New Beginnings: Never Alone (Trinity B)

 

Halfway through the Second World War, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

We all hope that we are more than halfway through the Great Pandemic. We hope that we’ve reached the beginning of the end.

But spiritually, we’re not even at the end of the beginning. Our limited return to church is a beginning, a new start, but there are many more beginnings ahead—for our parish and for each of us.

Are you ready for something new? Has the desert of the lockdown made you thirstier for the living water?

We missed celebrating Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost together. But in some ways Trinity Sunday is a perfect day to open our doors again—because today’s readings invite us to walk through the doors of faith.

During Eastertide we recalled the Pascal Mystery.  The liturgy called us to enter into the suffering, the death, and the Resurrection of Christ.

Taking nothing away from those profound events, we celebrate today what the Catechism calls “the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life.” (CCC 265)

Liturgically, Trinity Sunday does not rank with Easter. But theologically it outranks it! Otherwise, how could we call the Holy Trinity “the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life”?

We had hoped to baptize our new Christians on Easter. The abrupt closure of the church put a stop to that, although we managed it soon after. We wanted to confirm our new Catholics and receive them into full communion with the Church on Pentecost, the feast of the Holy Spirit. Foiled again!

But when it comes to appropriate readings from the Scriptures, today’s Mass has everything we will need to welcome our two newest parishioners and to inspire three others who already belong to the community to join them in receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation at the noon Mass. All five have journeyed together in the R.C.I.A. program.

The first reading gives marching orders to the soon-to-be-confirmed (and all of us!). Acknowledge today that the Lord is God of heaven and earth. And keep his commandments. Fundamental direction for the life of faith.

But Moses doesn’t say follow the marching orders blindly. Keep God’s law for your own good. There’s a promise, a blessing, imbedded in moral living, in the obedient life of faith.

Basic stuff, but glorious. And then we come to the second reading. We plunge deeper into the wonder of life in the Spirit. Moses told the Israelites they would inherit the Promised Land; St. Paul promises Christians still more: they will inherit all that God possesses.

Why is Paul promising so much more than Moses? The answer is simple: our inheritance comes not only from being members of God’s people, but from being members of God’s family.

When I baptized Soney and Lukas recently they became Christians. When I receive Megan and Jacob into full communion with the Church today, they will become Catholics. Wonderful—but there’s something more wonderful: Soney and Lukas and Megan and Jacob, and Carolina and Alex and Brooke, Catholics whom I will confirm today, are sons and daughters of God.

And not these seven only—our second reading teaches that in baptism every one of us has received a spirit of adoption by which we are made children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, the Son of God.

Elsewhere, in the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul says “God’s love has been poured into our hearts though the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

And Jesus himself says “Those who love me will keep my word, and the Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (Jn 14:23)

Summing that all up, the Catechism teaches “we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity.”  I quoted that a few weeks back in my homily on the fifth Sunday of Easter.

What more could God have done to share his own life with us—to draw us into the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

What more could God have done to heal our wounds and overcome our fears than to allow his Spirit within us to affirm us as daughters and sons?

The answer to the question “what more?” is easy. Nothing!

But what about the question “why?” Why did God choose to make a dwelling in our souls?

I think it was to fulfill a promise Jesus made: “I will not leave you orphans.” God himself, as a Trinity of persons, is never alone, and neither are we.  

Through baptism we are called into an intimate communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But that’s not all.  We are called into communion with all our adopted brothers and sisters—and called to invite others to join that family.

 In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to make disciples. He’s saying “invite others into this joyful communion with me and with you.” The gift of the Father, Son, and Spirit, dwelling in the depth of our being, is too wonderful to keep to ourselves. Jesus invites us to imitate his generosity and continue his mission.

It’s a mission for all time and every place, but it’s especially urgent right now. An article on loneliness in this morning’s Province has the headline “What good is a green city if everyone has the blues?”

The writer says that Vancouver has a unique loneliness problem.

At the very beginning of the Bible, God says “it is not good that the man should be alone.” (Gn 2:18) While God solved that problem mainly by the creation of woman, the words have a broader application.

No-one is meant to be alone. No Christian is meant to be alone. We're not alone in suffering, we're not alone in sorrow, and we're not alone in joy. We’re disciples together, making disciples together!

These truths about God dwelling in our hearts and calling us to mission are not abstract. In an attractive and interesting way, our new parish magazine tells the story of how we’re walking the discipleship path together. If you are registered in the parish, you received a copy on Friday or will receive one this week.

Step by step, the magazine—which is called “Life in Our Parish”—shows what a great beginning we have made. It brings everyone up to date on how life has continued at Christ the Redeemer during the pandemic, and it traces the path we’ll take as a renewed and reenergized community of faith.

There’s a new beginning just ahead, a rich inheritance to claim, and work to do—never alone, and always with joy.