Wednesday 22 June 2011

Trinity Sunday 19 Jun 2011 Sermon

Trinity Sunday 19.6.11 God’s day

Today could be described as a day specially for God. We have ‘days’ to mark all sorts of things, so why not a day for God Himself?

Let us consider some aspects of His greatness.

Where does God come from? It is hard for the lesser to understand the greater. When did God start? Who made God? He did not start. No one made Him. It is very hard for us to grasp that something can have no beginning. God exists of Himself without cause. He contains existence within Himself. He is not just someone smarter or bigger but the basis of reality itself.

We cannot expect to understand beyond a certain point. We say what we can say and the rest is mystery. Far from reducing His credibility this actually increases it. If God could be easily explained He would not be that far superior, when in fact He is vastly, infinitely beyond us.

We cannot exhaust the mysteries but we can enter them like a garden where there are endless avenues to pursue.

All this gives us a proper sense of inferiority, which may sting the pride a little, but on reflection it is actually a comfort to have someone so strong to take refuge in. If humanity were the smartest reality around we really would have something to worry about!

Having established all this we then marvel that He cares for us even individually. The God who made all this actually cares what happens to each one of us. He came down to earth to share our human nature and raise us up to live with Him.

God is not so far away as to be unapproachable; not so close as to be equal. We need the right mix of reverence and filial trust.

One of the most mysterious things about God is His Trinitarian identity. How can there be three persons in one nature? Each of us is one person and one nature. If we had more than one person inside us that would make us a split personality, and that is a disorder. But there is no disorder in God.

Three persons make perfect unity in one nature. There is an infinite love into which we are drawn.

All three persons have every perfection. We attribute things to one Person more than another but all three Persons have full possession of whatever God possesses.

So if we say, for instance, that the Holy Spirit has wisdom, we understand that the Father and Son also have it. Or that if God the Son is present in the Eucharist then so are the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Three Persons love each other eternally. From this we learn that we should also love one another. And when we do love that it be according to God’s definitions and standards. Love is not our own property to be dealt with as we please.

Drawn into His love we discover our purpose on earth and are more likely to be able to heal the earth, so lacking in love at present. Yes, exploring the reality of God does help. We are never wasting time to get in touch with the Source of our being, who is also the End of all our activity.

In heaven they praise God constantly. On earth they ignore Him (speaking generally). This is obviously not how things should be. If not enough people are praising Him then we must double or treble our praises – that God be glorified, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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