Word to the Wise
Sunday, May 31, 2015 - Trinity Sunday - B
[Deut 4:32-34, 39-40; Rom 8:14-17; Matt 28:16-20,173]"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore and make discipes of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." [Matthew]
The Holy Trinity gets into everything Catholic. When we walk into a church and touch the holy water and make the Sign of the Cross, we reaffirm our belief in the Holy Trinity in whose name we were baptized. (We really should say the words, too, and not just touch the three places.) Catholics begin and end a prayer by saying a prayer, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!" If we attend a service in one of the Eastern rites of the Church, we would see just about everything done in "threes" as a constant expression of the presence of our Triune God. A replica of the wonderful Rublev icon of the Trinity hangs on the wall of my room.
When Jesus speaks of all power in heaven and on earth, he is telling the disciples to take that power and proclaim it. We receive that power in baptism. It is God dwelling in us. At baptisms, I remind parents of the complete power they have over their infant (at least at that time). It is their duty to teach the child to know and live by Christ's way. All of this is done in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That duty belongs to everyone of us as a baptized Christian.
Why God is the way God is, I leave to the learned theologians and scholars. St. Augustine, after writing a long book on the Trinity, simply says, "It's not a lie but a mystery!" That's good enough for me. AMEN
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