Today we gather together to celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity which is the perfect challenge for us to love in a charitable way.
I am reminded of a experience that I had while I was a senior in college seminary. Our class spent the weekend to go into the streets of Kansas City, Missouri to work with a local organization which brought food and clothes to the homeless of the city. I was most touched that night while we were under a bridge and speaking with a man who owned much of nothing. It was a cold winter night and he was in need of a blanket. He realized that we only had one blanket in our possession. After finding this out he decided that he could make it until next time. He said he owned one blanket and it would be best to keep it and give it to somebody who needs it more then he. That was an AWESOME response to hear because it would of been so easy to think of himself and fail to see the other people inside of the city that needed more then he.
This was a true glimpse into charitable love which lacked an abusive mentality, but realized the humanity of another person in the world. This man was acting out in mercy and graciousness towards his fellow brother and sister in Christ like the Trinity works within our lives.
At times we are a stiff necked people who have a misconception of love. We allow our "love" to cloud our relationship with God and with each other. It is normal to see a newly engaged couple that is filled with love for each other. To them this love can never be challenged, but as the wedding relationship takes shape the couple starts to truly learn the meaning of love. The media would want us to think that love circles around feelings. When love only revolves around feelings it becomes abusive. We begin to see another person as an object which can help us to become happy. In this abusive struggle we start to fail to see the person in their humanity. It is an everyday struggle for us to work with others be they family, friends, or people who do know. It is a challenge to always respect them through their humanity. When the check out at the grocery store is going slow it is easy to grow impatient and thus fail to see the humanity that dwells in the worker. Following a hard day's work it can be a struggle to be patient with the family. It can be hard to wake up day by day beside the same person with nothing in life ever changing.
The Trinity, on the other hand, is a perfect glimpse into love. There can be no abuse found inside of this relationship because it always respects each of the three persons. The Father completely pours out love to the Son. The Son receives this love and does not squander it, but gives it to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit then returns all of this love to the Father and this pattern continues for all of eternity. God desired that this love would flow into humanity and that we would take part within it. God saw the horror of man touched with sin and sent His Son into the world, so that we may be set free from that horror. We can indeed say that God is love from the very beginning of time and that this God is merciful and gracious. From the start the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit where sharing with each other in this relationship of love. Never would we be able to say that any of these three persons grew tired or began to take advantage of the other for their own pleasure. This relationship is completely given through charitable love.
May we allow ourselves to enter fully in this relationship of the Trinity. May we see how much our lives can be enhanced if we strive to model our relationships after the love that is found inside of the Trinity. Inside of this way of life we can begin to see all of humanity as created inside the image of God. When we begin to see humanity in this manner we will be able to take our relationships to new heights. We can see that we are important because we are loved by the Trinity. We can see that the stranger that we have never met is important because they are loved by the Trinity. Our homes can be transformed because we will be able to see God that dwells with in each other and stop using them to meet our own need for pleasure. When we can join with the Trinity in this manner we will be able to feel the "God of love and peace with us always" and we will be able to share in the mercy and graciousness that is poured out to each of us. May we model Moses from the first reading who wanted the Lord to come along with his company and guide them. May the Lord indeed walk along in our company and help us to be inspired to live out the love the Trinity in all areas of life that we may encounter.
The world is indeed filled with many examples of how love has been misused, but the world is also filled with examples of love being used in it's correct form. The example of the homeless man and his concern for another proved that this happens in our daily life. The person who received that blanket probably never realized the sacrifice that was placed into what they received.
Today we are blessd to celebrate this day of charitable love on Father's Day. We owe the fathers in our life a thank you for the charitable love that they have shown us and continue to show us. May all fathers present along with all the faithful gathered here today continue to grow in charitable love, so that we can grow closer to the love that is shared inside of the Trinity.
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