From the Associate Pastor’s desk
This Sunday, May 26th, we are celebrating the feast of The Most Holy Trinity. It is a feast where God the Father reveals himself to us as God the Creator, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There are not three gods, but one true God acting, communicating, and walking with all of his creation. It is our God who is always acting in and living in communion with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
God is all love, kindness, compassion, mercy, generosity, harmony and communion. God, the Creator of everything visible and invisible, is always tirelessly seeking us out so that all of his sons and daughters may be saved by his beloved Son, “in whom [he] is well pleased.” The love of God our Creator is so immense and unlimited that He Himself demonstrates it to us by sending us His only Son to show us that unconditional love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (Jn 3, 16- 18). God, our Creator, wants us all to be saved out of love and not convenience. He uses all means and forms so that his plan reaches its fullness. Do we want to be saved by his only Son? His only Son willingly came to fulfill that plan and fulfilled it to the end. Jesus Christ willingly died for you and me on a cross to redeem us and take us to heaven, where He is so that we too may be with Him. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (Jn 14, 6-7).
Do we firmly believe in Jesus and his promises? Do we believe that He is the only way to heaven? Do we firmly believe that he died for us, redeemed us, and only did it out of love? If we have read the sacred scriptures carefully, we must conclude that the great mystery of the Holy Trinity is embodied from the Old to the New Testament. God’s plan of salvation is beautiful and wonderful. Let us not spoil God’s plan of salvation by abusing his love, compassion, and mercy. Our God of Love needs our cooperation and will to carry out this plan as He has designed it.
Jesus, before leaving for heaven, promised us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the Advocate, and the Comforter. We have already experienced that force from heaven as the apostles experienced it on the Solemnity of Pentecost. Just as the Spirit destroyed the fears of the apostles, so he wants to destroy our fears, too. Do we want to open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit so that he can work in us, removing our fears and cowardice? The mission and plan of the Holy Spirit is to make us saints, as he has made so many saints of other men and women who are already in heaven. Do we want to be saints? If our answer is positive, let us allow the Holy Spirit to continue working and acting in our lives. We alone will never become saints. If we give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to act and work in us, we will see the Glory of God in heaven. God, who is all love, always continues to act in our lives with the fire of his Holy Spirit. God, who is love, continues to act through his Son in each Eucharist. “He who eats my body and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.”
Just as Jesus gave all power and authority to his apostles, he also gave it to the Magistrate of the Catholic Church. “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and 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.”(Mt 28, 18-20). Let us continue to let the God of Love, the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier, act in our lives to be holy men and women so that one day we will be in heaven with Him for all eternity, where we will contemplate and worship God forever and ever. Let it be so. Amen.
With love and respect, Friar Alberto Villafan, OFM
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