Fr. Bob’s Homily

My Brothers and Sisters,

 

            Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  We celebrate our faith in three Persons in one God.  The heart of Old Testament revelation is that God is one and personal.  The heart of New Testament revelation is that there are three Persons in one God. 

 

            In today’s reading from Exodus, God reveals to Moses that he is one and personal:  “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” This verse captures Pope Francis’ fundamental insight that mercy is the quality most proper to  God. 

 

            At the end of the passage, Moses said to God, “‘If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company.’” When God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush and Moses asked him his name, “‘God replied, ‘I am who am’” [Ex. 3:14].  In a small book entitled The Problem of God, Father John Courtney Murray suggested that there are three possible ways to understand God’s name.  In his judgment, the correct understanding of God’s name is the relational understanding: “I shall be there with you.”  In other words, God is the One who is ever present to his people.  God is always with us on our journey of life.

 

            Today’s Gospel contains the best known verse of the New Testament: “‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.’” According to Fr. René Latourelle, one of the unique characteristics of Christian revelation is God’s super-abundant love for us.  God not only loved the world and us.  He loved the world and us so much that he gave his only Son so that we might have fullness of life.

 

            Today’s second reading contains the final verses of Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.  Scripture scholars and theologians see Paul’s words as one of the most explicit expressions of Trinitarian faith in the New Testament: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”  Today we begin most of our Liturgies with the blessing that is Paul’s concluding blessing of the Corinthians.  The Preface for today in the former Sacramentary captures our Trinitarian faith: “You revealed your glory as the glory also of your Son and of the Holy Spirit: three Persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendor, yet one Lord, one God, ever to be adored in your everlasting glory.”

           

            As we heard last week, “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.”  In other words, our communion with one another is grounded in the Holy Spirit.  However, although we are in communion with one another because of the Holy Spirit living within us, today’s second reading reminds us that we have responsibility for building up the community, including our families.  I would suggest Paul is calling us to treat each other with reverence and respect.

 

             My brothers and sisters, next Sunday is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord, commonly called Corpus Christi.  It also marks the beginning of the second year of the three-year Eucharistic Revival.  The second year focuses on parish Eucharistic Revival.  The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has suggested that parishes mark the beginning of the second year with a Eucharistic procession. 

 

            Our Eucharistic procession will take place following the 6 p.m. Mass next Sunday, June 11.  Weather permitting, we will process around the block and return to church for Benediction.  Please consider joining us for this special procession.  Most of us try to witness our faith through our works of love and charity.  This Eucharistic procession will give us an opportunity to witness to our neighbors our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.