Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This feast is very special and shows us that God is always giving himself to us out of love for you. The greatest act of love is to be willing to die for the other. What could be greater than that? To give your money, your car, your house or your child is very generous, but to give your own life is the ultimate gift. You cannot give anymore than that. Christ handed himself over for us and this is what we celebrate in every Eucharist. We are not just remembering what Christ did 2,000 years ago but he dies and rises again sacramentally again. He gives his life again for you and for me. It helps me a lot when I hear about a saint or a Christian who gave his life for others as Christ did. It is this ultimate act of love that makes Christ present. Jesus Christ is resurrected for you today; he ascends into heaven for you today; he sends his Holy Spirit for you today.
This feast of the Holy Trinity is impressive. The Theology of the Trinity is difficult to understand and doesn’t move us so much. If we really understood the Trinity, it would mean that God could fit in our little heads and what would that say about God? The Jews speak very concretely about God and his action in their lives. How he freed them from the 400 years of slavery in Egypt, how he they walked on dry land through the Red Sea, how he led the to the Promised Land, and many other things. We also have seen God, and we have seen him in Jesus Christ.
There is an amazing sentence about God from one of the letters of St. John where he says that: God is love. Therefore, the most important activity of the Trinity is to love. Today is the feast of the love of Christ, the love of the Holy Spirit and the love of the Father. It is a feast of love. When we speak about God we speak about love. What is love since we use this phrase so often today? It is not something sentimental, like a feeling in the stomach. Love resides in the will or in the heart.
We don’t hear much today that love is to die. Don’t be fooled by your boyfriend or girlfriend who says he loves you so much because if he doesn’t offer his life for you, he is just saying empty words. The only one who loves you in this way is God. Your spouse or your kids or your parents do not love you this way. They cannot love you as God loves you. We Christians celebrate today because there is someone who loves us to an absurd degree. He loves us even when we don’t deserve it. This is impressive.
You and I may think that we are good, and we deserve to be loved. Your spouse and your kids have to love you because you take care of them, provide food and a home for them, send them to school, etc. But God loves us when we don’t deserve it, even when our life is a disaster and no one is able to love you. It could be that you don’t know God and this kind of love. He is the only one who can love you in this way. This is a huge blessing! This is a good news! There is one who loves you because only he can love you. In addition, he created you precisely for this purpose: to love. This is what we celebrate today.
Last week we celebrated Pentecost, the birth of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit who will guide you with all truth, with absolute truth, the fullness of the truth. The truth is one, if not it is not the truth. The truth does not change because if it did change then it would contradict the truth definition of the truth. The word ‘truth’ means invariable, unchanging, firm. If not, what is the truth, your reason, your money, your sexuality, your affections, your job or your boss. What is the truth or who is the truth? The truth does not change; it is permanent. The truth is love, the love of God, which will be forever and ever.
A priest friend of mine was saying that he experienced a time when he was full of joy, in a very strong way. It was a joy that didn’t came from him. And prior to that he had a whole year where he was anxious, stressed, too much to do and there were many complications. However, the Lord entered his life, and he has been in a deep peace since then. Now he is really happy. The problems are still there and there are many complications in his parish, but he faces them differently and he knows that it didn’t come from him. The Lord helped him a lot in the middle of his precariousness and now he is filled with joy. He struggles against sadness at time, but the Lord gives him joy, peace, patience, and love.
It is always helpful to visit the sick and also someone close to dying. One time I was with someone who was dying and he said to pray for him and not give him pain killers. He said that the pain helped him to be able to love. He remembered the words that if there is no suffering, there is no love. This is the truth.
Hopefully, when we die, we can say to the Lord, you granted me the chance to love a little. I didn’t love as you loved me, but I gave my life, I loved. One day I hope I can say that the Lord found me and is transforming me and giving me a new heart. It is a heart that is able to love. It is a big heart so I can love, a strong heart to fight and to love, not to be mediocre despite my poverty. The psalm says God made me slightly less that an angel.
You are God because you can love as God loves. This is why we were created in his image and likeness, and we will not be happy until we love in that way. You are not divine in order to do whatever you want, to judge the other, or to take revenge so that everything will be as you want, no! You were created to love as God loves you. The Church has always taught this, and it is only possible if you have the Holy Spirit. At some point later in his life, St. Paul said it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. God is the only one who gives us the possibility to love in this way, to the point of giving my life for the sake of the other, and especially to give my life for the enemy.
When you die you have two options, to die loving or to die hating. I prefer to die loving, forgiving, having mercy on the other, to die with peace. If you still are holding a grudge, don’t waste a second to remember how much God has forgiven you. This is the full truth. The Holy Spirit will lead you to this truth. He is the one who seals this love in you through the preaching, through the Word of God.
When you listen you have two options, to let it pass you by or to have the child leap inside of you as he did for Elizabeth when she heard Mary’s greeting. The preaching will awaken this desire in you and the child will leap within you. Then you can encounter the Lord in your soul. Then you will be able to say, I want to love, to be a new man, to stop hating and being selfish. I want to get out of this slavery. Our Lord wants us to experience this love so you can live as a new person.