OUR SUNDAY’S IN MAY 2010

We celebrate two very important Feast Days this month. Pentecost and The Most Holy Trinity.

Our Christian Pentecost story as told by Luke, is a mirror of the Jewish feast called “Shavuot” – once again showing our close relationship to our Hebrew brothers and sisters. As Israel became a nation through the receiving of the Law, we become the Church through the reception of the Holy Spirit. The symbol of the Torah, the Law, is a tongue of fire, a flame. It is not surprising then that Luke would represent the New Law, the Holy Spirit, as tongues of fire. That rushing sound the Gospel speaks of – the rushing of the wind, like a whistling sound – Elijah heard it – John speaks of it – it was the “breath of God”. Both Luke and John took great pains to tell us that with the gift of the Spirit there is truly a new life in the world. Pentecost teaches us that the Law of Jesus Christ – Love – is the basis of understanding. All of us have the breath of God within us. Sometimes we forget, yet God’s love – God’s Spirit, God’s Breath – restores life again and again. Hopefully the tongue of fire rests on us teaching us how to be God’s children.

Continuing on the subject of love, my favorite Saint, Saint Augustine said “to fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; To seek Him, the greatest adventure; To find Him, the greatest human achievement.” The Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is an expression of perfect love. It is a love that Jesus wants us to share. We cannot understand this love; it is simply too much to bear. But, with the Holy Spirit, we can begin to approach understanding. While it is very important to know about God; we explore and study the Church’s doctrine and the Catechism of the Church; it is more import to know God. Therefore Trinity Sunday is a celebration that we can know something fundamental about God. God knows us and loves us, and God wants us to know it. Ultimately God is love, and we can experience this love.

Just about every time we pray we begin by saying, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” It shows that we have experienced God in a variety of ways. God is the Father, the life giver. The Trinity is an expression of perfect love. It is a love that Jesus wants us to share. All that the Father has belongs to Jesus precisely because Jesus is perfectly united with the Father. Jesus wants us to be part of this, so the Holy Spirit is given to show us the way. To experience the peace and the love of God we have to be “lined up” with God. Faith does this for us. When we are “lined up” with God, we begin to experience love as God experiences love: perfect unity: So, let us focus our love.

The Most Rev. John P. Walzer, D.D. Archbishop