Word to the Wise
Sunday, May 26, 2024 -
[Deut 4:32-34, 39-40; Rom 8:14-17; Matt 28:16-20]"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples 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."
It has been said that the best way a leader can quiet a noisy Catholic gathering is to say in a loud voice: "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!" The Holy Trinity gets into everything Catholic. Systematic theologians speak of the "immanent Trinity" - the nature of God - and the "economic Trinity" - how the Trinity works in the world. For most of us, unless we are really diligent about theological study, it is the "economic" Trinity that impacts our lives and behavior.
Scripturally, in today's gospel passage, the formula we are so familiar with reflects back to Jesus' baptism in the Jordan when the Spirit descends on Jesus and the voice of the Father is heard. [Matthew 3:13-17] The disciples were charged with evangelizing and early on the Church united Jewish ritual washing with Jesus' words to form the sacrament of Baptism as a sign of the commitment of faith. The words were joined to the gesture that we use to express them, whether at the sacrament of Baptism or touching the Holy Water at the entrance to the church. (Do we always say the words? Or just make the gesture?) The gesture is a sure "identifier" of an individual as a Catholic and makes its way even into athletic events!
How God can be "three in one and one in three" was settled theologically by the Council of Nicea [325 AD], so it took awhile for the Church to come to some understanding of the mystery of God. And we recite the creed every Sunday that came from that council. For most of us on a daily basis, that "Sign of the Cross" will be our connection with the great truth of God which is called the Holy Trinity and a reminder of God's presence in our lives. AMEN