Feast of the Most Holy Trinity - God lives NOW

Nostalgia, I think, is a two edged sword. We remember the past with a degree of fondness, maybe even with a little longing. It sounds good, but is what we remember truly the reality?  I am not generally a nostalgic person. I am a child of the 70’s & 80’s, bell bottoms, polyester leisure suits. I have good memories growing up; I also have a lot I would like to forget.

But now, there are amazing things going on. Wonderful things, and yes, not so wonderful things that persist still from our darker side. Still, I sense incredible changes in our parish, in our church. Changes that will serve our community well.  It is a church that tries and struggles to recenter ourselves on Christ; not on an institution. Recenter on mission and not ourselves. A church that becomes more universal, for all people.  We can appear as irrelevant to so many; this has become our challenge. People don’t attack us, they simply become indifferent.

We cannot remain indifferent, we cannot become defensive.  Our Challenge is mission.

The Spirit remains at work even now and provides new wineskins to carry out the good news. We celebrated Confirmation last week, and when we fully finish next week, 32 young persons fully initiated into our Catholic faith will live out that belief in Christ in the context of their own lives, in ways different from when many of us were teens.

The Spirit works to open our minds to new methods, new tools to share the oldest Truth: God loves humanity. St. Augustine said of God “Ever Ancient, Ever New”. We see how we have adapted to share our faith with others through social media, through texts; through sharing our stories.

God works in and with us, today!  And this is not unique to us in the early 21st Century.

Think back to that 1st reading. Moses, very much aware of God doing amazing things for the people in their own day, tells those people, “don’t get nostalgic; keep your eyes open, look at what God does for us. Work for a better future!”

Even Paul in the 2nd reading says the same thing. Amazed by the Good News of Christ, amazed that NOW, he and we are Children of God. He also has hope for a future when the fullness of this becomes realized, and he worked for that future.

Then of course we have Jesus in his Gospel. He has appeared post resurrection and he gives Mission to the Disciples. He tells them GO! Live the Good News. Share the message. Don’t sit here, Don’t waste the moment...Go!  

In this passage, there is that intriguing little phrase “they worshipped, and they doubted.”  This becomes a threshold moment for the disciples, it is a moment of tension. This worship of Christ is not as they have worshipped God in the past. Are they doing good? Is this the right thing to do? This is different from how we have lived.

At times, we will have doubts about our faith. At times too we will get bored, it will get dry. And sometimes we can think “It was so much better in the past, can’t we go back to those days?”  What will we do?

We do as Israel did in the desert. We do as Paul did in his darkest moments. We do as those disciples...we Go and live. We Go and share the Good news. We go forward.

There is a wonderful Greek word, “perichoresis” which means “inner mixing” or “inner penetration”. It was used to describe God as Trinity. This dynamic energy of God that seethes, moves, envelopes, embraces one another. It creates this sense of God as active, involved, almost restless.  

It reminds us that God lives now! We don’t have to try to recreate a past to find and encounter God. God lives now. God moves us forward in love to be in this world, to grow this world, to help this world.  God lives now in the many languages and cultures of this world. God lives in the homes of so many in which people give of themselves for the other.  

We experience God in the growing sense of hospitality that exists in our parish. In the young persons who accept the challenge of Faith, have stepped up and participate in the life and mission of the parish.  

We experience God in the more senior of us who continue to share stories of faith with others, who serve those in need; and can recall a past with fondness, but also remain hopeful for this world.  

God causes us to celebrate our diversity in this parish! The different faces, cultures, languages that have come here, finding welcome, seeking more.  We celebrate God in a school year coming to an end; a school year in which the staff did amazing work for those kids amid circumstances that stressed soo many. They worked extra; they faced some criticisms, but in the end, those kids, our kids thrived.  We celebrate God now in our first communions; in our baptisms and weddings that have come back; and maybe with a bit more appreciation for them after having to limit them.

God lives now. God does amazing things now. Go, See, Share.