Homily originally presented June 16, 2019

The Holy Trinity!

In an ever increasing way ... we’ve been talking about evangelization ...

What is that?   The activity of sharing the Good News of God with other people.

Well in just a moment, I’m going to tell you a true story that will hammer home ...

the ongoing need in our world today ... for Evangelization!

But first, a reminder and an invitation to attend

the Eucharistic Congress / Conference ... just two weeks away!

This very special event that is being held in honor of

the 50^th Anniversary of our Diocese of Birmingham will be at

the Birmingham Jefferson County Civic Center in downtown Birmingham.

You can drive there or take one of our reserved buses that will transport you from our Church on Saturday morning June 29^th... drop you at the door of the BJCC ... and then pick you up after Bishop’s Mass there, and bring you back here to Church.

The only cost is $10 for the Bus, and you won’t pay gas or parking or admission.

Inside you’ll hear motivating talks by many religious & lay leaders of the Church.

Leaders such as:   Scott Hahn ... Curtis Martin ... Archbishop Cristophe Pierre ...

Sr Bethany Madonna, S.V. and Bishop Baker.

This will be a marvelous assembly of energized Catholics!

Scott Hahn is the one I most want to hear!

Yes, I’ve heard him speak at other conferences, but he has a way of filling me with more blinding insights and new motivation in the great work of evangelization!

Scott Hahn was the keynote speaker at a dinner in Birmingham 3 years ago ... and afterward, I waited in line and got his input on an apologetic question I’d had.

I asked him if I could give him a blessing and he said sure ... so I blessed him ...

then he signed one of his most recent books for me.

“Joy to the World”  “How Christ’s coming changed everything (and still does)”

He signed it “To Father Deering, thank you for the gift of your Priestly Fatherhood.”

What an honor to get coaching and affirmation from Dr. Scott Hahn ...

in this way he blessed me too!

Scott Hahn is 61 years old.    He grew up an avid Presbyterian,

 who delighted in turning Catholics away from their Catholic faith!

But being an astute Scripture Scholar, Scott eventually came to the conclusion that the Catholic Church is the true Church established by Jesus Christ and so he came into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter in 1986.

Since his conversion he’s been teaching theology at Franciscian University in Stubenville, OH & evangelizing by giving talks, recording CD’s and writing Books.

Do you know how many books Scott Hahn has written ...

since his conversion to the Catholic faith?             Forty!

Yes, Scott Hahn has written 40 books on the Catholic Faith!

Imagine that ... this busy college Professor with 6 children & 14 grandchildren

has written 40 books to help people know about God; while many others watch TV.

What would move a guy to do that?

Nothing other than the fire of God’s love ... burning to be shared with the world.

Well, I’d like to share a powerful insight that I picked up on in Scott Hahn’s audio CD entitled “Abba or Allah”.  (we carry it on our kiosk in the vestibule).

You know, when discussing religions ... I’ll bet you’ve heard people remark ......

“Well, you know ... they’re all pretty much the same ...”

Really? Listen to the true story that Scott Hahn shares in his CD, “Abba or Allah”. 

where he discusses the difference between Christianity and Islam.

It’s particularly relevant to today’s feast of  ... The Most Holy Trinity.

Some years ago, Dr. Hahn was scheduled to have a public debate at Penn State

with a Muslim scholar on the subject of The Trinity.

And while the upcoming debate was still 6 months away ...

Dr. Hahn happened to run into the man during one of his travels.

So they planned an impromptu breakfast ... that didn’t last even a half hour!

You see, as soon as Scott referred to God as Father, down came the Muslim’s fist on the table and he interrupted Scott and he urged him to stop blaspheming!

About 4 minutes later Scott referred to Jesus as Son ...

and again, down came the Muslim’s fist a second time.

The Muslim explained that Fatherhood and Sonship are merely human and finite designations  .... and to project them onto God  was the essence of blasphemy.

Scott began to wonder how exactly they were going to debate the Trinity 6 months later ... and he tried to find some common ground .

Scott said that God is all-powerful ... he is omnipotent.

While we humans have power ... but it’s finite.

The Muslim nodded.

Scott said that God is all-knowing ... he is omniscient.

While we humans have knowledge ... but it’s restricted.

The Muslim nodded.

Scott said God is all-good .... He is omnibenevolent. The Muslim agreed.

Scott said God is also all-merciful and all-loving. The Muslim agreed.

Scott said, since you can see that power and knowledge and goodness and mercy and love are unlimited in God ... and limited in us ...

why not just bundle these Divine attributes and label them Father?

The Muslim just stared intently at Scott and went on to explain why ...

from a Muslim perspective ... that’s unacceptable.

The Muslim used a curious analogy.

He was finishing a Doctorate degree at one school and

would soon be moving to get a Post Doctorate degree at another school.

Well, in his current apartment in Philadelphia he had a pet dog.

He said I love the dog ... but when I move I signed a lease that doesn’t allow pets.

I tried to give him away but since no one will take him I’ll have to kill this dog.

Scott thought he was joking and said, “With love like that, who needs hate.”

But, the Muslim wasn’t amused ... he had made his point.

This was the nature of a love that exists between a Master and a Slave ...

     between an Owner and his Property.

Scott tried to go on but in short order ...  

down came the Muslim’s fist a third time and he stood up and said,

“I’ve asked you once, twice but not a third time” and he stormed out.

Scott was stunned ... the restaurant was silent ...

The waitress came to take his order but he was no longer hungry.

Scott paid for the coffee and then he and his friend who was with him

went out to their car and they sat in silence for some 10 minutes.

Then, Scott’s friend who is Baptist said,

“I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated before what it means to say,

‘Our Father, who art in Heaven.’”

And Scott added ... “And I believe in God, the Father Almighty!”  

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son!”

And his Baptist friend said,     “Scott ...

“Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit!”

Can I have an Amen?      Amen!

Do you realize how blessed we are to know God as Father not Master?

You see sometimes it takes outsiders to show those of us on the inside ...

all that we have come to assume and take for granted.

As we pray our Creed and the Our Father every Sunday ... do we

cherish the truth that ... God is our Father and we are His children not His slaves!

Scott went on to study Islamic theology and philosophy a bit more ... and

he discovered that that Muslim accurately represented his belief system.

that Islam is by self-description a religion of Divine Slavery!

    whereas Christianity is a religion of Divine Sonship!

   (a relationship that Muslims consider presumptuous and blasphemous).

By the way, that Muslim cancelled the planned debate ... Scott did not regret at all!

You know, I’ve had Muslims tell me,

“I believe in the Koran and I also believe in the Bible.”

Well, that’s a big lie ... because the Bible reveals God as Father!

In Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer in the Gospel of John, chapters 14 to 17,

He addresses God as “Father” ... 51 times!

And if you include all 4 Gospels, God is addressed as Father, 170 times!

Now to the people of Jesus’ time ...this was radical information ... and yet ...

the seeds of this truth had been planted at ... the very beginning of the Bible.

For ex: In Genesis, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Those plural pronouns point to the truth … that God is more than one person …

 God is a community of Persons … He is One God in Three Divine Persons!

And God gave us another hint of His Triune nature in the Old Testament Book of

Proverbs ... which we proclaimed today in our First Reading ...

“When the Lord established the heavens I was there ...

Then was I beside him as his craftsman and I was his delight day by day.”

God knew that the people would not be able to grasp the mystery of who he was

at that time.     So, He patiently waited to reveal Himself through His Son Jesus.

And even in His time here, Jesus knew that we could only comprehend so much ...

and so the mystery of God would have to continue to be revealed over time.

In our Gospel passage today, Jesus says to His Disciples,

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”

Jesus revealed Himself as the eternally begotten Son of God, and then,  

Jesus sent His Holy Spirit into the world to guide us in all truth.

Thankfully, we’ve had the Holy Spirit with us now for some 2000 years, and through Him, we continue to appropriate more & more of the truth of who God is.

This much we know … He is a Triune God …He is one God of 3 Divine Persons.

And these 3 persons are in the most intense love relationship with one another!

God the Father is Love!       God the Son is Love!    God the Holy Spirit is Love!

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said it this way, “God is wholly and only love,

the purest, infinite, and eternal love. He does not live in splendid solitude but rather is an inexhaustible source of life that is ceaselessly given and communicated.”

What a powerful description of the love of God:  ceaselessly given & communicated.

Yes, God is the Lover, Jesus is the Beloved and the Holy Spirit is the Love

that flows between them … ceaselessly given and communicated.

So, God in Himself is an intense Love Relationship!

And in His great love … He invites us into that Love Relationship.

And if we freely choose to love and become like Him in love,

then we will merit to share in His Eternal Love …        

a love that is ceaselessly given and communicated.

And even while we’re here on earth, God gives us a foretaste of that love!

St. Paul points this out in our Second Reading from Romans when he says,

“the love of God has been poured out into our hearts

 through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

The Holy Spirit is Divine Love; He is Love Itself. And the Father has poured out

His Holy Spirit into our souls through His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Think for a moment of the times in your life when you desperately wanted someone to believe what you were telling them … that what you were saying was true.

I’ll bet you said something like, “I give you my word.”

In this way, you were sealing the authenticity of what you said with your word.

Well, God did the same thing 2000 years ago when He sent His Son to redeem us.

He sealed the authenticity of what he said by giving us his Word … literally!

You see, Jesus is the Word of God.

We hear this reference as John opens His Gospel saying,

“In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God … and the Word was God.”

So, when God sent His Son Jesus to us … He literally gave us His Word!

We reverence this when we pray the Angelus saying,

 “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us!”

So, in giving us Jesus, God gave us His Word!

That means that the authenticity of His Self-revelation is true and trustworthy ...

that God is our Father ... and we are His Children ... not His Slaves.

The fact that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not something we would know by looking at the Created World.  So God revealed it to us by Divine Revelation.

It is only through Divine Revelation that He unveils the mystery of who He is.

In all 3 of our readings today from Holy Scripture,

God reveals that He is a mysterious community of persons.

We also reverenced this in our Opening Prayer when we prayed:

Father, You sent your Word to bring us truth ... and your Spirit to make us holy.

Through them we come to know the mystery of your life.

Help us to worship you, one God in three Persons.

How perfect that this feast honoring the Most Holy Trinity falls on Fathers Day!.

     Made in God’s image, we humans are family ... just as our God is family.

I know a Christian man who had attended many different Protestant churches.

And after visiting the Catholic Church, said one difference that stood out

was the way we pray to God as Trinity.

He said in Bible churches it’s all about “me and Jesus”.

And most prayers prayed there end with the words ... “in Jesus’ name we pray.”

Whereas in the Catholic Church it’s the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

that begins and ends and permeates every prayer!

It’s not just me and Jesus. It’s me and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Recall the last words that Jesus spoke to His Apostles as He ascended into Heaven. He said, “Go make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”

And those are the very words that the Priest or Deacon spoke at your Baptism

that brought you into God’s family.

It’s through Baptism that we’re adopted into the life of the Blessed Trinity and given the birthrite to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Do you see the need for evangelization? for spreading the News that

Jesus is the Son of God and that Eternal Life is secured by belief in Him?

As we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity,

contemplate the Creed we profess and all the prayers that we pray ...

and rejoice in knowing the mystery of God as Trinity!

God is three in One … He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

       We are not Slaves of God the Master.

We are Sons and Daughters of God the Father!

We are Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, the Son !

And we are His children ... we are His brothers ... we are His friends!

So, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit!” Amen!