2025 Jun 15 SUN: THE HOLY TRINITY S
Prv 8: 22-31/ Ps 8: 4-5. 6-7. 8-9 (2a)/ Rom 5: 1-5/ Jn 16: 12-15

Last evening I spoke about current events and I'm not sure that everybody got the context. And the context is this. There were shootings in the Minneapolis area early yesterday morning. A state representative and her husband were killed. A state senator and his wife were badly injured but it is believed that they will survive. 

You know I've talked in the past about my sister Kathy. Kathy lives in Minneapolis and teaches at a Catholic school, three blocks from where George Floyd was killed.

So yesterday morning I texted her: "How are things where you live?" And she said "quiet" and I said "good." And she said, "My friends and I were going to protest but we have decided against it." And I just replied to her, "There will be time to protest and plenty to protest about." 

We have to lift up our voices.

I refer you to today's bulletin and it ran in last weekend's bulletin as well. And that notice amounts to a protest by the bishops of the United States, and their organization Catholic Relief Services. And it is protesting what I believe is legislation already passed. Cutting back feeding programs in many countries. And all I can say to that is that feeding the hungry is simple humanity.

We must lift up our voices. 

Regarding the Blessed Trinity: We have this beautiful thing from the book of Proverbs. Wisdom always existed with God and we may say that wisdom is the Holy Spirit because after all we list wisdom as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We have this description of wisdom as craftsman: One who is playing in the midst of creation. Finding delight in it.

We go on to Saint Paul and he says that the love of God has been poured out upon us in the Holy Spirit. We need to consider whether we are allowing ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit. Maybe we have armor on. Maybe we tell ourselves that we are self-sufficient and we have the right opinions and nothing can touch us. Well, if nothing can touch us, we suppose that God does not need to touch us. Romans talks about being justified by faith. There are too many of us, maybe all of us -- we have the idea that salvation is about getting God to notice us and be favorable to us. Well, God has always known us, has known us for eternity and there is no putting on an act with God. In our vulnerability, and this is a vulnerability that we all must be in touch with, in vulnerability we do allow a small space at least and our God will take advantage of that small space in order to touch us, to love us, so that we will be overwhelmed with what we may have been guarding against. We will trade in doing good things to get God's favor. We will trade that in for the love of God for us and we will do good things simply out of thanksgiving.

And finally, Jesus speaks with his disciples about the activity of both the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus, of course, is our point of easiest access. We find it so easy, even though we are filled with wonder that God would become human. But Jesus in his very humanity invites us to see how God loves us. And so we rejoice in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, not a puzzle to be figured out, a mystery simply to be lived. We pray that being loved by the Holy Spirit we will find the way to true justice.