Introduction
The mystery of the most Holy Trinity is a basic doctrine of faith
in Christianity, understandable not with our heads but with our hearts. It teaches
us that there are three distinct persons in one God, sharing the same divine nature.
Our mind cannot grasp this doctrine which teaches
that 1+ 1+ 1 = 1 and not 3. But we believe
in this mystery because Jesus who is God taught it clearly, the evangelists recorded
it, the Fathers of the Church tried to explain it and the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople defined it as a dogma
of Christian faith.
Importance in Christian life:
1) All prayers in the Church begin in the name of the Holy Trinity and end glorifying
the Trinity.
2) All sacraments are administered (we are baptized, confirmed,
anointed, our sins are forgiven and our marriage blessed) in the name of the Holy
Trinity.3) Church bells can ring thrice daily, to remind us to pray to the Holy Trinity.
4) We bless ourselves, and the priest blesses us, in the name of the Holy Trinity.
Biblical proofs:
There are only vague and hidden references to the Trinity in
the Old Testament. But the New Testament gives clear teachings on the Holy Trinity.
1) At the annunciation, God the Father sends His angel to Mary, God the Holy Spirit overshadows her and God the
Son becomes incarnate in her womb.
2) At the baptism of Jesus, when the Son receives baptism from John
theBaptist, the Father’s voice is heard and the Holy Spirit appears as a dove.
3) At the ascension, Jesus gives the missionary command to his disciples to baptize those who believe, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In John, chapters 15-18, we have a detailed account of Jesus’
teaching of the role of each person of the Holy Trinity. 1) God the Father creates
and provides for His creatures. 2) God the Son redeems us and reconciles us with
God. 3) God the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, strengthens us, teaches us and guides
us to God.
Life Messages
1) Let us respect ourselves and others because everyone is the
temple of the Holy
Spirit where all the three Persons of the Holy Trinity abide. 2) Let us have the firm conviction that the Trinitarian God abides in us and that
He is the source of our hope, courage and strength and is our final destination.
3) Let us practice the
Trinitarian relationship of love and unity in the family relationships of father, mother and children because by baptism we become children of God and members of God’s
Trinitarian family.
4) Let us practice the I–God–my neighbor vertical and horizontal Trinitarian relationship in society by loving God
living in others. (Fr. Tony) L/12
Anecdotes
1: Explanations by Ss. Patrick, Cyril, John Maria Vianney: The shamrock, a kind of clover, is a leguminous
herb that grows in
marshy places. St Patrick, the missionary patron saint
of Ireland, used the shamrock to explain
the Holy Trinity. The story goes that one day his friends asked Patrick to explain the mystery of the Trinity. He looked at the ground and saw shamrocks growing amid the grass at his
feet. He picked one up one of its trifoliate leaves and asked if it were one leaf
or three. Patrick's friends couldn't answer – the shamrock
leaf looked like one but it clearly had three parts. Patrick explained to them: "The mystery of
the Holy Trinity – one God in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
- is like this, but more complex and unintelligible.” St.
Cyril, the teacher of the Slavs, tried to explain the mystery of the Most Holy
Trinity using sun as an example. He said, "God the Father is that blazing sun.
God the Son is its light and God the Holy Spirit is its heat — but there is only
one sun. So there are three Persons in Holy Trinity but God is One and indivisible."
St. John Maria Vianney used to explain Holy Trinity using lighted
candles and roses on the altar and water in the cruets. “The flame has color, warmth
and shape. But these are expressions of one
flame. Similarly the rose has color, fragrance and shape. But these are expressions
of one reality, namely, rose. Water, steam and ice are three distinct expressions
of one reality. In the same way one God revealed Himself to us as Father, Son and
the Holy Spirit.”
2: "But that is impossible, my dear child:” There
is a very old and much-repeated story about St. Augustine, one of the intellectual
giants of the Church. He was walking by the seashore one day, attempting
to arrive at
an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the
Trinity. As he walked along, he saw a small
boy on the beach, pouring seawater from a shell into a small hole in the sand.
"What are you doing, my child?" asked Augustine. "I am emptying the sea into this hole,"
the boy answered with an innocent smile. "But that is impossible, my dear child,” said
Augustine. The boy stood up, looked straight
into the eyes of Augustine and replied, “What you are trying to do - comprehend
the immensity of God with your small head - is even more impossible.” Then he vanished. The child was an angel sent by God to teach Augustine
a lesson. Later, Augustine wrote: "You
see the Trinity if you see love." According
to him the Father is the lover, the Son is the loved one and the Holy Spirit is
the personification of the very act of loving. This means that we can understand
something of the mystery of the Holy Trinity
more readily with the heart than with our
feeble mind. Evagrius of Pontus, a Greek monk of the 4th
century who came from what is now Turkey in Asia and later lived out his vocation
in Egypt, said: "God cannot be grasped by the mind. If God could be grasped,
God would not be God."
Introduction
Today’s feast invites us to live in the awareness of the presence
of the Triune God within us: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The mystery
of the Holy Trinity, a doctrine enunciated by the ecumenical councils of Nicaea
and Constantinople, is one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, and the
greatest mystery of our Faith,
namely, that there are three divine persons, sharing the same divine nature in one
God. “There is one God, who has three persons, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. Each person is God,
yet there is still only one God” (C.C.C. # 234, # 253-256). We have Father who is
the creator, Son the redeemer and Holy Spirit the sanctifier and the counselor.
The doctrine of three persons in one God, equal in divinity yet distinct in personality,
is not explicitly spelt out in the Bible. Even the very word “Trinity” is not found
in the Bible. But the doctrine of the Trinity
underlies all major Christian feasts, including
Christmas, the Epiphany, Good Friday, Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost. All the
official prayers of the Church, including the Holy Mass and the sacraments, begin
with an address to the Holy Trinity: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit.” We are baptized, absolved of our sins and anointed in the
name of the Blessed Trinity. Throughout the
world, church bells can ring three times a day inviting Christians to pray to God
the Father (the Provider); God the Son (the Savior); and God the Holy Spirit (the Sanctifier). We bless ourselves with the sign of the cross invoking the
name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we conclude our prayers glorifying the
Holy Trinity, saying “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.”
Today’s readings convey the fundamental mystery that the Triune God reaches out
to people in love, seeking the deepest communion.
Scripture Lessons
Today’s first and second readings do not give us a clear and
elaborate presentation of the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. The first reading, however, tells us that God is deeply
involved in the world from its beginning, showing Fatherly care for His people
and setting an example
that summons us to imitation.
In the second reading, Paul describes the role of God the Holy Spirit in
making us true children of God the Father and brothers and sisters of God the Son,
Jesus. Today’s gospel describes Jesus’ final apparition to his apostles
just before his ascension into heaven. At that moment, He commissioned them to make disciples of all nations, and commanded
them to baptize those who came to believe, “in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.“
First reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40: Deuteronomy was written down much later than Moses’ day, during the Babylonian
Captivity (587-539 BC). Internal corruption and external pressures had brought the
Jewish people to the brink of extinction. Kings, priests, prophets, and Temple had
all failed to hold them together. Those who produced the written document responded to this crisis by offering amplified explanations of the Mosaic legal traditions, in the hope of setting the Jews on a viable course
for their future. Since the audience for
the written presentation
of Deuteronomy was having a very hard
time holding on to faith and identity, the
book’s reminder, that their ancestors had the same struggle to achieve or to maintain
their strict belief in the one, true
and invisible God, must have been encouraging. In today's reading, Moses gives the
people all the reasons to be proud of how they differ from their pagan neighbors.
He asserts, in effect, "We have a better God who gave us a better law and we're
a better people. There's no other god like
ours, nor law like ours, and no other people like us, so shape up!"
Second Reading, Romans 8:14-17: As a response to
some who insisted that
pagan converts to Christ had to practice the Jewish law, Saint
Paul tries to get his audience to let themselves be saved by the grace of God, instead
of trying to save themselves by their own efforts, obeying Mosaic laws. He advises
them to lead their life “in the Spirit,” that is, to let God take over. This reading
addresses some of the relations between Spirit, Father and Son, as we experience
our relationship with God.
Exegetical Notes
1) The development of the Trinitarian doctrine in the Church. The
oldest doctrinal formulation of the Church’s belief in
the Trinity is found in
the Apostles’ Creed which has served as the basis of instruction for catechumens and as the baptismal confession of faith since the
second century. Later, the Nicene Creed,
originating at the Council of Nicaea (A.D 325), stated the doctrine more explicitly. This creed was introduced into our western liturgy by the regional council of Toledo in A.D. 589. God has revealed to us three
separate functions that are carried out by the three persons. He has told us that it is proper to attribute to
God the Father the work of creation; to God
the Son, the work of Redemption, and to God the Holy Spirit the work of sanctification.
Our knowledge of God as Trinity is made possible by God, who has chosen to be revealed as Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. As Father, God has brought
forth the created universe, including our own being. As Son, Jesus has made known a God who hears our cries, who cares, who counts
the hairs on our head and who loves us so passionately as to become one of us, to
suffer for our sins, and even to die for us. As Spirit, God remains with us and
within us.
2) The Triune God as seen in the Old Testament: Since Yahweh, the God of Israel, was careful to protect His Chosen People from the
pagan practice of worshipping several gods, the Old Testament books give only indirect and passing references to the Trinity, and the
Jewish rabbis never understood them as references to the Holy Trinity. Genesis
1:26 presents God speaking to Himself: "Let Us make man in Our image, according
to Our likeness." Genesis 18:2 describes how Yahweh visited Abraham
in the appearance of three men, an event that the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates as the “Trinitarian
Experience of Abraham.”
In Genesis 11:7, before punishing the proud builders of the Tower of Babel, God says, “Come, let Us go
down among them and confuse their language”.
These passages imply, rather than state, the doctrine of the Trinity.
3) Clear doctrine of the Trinity in the New Testament: a) The Annunciation
(Luke 1: 26-38) describes how God the Father sent the angel Gabriel
to Mary, to announce to her that God, the Holy Spirit, would "overshadow"
her, and that God, the Son, would be made flesh in her womb. b) During the baptism
of Jesus (Matthew 3: 16-17), the Holy Spirit was shown descending on Jesus in the
form of a dove, while the voice of God the Father was heard from the clouds. c) The
Gospel of John (Chapters 15 through 18), presents the detailed teaching of Jesus
on the Persons of the Holy Trinity. d) In the
preaching mission given by the risen Lord to the disciples, Jesus commanded them
to baptize people “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
(cf. Matthew 28:19; John 10:30).
Life Messages
1) We need to respect ourselves and respect
others. Our conviction of the
presence of the Triune God within us should
help us to esteem ourselves as God’s holy dwelling place, behave well in His
holy presence, and lead purer and holier lives, practicing acts of justice and charity.
This Triune Presence should also encourage
us to respect and honor others as "Temples of the Holy Spirit."
2) We need to be aware
of God as the Source of our strength and
courage. The awareness and conviction of the presence of God within us gives
us the strength to face the manifold problems of life with Christian courage. It was such a conviction that prompted the early Christian
martyrs, when taken to their
execution, to shout the heroic prayer of faith from the psalms: "The Lord of
might is with us, our God is within us, and the God of Jacob is our helper"
(Psalm 46).
3) We need to see the
Trinity as the model for our Christian families: We are created in love -- to be
a community of loving persons, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are united
in love. From the day we are baptized, we belong to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How privileged we are to grow up in such a beautiful
family! Hence, let us turn to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in prayer every day.
We belong to the family of the triune God. The love, unity and joy in the relationship
among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit should be the supreme model for our relationships
within our Christian families. Our families
become truly Christian when we live in a relationship of love with God and with
others.
4) We are called to become more like the Triune God through
all our relationships. We are made in God’s image and likeness. Just as God is God only in a Trinitarian relationship,
so we can be fully human only as one member of a relationship of three partners.
The self needs to be in a horizontal relationship
with all other people and in a vertical relationship with God. In that way our life
becomes Trinitarian like that of God. Modern society follows the so- called “I-and-I”
principle of unbridled individualism and the resulting consumerism. But the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity challenges
us to adopt an "I-and-God-and-neighbor" principle. I am a Christian insofar as I live in a relationship
of love with God and other people. Like God
the Father, we are called upon to be productive and creative persons by contributing
to the building up of the fabric of our family, our church, our community and our
nation. Like God the Son, we are called upon
to reconcile, to be peacemakers, to put back together that which has been broken,
to restore what has been shattered. Like
God the Holy Spirit, it is our task
to uncover and teach truth and to dispel
ignorance. (Trinitarian spirituality: “The
doctrine of the Trinity affirms that it belongs to God’s very nature to be committed
to humanity and its history, that God’s covenant with us is irrevocable, that God’s
face is immutably turned toward us in love, that God’s presence to us is utterly
reliable and constant.... Trinitarian spirituality is one of solidarity between
and among persons. It is a way of living the gospel attentive to the requirements
of justice, understood as rightly ordered relationships between and among persons,”
Dictionary of Spirituality).
St. Francis Xavier’s favorite prayer was: “Most Holy Trinity,
who lives in me, I praise you, I worship you, I adore you and I love you.” Let the Son lead us to the Father through the Spirit,
to live with the Triune God forever and ever. Amen.
Jokes
1) Wisdom from child’s mouth: A priest went into a second-grade classroom of
the parish school and asked, “Who can tell me what the Blessed Trinity means?” A
little girl lisped, “The Blethed Twinity meanth there are thwee perthonth in one God.” The priest, taken aback by the lisp,
said, “Would you say that again? I don’t understand what you said.” The little girl
answered, “Y’not thuppothed to underthtand;
i’th a mythtewy.”
2) Trinitarian pastor: One parishioner said, “The Trinitarian
God is a lot like our pastor. I don’t see him through the week and I don’t understand
him on Sunday.”
Additional Anecdotes
1) The universal testimony: A good illustration of the Trinity
comes from world- renowned scientist Dr. Henry Morris. He notes that the entire
universe is Trinitarian by design. The universe consists of three things: matter,
space, and time. Take away any one of those three and the universe would cease to
exist. But each one of those is itself a trinity. Matter = mass + energy + motion.
Space = length + height + breadth. Time = past + present + future. Thus the whole
universe witnesses to the character of the God who made it (cf. Psalm 19:1).
2) “You ask me a riddle?” The late Cardinal Cushing tells of
an occasion when he was administering last rites to a man who had collapsed in a
general store. Following his usual custom, he knelt by the man and asked, "Do
you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?" The Cardinal
said the man roused a little bit, opened an eye, looked at him and said, "Here
I am, dying, and you ask me a riddle." Call them
riddles. Call them mysteries. There are things about life and faith we do not
understand. I am not going to suggest that you resign your effort to understand.
3) “The undertaker.” There is an old story about a henpecked
husband who went to a psychologist. He was tired of being dominated by his wife.
The psychologist told him, “You do not have to accept your wife’s bullying. You
need to go home right now and let her know that you’re your own boss.” The husband
decided to take the doctor’s advice. He went home and slammed the door on the way
in. He confronted his wife and said, “From now on you’ll do what I say. Get my supper,
then go upstairs and lay out my clothes. After I eat, I’m going out with the boys
while you stay home. By the way, do you know who is going to tie my tie for me?”
“I sure do,” said his wife calmly, “the undertaker.”
Some marriages are filled with conflict. So are some offices. Unfortunately some
churches are filled with conflict as well. The feast of the Holy Trinity challenges
us to cultivate the Trinitarian relationship of love and unity in our families and
offices and parishes.
4) Human mystery confronting divine mystery: The story is told
that Franklin D. Roosevelt and one of his close friends, Bernard Baruch, talked
late into the night one evening at the White House. At last, President Roosevelt
suggested that they go out into the Rose Garden and look at the stars before going
to bed. They went out and looked into the sky for several minutes, peering at a
nebula with thousands of stars. Then the President said, "All right, I think we feel small enough now to go in and go to sleep."
The wonder of the power and wisdom of God puts things in perspective for us humans.
It was not an accident, but the result of a Divine Plan; planets, stars, plants,
birds, fish, and animals were all created by God. And the climax of God's creation
was humanity. How complex and mind-boggling is our physical construction! Chemically,
the body is unequalled for complexity. Each one of its 30 trillion cells is a mini
chemical factory that performs about 10,000 chemical functions. With its 206 bones, 639 muscles, 4 million pain sensors
in the skin, 750 million air sacs in the lungs, 16 million nerve cells and 30 trillion
cells in total, the human body is remarkably designed for life. And the brain! The human brain and nervous system is the most
complex arrangement of matter anywhere in
the universe. One scientist estimated that our
brain, on the average, processes over
10,000 thoughts and concepts each day. Bill Bryson in his book, A Short History
of Nearly Everything, says it is a miracle
that we even exist. Trillions of atoms come together for approximately 650,000
hours (the average span of human life), and then begin to silently disassemble and
go off to other things. There never was something like us before and there never
will be something like us again. But for 650,000 hours the miracle that is uniquely
us exists. One could spend years just dealing with the marvelous intricacies and
majesty of God's creation. We are, as the Psalmist states "fearfully and wonderfully
made." No wonder we cannot understand the mystery of a Triune God.
5) Holy Trinity prayer:
When the bishop’s ship stopped
at a remote island for a day, he decided to use the days as profitably as possible.
He strolled along the seashore and came across three fishermen mending their nets.
In Pidgin English they explained
to him that centuries
ago they were Christianized by missionaries.
"We, Christians!" they said, proudly pointing to themselves. The bishop was impressed. Did they know the Lord’s
Prayer? They had never heard of it. The bishop was shocked. How could these men
claim to be Christians when they did not know something as elementary as the Lord’s
Prayer? "What do you say, then, when you pray?" the bishop asked. "We
lift eyes in heaven. We pray,
‘We are three, you are three, have mercy on us.’" The bishop
was appalled at the primitive, downright heretical nature of their prayer. So he
spent the whole day teaching them to say the Lord’s Prayer and he succeeded although
the fishermen were poor learners.
Months later the bishop’s ship happened to pass by those islands
and the bishop, as he paced the deck saying his evening prayers, recalled with pleasure
the fact that on that distant island were three fishermen who were
now able to pray correctly, thanks to his patient efforts.
While he was lost in thought he happened to look up and noticed a spot of light
in the east. The light kept approaching the ship and, as the bishop gazed in wonder,
he saw three figures walking on the surface of the water towards the boat. The captain
stopped the boat and all the sailors leaned over the rails to see this amazing sight.
When they were within speaking distance, the bishop recognized his three friends,
the fishermen. "Bishop!" they exclaimed, "we are so glad meet you!
We heard your boat go past island and came in a hurry, hurry to meet you."
"What do you want?" asked the bishop filled with wonder seeing them walking
on water as Jesus did. "Bishop," they said, "we
so sorry. We forgot
that lovely prayer
you taught us.
We remember only this much: ‘Our Father in heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom
come’ . . .the rest we forgot. Please teach us whole prayer again." The bishop
felt humbled. "Go back to your homes, my good men," he said, "and
each time you pray, say your Holy Trinity prayer, ‘We are three, you are three,
have mercy on us!’" (Fr. Anthony de Mello S.J., The Song of the Bird).
6) “Bad things always come in threes.” An old adage warns, “Bad
things always come in threes.” Have you found this true in your own experience? That bad things (and good things)
like to happen in community, in bunches? You say: we invent this connection by suddenly
realizing that we got a flat tire on the same day that a computer glitch devoured
our hard drive, shortly after our last contact lens just slid down the drain. I
say: there seems to be something significant about the power of three. Today the
Church celebrates the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—on this “Trinity Sunday”
affirming the truth good things also come
in threes. We recognize God as power (the Father), God as person (the Son), and God
as presence (the Holy Spirit).
7) “But the machine can't ask me about my arthritis.” The true
story is told of a woman named Mamie who made frequent trips to the branch post
office. One day she confronted a long line of people who were waiting for service
from the postal clerk. Mamie only needed stamps, so a helpful observer asked her,
"Why don't you just use the stamp machine? You can get all the stamps you need
and you won't have to wait in line." Mamie said, "I know, but the machine
can't ask me about my arthritis." That's part of the wisdom of Christ's coming
to our earth to live among us as described in today’s gospel (John 3: 16-18). He
could relate to us in all of our daily needs. As we try to walk in Jesus' steps,
we might do well to pray the ancient Irish poem set to an Irish ballad tune, which
says,
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word; I ever with Thee and
Thou with me, Lord;
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O
Ruler of all.
8) Aggressively selfish child: A report some years ago, allegedly
by the Minnesota Crime Commission, painted a dark picture of human nature indeed,
particularly with regard to small children. I quote: “Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely
selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it – his bottle, his mother’s
attention, his playmate’s toy, his uncle’s watch. Deny
him these once, and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which
would be murderous were he not so helpless. He is, in fact dirty. He has no morals,
no knowledge, no skills. This means that all children not just certain children
are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in the self- centered world of his infancy, given
free rein to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow
up a criminal a thief, a killer, or a rapist.”
[Cited in R. Scott Richards, Myths the World Taught Me (Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1991), p. 39.] It is to transform this self-centered
human nature into a selfless, God-centered one that the second person of the
Holy Trinity took human form as described in today’s gospel.
9) A dumb debate on God: The following hypothetical debate for
the mute and the deaf scholars is a warning to our pastors who think that they have
explained Holy Trinity well to their flock on Trinity Sunday. The Jews
and the Catholics are having a debate about God and decide that they will each send
one representative to prove that their side is right. The only rule is that words
are not allowed. They decide on their representatives. The Vatican decides to send
their best brain– Cardinal Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation on Faith and Morals while the Jews pick one of
their best rabbis to represent them. As a sign of respect the Jews allow the debate
to be held at the local cathedral. The time for the debate comes and the rabbi walks
into the cathedral and up to the cardinal. The cardinal waves his hand towards the
sky. The rabbi responds by slamming his fist into his palm. The cardinal holds up
three fingers. The rabbi responds by holding up his middle finger. The cardinal
then pulls out bread and wine. The rabbi then reaches into a bag and pulls out two
fish. At this point the cardinal holds up his hands and walks away.
After the debate the cardinal heads back to the Vatican to talk
it over with the pope and the other cardinals. "Man, those Jews have it all
figured out. First I said to him, 'God is everywhere,' and he responded, 'God is
right here.' I was taken aback. So I held up three fingers representing the Holy
Trinity, and he responded, 'We all worship the same one God.' I didn't know what to do so I showed him bread and
wine representing
the sacrifice
of Jesus, and he responded
with two fish, representing that Jesus provides.
The Rabbi headed back to the synagogue to tell the others his
version what had happened. "Man, you wouldn't believe those Catholics. The
moment I walked in this guy with a weird hat gestures at me 'No Jews Allowed.' I
said 'I'm staying right here.' Then he said, 'You have three minutes.' I said, ‘Get
lost.' Then he pulled out his lunch, so I showed him mine."
10) Why Isn't the Holy Ghost Included? A woman wrote to Reader’s Digest. She wanted to
tell about an experience that she had when she took a young girl from India to church
with her. It was the eleven-year-old girl’s
first exposure to a Christian worship service. The young
lady’s parents were traveling on business and had left her in the care of their American friends. The little Hindu girl decided on her own to go with the family to church one Sunday. After the
service was over, they went out to lunch. The little girl had some questions. She
wondered, "I don’t understand why the West Coast isn’t included, too?" Her Christian friends were puzzled and asked, "What
do you mean?" She responded, "You know. I kept hearing the people say,
‘In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the whole East Coast.’"
11) God Is Everywhere: A pastor was trying to explain to a little
Sunday school child that God is calling people everywhere in the world to believe
in him. "God is much bigger than we imagine him to be and God can use all of
us in lots of different ways to do his work everywhere," the pastor said. "God
is everywhere!" "Everywhere?" asked the little boy. "Everywhere!"
said the pastor. The boy went home and told his mother, "God is everywhere! The pastor said so." "Yes,
I know," said the mother. "You mean he is even in the cupboard?"
"Yes," said the mother. "In the refrigerator -- even when we close
the door and the light goes out?" "Yes," said the mother. "Even
in the sugar bowl?" the lad asked as he took the lid off. "Yes,"
said the mother, "even in the sugar bowl." The boy slammed down the lid
and said, "Now I've got him."
12) “What?” Jesus said,
“Who do men say
that I am?” And
his disciples answered and said, “Some say you are
John the Baptist returned from the dead; others say Elias, or other of the old prophets.” And Jesus
answered and said, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Logos
of the Father, the Son whom the Father loved from eternity and Whom the Holy Spirit,
the eternal personification of the love between the Father and the Son, begot on the Virgin
Mary.” And Jesus answering, said, "What?"
13) "I'm surprised
at you:" An English teacher of a 21-sophomore high school class put
a small chalk dot on the blackboard. He then asked the class what it was. A few seconds passed and then someone said, "That is
a chalk dot on the blackboard." The
rest of the class seemed relieved that the obvious had been stated, and no one else had anything to
say. "I'm surprised at you," the teacher told the class. "I did the
same exercise yesterday with a group of kindergartners and they thought of 50 different
things the chalk mark could be: an owl's eye, a cigar butt, the top of a telephone
pole, a star, a pebble, a squashed bug, a rotten egg, a bird's eye, and so on."
The older students had learned how to find a right answer, but had lost the ability
to look for more than one right answer. The Holy Spirit helps us, in his wonderful
Wisdom, to see more than we might have seen by ourselves. The Spirit's vision allows
us wonderful options for expansion and new possibilities. It is the Spirit's Wisdom
that reveals the Word to us. It is the Wisdom of the Spirit which shows us our sin,
which guides us, which instructs us, which leads us in the way everlasting.
14) Trinitarian design for medieval cathedrals: When the architect
and engineer Aldo Spirito was commissioned to design a cathedral for the Archdiocese
of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, West Africa, he used a number of architectural elements
to reinforce, as in the tradition of the medieval cathedrals, the truths of our
faith. Among those elements is the fact that the basic structure is triangular,
so as to state dramatically the fundamental
truth of Christian faith: God has revealed Himself as Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit.
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From Sermons.com:
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Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our
song shall rise to Thee; Holy, Holy, holy, merciful and mighty,
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.
