Trinity Sunday @ St. Peter Chesaning / St. Cyril Bannister

HOMILY - THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
MAY 31/JUNE 1, 2021 

On May 31, 1982 – 39 years ago – at Arlington National Cemetery, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech on Memorial Day. 

He reflected on the Gettysburg Address, but also he reflected on the inadequacy of words to express our gratitude for the sacrifices made for us as a nation by those who came before us, and not to treat what we have received lightly – but rather to value it through our own gift of self. 

He also spoke of wisdom and understanding – and in the middle of the Cold War, he dared to speak of peace. 

This weekend, is Memorial Day weekend. And in varied ways, between sips of beer and burning of hamburgers . . . we, too shall remember, commemorate, and honor those who volunteered to defend our values and our civilization. As well as recognizing that while “all gave some, some gave all.”

Reagan ended that speech by pointing out that the American National Anthem ends with a question and a challenge, saying: “Does [our] flag still wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – or more simply, Trinity Sunday.

The theology of the Trinity is both complicated and simple at the same time. Latin and Greek words such as circumincession, consubstantial, communio, homoousius, perichoresis, koinonia – abound untranslated in trying to explain the unexplainable. 

Words fail us in expressing the economic or the imminent aspects of the Trinity. No matter our wisdom or understanding – mere words are inadequate to explain the great mystery of the Supreme Godhead.

But it can be stated quite simply as, “one God in three Divine persons … equal in all things … [and] having one and the same Divine nature and substance.”

This particular Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – sandwiched between Pentecost and Corpus Christi – reminds us that we are all baptized into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through the Trinitarian formula: 

I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

That same formula captured in the Great Commission given by Our Lord to the Apostles at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel – which we heard in today’s Gospel reading.

At Pentecost, we reflected on the gifts of the Holy Spirit – wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord – the power of God, which through grace perfect our own virtues. And the fruits of the Holy Spirit – which provide us while still on Earth, a foretaste of the glory of Heaven.

On Corpus Christi, we will reflect on the Most Holy Eucharist – the Source and Summit of our Christian Life – Jesus Christ, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity – given to us and for us. The supreme Sacrifice of God the Son, offered to God the Father, through the power of God the Holy Spirit.

And so, today, we celebrate what the Catechism calls “the central mystery of Christian faith and life … the mystery of God in himself … the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them [all].”

These three feasts – Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi – situated at the end of Easter Tide, and falling near the middle of the calendar year … should remind us of what is central and fundamental to our Christian life – lived out in our day-to-day lives, out-and-about in the world.

As we approach this altar to receive Holy Communion, let us reflect on that central Mystery into which we have all been Baptized – let us reflect that we are called to share in the life of the Most Holy Trinity [CCC 265] – here and now – and to share in that life in perfection – in eternity.

Ascension Sunday @ St. Peter Cheasaning / St. Cyril Bannister

HOMILY - THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

MAY 15/16, 2021

The Hierarchy of Knowledge or DIKW Pyramid is a class of models for representing structural or functional relationships between Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom – hence, DIKW.

Numerous individuals may have invented it – economists, educators, engineers, geographers, ethicists, theorists, and researchers . . . from America, Ireland, China, Czechoslovakia, and England.

But the earliest reference to such a hierarchy can be found in T. S. Elliot’s 1934 play The Rock, which contains the chorus:

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? 
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

A fundamental premise of the Hierarchy of Knowledge is that:

information is defined in terms of data, 

knowledge [is defined] in terms of information, 

and wisdom [is defined] in terms of knowledge.

Trying to break this down into verbs – action words – a potential list might be: measure, analyze, classify, understand.

In other words, knowing about someone is not the same as knowing someone . . . and knowing someone is not the same as being in relationship with someone . . . and being in relationship with someone does not always rise to the level of loving someone.

Today is the Sunday on which we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord – when 40 days after Easter, Jesus “was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God” as we heard in St. Mark’s Gospel.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of the faith of the early Christians. And, perhaps we might consider how fortunate they were to have lived in a time so close to Jesus’ resurrection, seeing the lively power of the Holy Spirit, and living each day with an eager anticipation of the coming of the Kingdom on Jesus’ imminent return.

2,000 years seems like a long, long time, and perhaps we may not have the same level of hope as those first Christians did.

Yet, St. Paul speaks of hope in his Letter to the Ephesians, calling us to move beyond merely knowing God to living in the Power of God.

Because, for a Christian, knowing God is salvation . . . while growing in our relationship with God is sanctification . . . and ultimately – in eternal glory – we will have perfect knowledge of God, when we see Him face-to-face.

St. Paul points out that in knowing that “hope that belongs to [God’s] call . . . the riches of glory in [God’s] inheritance [is] among [His saints] . . . [in] the surpassing greatness of [God’s] power”

Our life in Christ is not only knowing about Jesus but requires that we live in imitation of Him in the here and now. Yet going beyond that, it is ultimately found in the life to come – the future glory of with God in Christ – in eternity. 

That is, more than just be-ing, Christians are called to a life of be-come-ing . . . living not only in a present-tense, but in a future-tense . . . in anticipation of God’s call. This is hope!

St. Paul tells us elsewhere in Scripture:

. . . hope that is seen is not hope. 
For who hopes for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see,
we wait for it with [patient] endurance.

Next week is Pentecost. And the tradition tells us that the Apostles and disciples prayed for 9 days – the first Novena – from the Thursday of the Ascension until Pentecost Sunday. They prayed in hope for the coming of the Holy Spirit . . . that “surpassing greatness of [God’s] power” in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – let us pray for a deeper outpouring of the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. May we who know Christ in the Eucharist come to know, even more, the “surpassing greatness” of power of His Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

5th Sunday of Easter @ St. Peter Chesaning

HOMILY - FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

MAY 2, 2021

The “Tetragrammaton” is the four-letter word in the Hebrew Bible that represents the Name of God. This word has been considered so sacred, that its pronunciation is actually been lost to the annals of history. 

It consists of the four letters yod heh vav heh – or loosely YHWH or JHVH. Whenever a Hebrew reader comes across it, the merely substitute the Hebrew word for Lord – Adonai. In English texts, it has often been transliterated as “Yahweh” or “Jehovah.”

13 years ago, the Vatican – as directed by the pope – asked that any songs or Bible translations used in Catholic worship stop using those transliterations … out of respect for the Jewish tradition of not speaking the name of God.

Nonetheless, the closest approximation of assigning meaning to those 4 letters is found in Exodus 3:14, when Moses is speaking to God in the Burning Bush and asks what name should he tell the Israelites God told him, the Lord responds: “I am who I am . . . tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

Today is the 5th Sunday of Easter.

Our Gospel reading from St. John’s Gospel – part of the Last Supper Discourse – where Jesus tells the disciples:

I am the true vine …

This is one of seven “I am” statements that Jesus makes in John’s Gospel – in a certain sense, using the alliterative Name of God to a metaphoric title for Himself.

Earlier in that discourse, right after the washing of the disciples’ feet, He says:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life …

Last week we heard from an earlier part of St. John’s Gospel, where Jesus says:

I am the good shepherd …

In the text leading up to that passage, He says:

I am the gate for the sheep …

We heard that last year on the fifth Sunday of Lent.

One chapter later, before He raises Lazarus from the dead, Jesus says, 

I am the resurrection and the life …

We heard that read on the fifth Sunday of Lent this year. 

Two chapters earlier, He says: 

I am the light of the world … 

Next year, we’ll hear that on the fifth Sunday of Lent.

And two chapters before that He says:

I am the bread of life …

We’ll hear that chapter broken up across four weeks this summer, beginning at the end of July and continuing throughout August.

We also hear a snippet of that chapter every year on the Sunday of the Body and Blood of Christ – this year falling on June 6 … or nine weeks after Easter Sunday.

So, this year – the second of the three year cycle of Sunday readings – we hear 5 out of the 7 “I am” statements. 

Although, every year, they are read on the weekdays of Lent and Easter … if you follow the daily lectionary readings.

For your personal reflection – you can call it “homework” if you like – I encourage you to consider these seven “I am” statements of Jesus … and in your reflection, consider that question that Jesus asks His disciples in the synoptic Gospels – that is, Matthew, Mark, and Luke – when He says:

Who do people say that I am?

Followed by:

Who do you say that I am?

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – Who comes to us at every Mass as the Bread of Life … let us pray that He may be for us our Way and our Truth and our Life … as we continue to move through Easter season and as we live our lives out and about in the world.