Dear Parishioners,
We are beings who think and freely act, which is how we participate in the divine nature – though as creatures. We have been created in God’s image and likeness, but our creaturely intelligence – our ability to think and to act – was corrupted by the Fall, when sin entered the world. But Jesus Christ came to rescue us from the wages of sin and death and give us hope.
All of the readings today, on this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, show us that hope. In Wisdom, first among all of God’s creations, we have knowledge of God, granted to us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. Wisdom is God’s delight – and we, in turn, are Wisdom’s delight. In all of creation, we alone are made in God’s image and likeness, and he desires to live with us in eternity. In Wisdom is hope – a gift originating with God and one that helps us return to him when we stray.
Hope abounds in the message from Paul to the Romans: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are no longer adversaries of God; we are no longer separated from him. Christ has taken upon himself all of our sin and reconciled us to the Father such that nothing – other than our own free will in choosing so – can keep us from the Father’s love. Even our afflictions are a gift – a source of wisdom, one might say – for by our afflictions we gain endurance; through endurance, we gain character; and through character, we gain hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Hope is the entirety of the Gospel. Jesus did not abandon us, leaving us to our own strength and abilities. No! Jesus promised to send the Advocate – the Holy Spirit – to help us, to guide us, to communicate his grace as we navigate this sinful world. Christ has justified us and given us a share of his cross, and because of his cross the Holy Spirit is given to us to find strength in adversity. The Holy Spirit guides us into truth.
Jesus says, the Advocate will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears. Every single day, as we navigate our lives, the Holy Spirit is offering us grace to be acted upon. Our prayer today, as we celebrate the fullness of divinity as a Trinity, is that we be aware of and act on the actual graces given to us throughout our everyday lives; that the Spirit give us the Wisdom to always see the truth. For God is indeed our hope. May this triune God bless your families and our community.
Blessings,
Fr. Tad
