Please consider coming. This year’s reunion will last for a few hours. I hope this tradition can grow in the future.
Sacred Heart is not just bricks and mortar, but we are the living, breathing body of Christ. Let’s take time to reconnect with all the members of the Sacred Heart family.
May Our Lady pray for us,
Fr. Mark