SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY – May 30, 2021 – Matthew 28: 16-20
Today, let’s reflect together on an EXPERIENCE of the Blessed Trinity: The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. So one day, my phone rings, and the ID screen says “unknown caller.” I don’t like it when that happens. The last two times I answered an “unknown caller” call, it was someone trying to sell me a subscription to Newsday, and the other time, it was someone who thought I was living in a three-story house, and was I interested in purchasing siding for it. I debate whether or not I want to answer it, and I’m glad I did. I say “Hi, it’s Chris here,’ and the voice on the other end says, “Hi, Chris, it’s Gabriel…from heaven.” I’m thinking it’s a joke, so I say: “Sure, right, Gabriel from heaven,” and he says, “yes, Chris, it really is: it’s Gabriel, from heaven. And who would YOU like to speak with today, Chris?” I’m still stunned, and say: “Gabriel, you called me!” “Yes, Chris, I know: God said ‘let’s call Chris today! How about starting with God the Father?”
So, I’m on the phone with the Creator of Heaven and Earth. I’m telling God (like he doesn’t know!) how fond I am of a Jesuit poet named Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins, and God says quickly: “Yes, Chris: the poem is “The World is charged with the grandeur of God,” and you read it regularly.” Yes! I said: “I was thinking about your grandeur, God, after reading a story about a very smart farmer named Uruk, who lived in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in 5300 BC. Uruk found some fertile land there, but he couldn’t do all the tasks himself. You inspired him, God, to find people to clear the land, and managers, planters, and harvesters all to work with you. Because working together is the key!
God says: “Yes: all those gifts out there are divine ingenuity at work. Now Chris, let me ask you: would you like to speak with your brother a minute?” “My brother Mike, in Massachusetts? I ask. “No, Chris,” God says patiently, “your older, wiser brother. Let me put him on the line with you.” So then Jesus says, “Chris, how’s it going today?” and I start to tell the 2nd person of the Blessed Trinity what I was talking about with the 1st person of the Blessed Trinity, and Jesus laughs out loud: “Yes Chris, I know: I’ve been listening in on the conversation!” and then I remembered. Of course: while the Trinity contains three persons, they are all united and one, and that together they constitute the very heart of God’s divine love.
Jesus reminds me that I’ve been thinking a whole lot about the division and unrest in America. But, Jesus says, there were times in recent history when people DID cooperate with my Father’s will: Chris: remember when communism fell in Poland, and when the wall came down in Germany, and remember when Irish people could finally walk each other’s streets everywhere, without winding up dead? Those things ONLY happened when people were working and praying and LISTENING to one another. But that’s not happening everywhere in America: people assume they know each other’s story and they really don’t. And then Jesus adds: I KNOW what it’s like to be rejected, because that happened to me all the time on earth: people who didn’t even KNOW me wrote me off because they thought they really knew me.
And until real listening happens, the bonds of trust can’t begin to grow. So tell the people, Chris: tell them to please listen: listen to my Father’s voice in their hearts, and let Our Father lead them to a new freedom for all.” I promise Jesus that I would pass along his directive and message, so today, this is EVERYONE’S official notice!
Then, Jesus asks if I’d like to speak with the Holy Spirit. I said, “of course.” The Holy Spirit gets on, and makes a great suggestion: “Chris, how about today I talk and you listen: is that all right?” All right? The Holy Spirit offers me undivided attention and is it all right? O yes, it’s just fine. So God’s Spirit says to me: “Chris, you’ve had an exhausting week this past week: I know you did. You really DO worry about things, and that worrying goes way back to a time when you were very young. But now, you sometimes waste time trying to figure out solutions for things beyond your reach, and things you can’t control! So, you know what I’m going to say next: it’s from that movie called Frozen: you’ve heard dozens of times, and I heard you sing part of it in church one. Chris, LET things GO: let us, the Blessed Trinity, handle things. Remember Pope St. John XXIII’s night prayer “God, I’m going to sleep: it’s your church: I know you’ll take care of things overnight. Good night.”
What an excellent and affirming reminder from the Holy Spirit: to LET God BE our one TRUE and only God all the time: let God lead us, and challenge us, protect us, and grow us in all these different ways. I tell you: such conversations are possible for us IF we listen. And yes: let’s ALL try to live the Trinity’s love, for one another, and for us.
