May 30, 2010 SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
30 MAY 2010, 5:15, 8:00, 10:00 AND 6:00 P.M. (VITERBO)
READINGS: Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
SAINT MARY PARISH, VIROQUA/VITERBO UNIVERSITY
Introduction: On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity we celebrate the life within the community of three divine persons, and the gift they make of that life to us.
1. I do not know many atheists; surely not enough to make generalized statements about them. I’m sure many of them live good lives, even humanitarian lives. Some of them hold believers in low esteem. They think we are a somber people. They think that if we worship God we diminish ourselves. One famous 19th century atheist was Ludwig Feuerbach. He thought religion was destructive of people. He wrote “The no to God is the yes to man.” Only if we deny God can we properly become human. Well, we strongly disagree. Quite the opposite is true. For example, let me cite the writings of a famous modern day atheist by the name of Christopher Hutchins. He wrote to Mother Teresa, “I wish there were a hell for you to go to.” I think we agree that Mother Teresa was fully human and fully humanitarian. We might turn Feuerbach’s line around to say, “The yes to God is the yes to man, and the no to God is the no to man.” This is our attitude from the earliest centuries of our faith. In the 2nd century Saint Iranaeus wrote, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” In the 20th century a Christian philosopher wrote, “Holiness is wholeness.” So, in our view saying yes to God does not diminish our humanity; it enriches it.
2. Now, when we say yes to God we do, indeed, embellish our whole being. Sadly, sometimes Christian believers do seem a bit somber. We can remedy that. A mystic theologian of the 14th century, Meister Eckhart, wrote about the Trinity. “God laughed and the Son was born. Together they laughed and the Holy Spirit was born. From the laughter of all three the universe was born.” That’s not the comment of a comedian but of a mystic, a deeply spiritual writer. Of course we live in a universe of cancer, of oil spills, of broken relationships. Beneath all these is laughter. We should tap into it.
3. Here’s a story which teaches us something about our relationship with God. A theologian once visited a monastery. When he met with the master of novices he asked him this question: “What is the biggest complaint of the novices, the newcomers to your order?” “Well,” he replied, “they complain they have to be up at 2:30 a.m. to pray the divine office and morning prayers. They aren’t too happy about it. They tell me that it’s so much better when they’re out in the fields and they feel ecstasy and love for God. So, I said to them, ‘Alright, I forbid you to come to morning services.’ Well, after a short while they came back and said, ‘We didn’t come here to be farmhands.’ ‘What happened to your ecstasies?’ I asked them. ‘They dried up.’ ‘So, now you realize that what you are doing at 2:30 a.m. is what gives you the ecstasy in the fields.’” So it is with us! A vibrant prayer life is what enables us to see the ecstasy in our workplace, our family, our schools, whatever farmlands we work.
Conclusion: Faith in a triune God enriches our lives so much. We see the fabric of sunlight beneath the darkness. We are caught up in ecstasy before the mundane. We serve one another! Trinity Sunday is not God’s feast. It is ours. We celebrate that God is with us!