Sunday 12 June 2022 in the year of our Lord
1. What is the relationship between the mystery of the Holy Trinity and your today life?
2. Is the revelation of God who is one and three only a dogma that we must believe without understanding?
3. If not how is my salvation today linked to this truth of the tri-personal God?
| Jn 16:12-15 | Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην 16:12-15 |
| Jesus said to his disciples: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you." | 12Ἔτι πολλὰ ἔχω ὑμῖν λέγειν, ἀλλ’ οὐ δύνασθε βαστάζειν ἄρτι· 13ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πάσῃ· οὐ γὰρ λαλήσει ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλ’ ὅσα ἀκούσει λαλήσει καὶ τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν. 14ἐκεῖνος ἐμὲ δοξάσει, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήμψεται καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν. 15πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ πατὴρ ἐμά ἐστιν· διὰ τοῦτο εἶπον ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λαμβάνει καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν. |
Fr John Lankeit's homily :
As atheism increases in a particular society, a corresponding decline in religious practice in that society should not surprise anyone. But what might surprise people is how quickly anti-human initiatives and agendas take hold and eventually dominate societies that deny the existence of God. Such attacks on the human person are as predictable to a believer as they are puzzling to a non believer.
But why would a society’s denial of God eventually turn that society against its own members? Better yet, why is the attack on the human person in a godless society so predictable and even inevitable as history has proven it to be time and time again, especially from the early 20th century right up to today?
Part of the answer to that question...is another question...posed to God by the psalmist in today’s responsorial Psalm:
For our reflection today, we can shorten that question to: What is man?
Let’s first answer that question— “What is man?”—as a society hostile to God answers the question. After that, we’ll answer that question from a Christian perspective.
In a society like ours, where atheism is on the rise, the question of what a human person is depends, in many instances, on where that person is....as silly as that sounds.
Allow me to illustrate...
If the human person is located in the womb, then that human person is considered a “baby” as long as the mom is happy about being pregnant. If the mom is not happy about being pregnant, then the little person gets “demoted” to the status of a disposable “thing”—a “clump of cells” or a “product of conception”. Notice that the variability here is in the emotion of the mom...not the nature of the baby boy or girl.
What is man—what is the human person—then, while still in the womb?
In an atheistic society, the answer hinges on the feelings of the mom, and not the tiny, helpless baby himself or herself. In an atheistic society, abortion emerges, quite predictably—first as something that should be “safe, legal and rare”; then as a difficult matter to be discussed between a woman and her doctor; then as a positive good...and eventually a human right...for the mom, of course...but not for the child in her womb.
Once the Creator is kicked out of a culture, some humans inevitably get demoted to the status of non-human thing...based on the fickle feelings of those in power. History proves this. Atheism fuels this.
Then there’s the other end of the spectrum—old age. When we’re dealing with end of life issues in an atheistic society and ask the question “What is man?”—again, the answer is: it depends.
If grandma or grandpa is sick or disabled, for example, then what she or he is, depends on the feelings of the family members...or the laws of the state. If grandma’s or grandpa’s health care costs get too high—even if grandma or grandpa is not dying! — then decisions are to be made as to whether or not they get to keep living.
It is, of course, easier to kill grandma or grandpa if we can convince ourselves—or convince grandma and grandpa—that their value is measured by their usefulness and productivity—on what they can do...rather than on who or what they are. If the old person can be classified as a “vegetable” rather than a person, for example, then pulling the plug...or injecting the drug...to snuff out the life of a thing...doesn’t seem like such a big deal.
In an atheistic society, then, euthanasia emerges, quite predictably—as a way to cut costs, to free up hospital beds, to redirect scarce healthcare funds to more
“worthy” recipients, and to eliminate the inconvenience caused by the useless person who no longer meets the family’s or the state’s standards of worthiness to live...especially when they cost the state or the insurance company too much money...or cost the family too much love.
In between pregnancy and death, we find another utterly illogical answer to the question, “What is man?” Since this particular phenomenon has not been around as long as abortion or euthanasia, it tends to be a bit more puzzling to people.
What phenomenon?
The radically irrational idea that our sexual identity is dependent on fluctuating feelings rather than on biological reality.
In an atheistic society—particularly one as technologically advanced as ours—when a male feels like he’s really a female...or a female feels like she’s really a male...there are no limits to the combinations of clothing, hormone treatments and surgical interventions that can be applied to recreate the self...by reconstructing the body.
Here’s the bottom line—and proving it is as easy as opening the newspaper or turning on the news:
If there is no creator, then the false idea quickly emerges that, “I am God...and I get to do what God would do—if God actually existed—which he doesn’t.”
Ironically, such a twisted belief does not disprove the existence of God, no matter how much the atheist wants it to. It merely replaces the true God with the confused self. So, the atheist can never actually get rid of God. Rather, he or she just takes God’s place. And the results are always catastrophic.
All of this should look very familiar to anyone who looks up from his or her smart phone long enough to look around at the state of things today. In a decaying society like ours, the answer to the question, “What is man?” is: “It depends”.
Depends on what?
Feelings!
Well, if my purpose, value, origin and destiny is dependent on my feelings—or worse, someone else’s feelings—then my life is built on an utterly unstable foundation, and I can’t help but feel anxious...all the time.
When the human person’s value is a function of feelings—whether it’s feelings about the self or feelings about someone else—society becomes radically unstable, people become utterly insecure and the world becomes increasingly dangerous.
I don’t know many, if any, people who feel more secure and happy these days than they did, say, ten or twenty years ago. When I look around—when I talk to people—and I talk to a lot of people—I see and hear folks who are in a constant state of anxiety about the state of the world—an anxiety that is rooted, in large part, in their uncertainty about their own purpose, value, origin and destiny.
All this, of course, is just a snapshot of a godless society, and like any snapshot, it does not capture the entire panorama. There are countless additional examples of the devaluation and destruction of the human person that we could enumerate to expand the view. But who can deny that our brief survey here captures some of the more significant realities of our degenerate culture that have become the “new normal”?
The next question we must ask is: How did we get here?
Well, believe it or not, the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity—celebrated at Mass in the Catholic Church throughout the world today—sheds important light on the state of our society in general, and on the question “What is man?”, in particular. Now that we’ve considered the question “What is man?” from the perspective of an atheist society that plays God instead of worshipping him, let’s tackle this question from the Christian perspective.
The best starting point is actually to ask another question: “Who is God?”
In fact, the answer to that question ultimately answers the question, “What is man?”
So, let’s dive in.
God is a Trinity—one God in three Persons. God the Son—Jesus Christ—revealed that God the Creator is a Father...Our Father. He also revealed—and eventually sent—God the Holy Spirit, to remind us of everything he taught us (cf. Jn 14:26) and to guide us into all truth (cf. Jn 16:13).
Now, because our finite human minds could never have arrived at the knowledge of God as a Trinity without this truth having been revealed by God himself; and because our limited minds can never fully grasp this truth even if we can say the words; we need help to even begin to understand the implications of the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity for the question, “What is man?”
In the Gospels, how did Jesus help his followers understand the infinite ways of God? He illustrated the things of God through parables. What does a parable do? It takes the unfathomable ways of God and translates them into human terms we can relate to, in order to understand—just a little bit more who God is, and—by extension—who we are—in relation to God.
In his loving providence, God has actually implanted in human society a miniature version of his very nature as a community of life and love—by placing a realworld copy of himself right in our midst. And because we can relate to this icon from personal experience, we not only begin to understand a little bit more about who God is, but we also begin to understand a little more about who we are. In other words, we discover the answer to the question, “What is man?” by answering the question, “Who is God?”
What is this icon God has placed in the midst of human society that sheds light on who he is...and who we are?
The natural family—husband and wife...father and mother...joined by God in natural marriage—and the children that are the natural fruit of the bodily expression of love between the man and the woman.
Let’s see why how is so: [Describe the icon].
The family—the icon of God’s very nature as a community of life-giving love—opens a window into God’s own inner life to us on earth. We must understand, then, that any attempt to close this window by destroying any aspect of the natural family and its natural relations, is not just the work of confused, godless human beings.
It is the master plan of the Devil because Satan knows that if he succeeds in blinding us to who God is, then we will—just like Adam and Eve—begin to take things into our own hands—to take the place of God—to the point of destroying everything we’ve received from him—including ourselves. This isn’t “conspiracy theory”. This is American society in 2019!
God is a family—a community of life-giving love. No religion besides Christianity makes such a claim. And knowing God’s nature is key to answering the question, “What is man?” precisely because we are created in God’s image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:27) as we read in the book of Genesis:
We are in God’s image and likeness, but not by physical appearance. If that were so, then God would be bald with a white goatee and bad eyesight. No, we are in God’s image and likeness above all in our ability to enter—consciously and deliberately—into relationships of life-giving self-sacrificial love—precisely as male and female.
Every attack on the human family, then, is much more than an ideological agenda or a political program.
It is the work of the Devil! Its human proponents are just the Devil’s pawns.
Unlike animals which merely reproduce, human beings procreate—actually collaborating with God in the pro-active creation of new little images of God—male and female—each with a physical body and an immortal soul.
Man and woman, in the natural physical act of love, provide the raw materials for the new person’s body. God provides the soul.
So, natural marriage, lived in obedience to the law of God, is already a participation in the very life of God...here on earth!
Participation in the very life of God—living in the heart of the Most Holy Trinity’s life-giving love for eternity in heaven—is the destiny of every human person—the reason we were created.
God has not only revealed himself to us, gradually, throughout the course of salvation history, in order to reveal the depth of his love for us. He has also given us a way—in this life—to already taste this love—to experience it in family and natural marriage—as he designed family and natural marriage—so that every step of our journey back home to him is taken under his loving guidance.
Ignorance of our connection to the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, then, is deadly to individuals and to human society.
Awareness of our connection to the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, on the other hand, is essential in order to know who God is, and...by extension...who we are.
But why would a society’s denial of God eventually turn that society against its own members? Better yet, why is the attack on the human person in a godless society so predictable and even inevitable as history has proven it to be time and time again, especially from the early 20th century right up to today?
Part of the answer to that question...is another question...posed to God by the psalmist in today’s responsorial Psalm:
What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him? (Ps 8:5)
For our reflection today, we can shorten that question to: What is man?
Let’s first answer that question— “What is man?”—as a society hostile to God answers the question. After that, we’ll answer that question from a Christian perspective.
In a society like ours, where atheism is on the rise, the question of what a human person is depends, in many instances, on where that person is....as silly as that sounds.
Allow me to illustrate...
If the human person is located in the womb, then that human person is considered a “baby” as long as the mom is happy about being pregnant. If the mom is not happy about being pregnant, then the little person gets “demoted” to the status of a disposable “thing”—a “clump of cells” or a “product of conception”. Notice that the variability here is in the emotion of the mom...not the nature of the baby boy or girl.
What is man—what is the human person—then, while still in the womb?
In an atheistic society, the answer hinges on the feelings of the mom, and not the tiny, helpless baby himself or herself. In an atheistic society, abortion emerges, quite predictably—first as something that should be “safe, legal and rare”; then as a difficult matter to be discussed between a woman and her doctor; then as a positive good...and eventually a human right...for the mom, of course...but not for the child in her womb.
Once the Creator is kicked out of a culture, some humans inevitably get demoted to the status of non-human thing...based on the fickle feelings of those in power. History proves this. Atheism fuels this.
Then there’s the other end of the spectrum—old age. When we’re dealing with end of life issues in an atheistic society and ask the question “What is man?”—again, the answer is: it depends.
If grandma or grandpa is sick or disabled, for example, then what she or he is, depends on the feelings of the family members...or the laws of the state. If grandma’s or grandpa’s health care costs get too high—even if grandma or grandpa is not dying! — then decisions are to be made as to whether or not they get to keep living.
It is, of course, easier to kill grandma or grandpa if we can convince ourselves—or convince grandma and grandpa—that their value is measured by their usefulness and productivity—on what they can do...rather than on who or what they are. If the old person can be classified as a “vegetable” rather than a person, for example, then pulling the plug...or injecting the drug...to snuff out the life of a thing...doesn’t seem like such a big deal.
In an atheistic society, then, euthanasia emerges, quite predictably—as a way to cut costs, to free up hospital beds, to redirect scarce healthcare funds to more
“worthy” recipients, and to eliminate the inconvenience caused by the useless person who no longer meets the family’s or the state’s standards of worthiness to live...especially when they cost the state or the insurance company too much money...or cost the family too much love.
In between pregnancy and death, we find another utterly illogical answer to the question, “What is man?” Since this particular phenomenon has not been around as long as abortion or euthanasia, it tends to be a bit more puzzling to people.
What phenomenon?
The radically irrational idea that our sexual identity is dependent on fluctuating feelings rather than on biological reality.
In an atheistic society—particularly one as technologically advanced as ours—when a male feels like he’s really a female...or a female feels like she’s really a male...there are no limits to the combinations of clothing, hormone treatments and surgical interventions that can be applied to recreate the self...by reconstructing the body.
Here’s the bottom line—and proving it is as easy as opening the newspaper or turning on the news:
If there is no creator, then the false idea quickly emerges that, “I am God...and I get to do what God would do—if God actually existed—which he doesn’t.”
Ironically, such a twisted belief does not disprove the existence of God, no matter how much the atheist wants it to. It merely replaces the true God with the confused self. So, the atheist can never actually get rid of God. Rather, he or she just takes God’s place. And the results are always catastrophic.
All of this should look very familiar to anyone who looks up from his or her smart phone long enough to look around at the state of things today. In a decaying society like ours, the answer to the question, “What is man?” is: “It depends”.
Depends on what?
Feelings!
Well, if my purpose, value, origin and destiny is dependent on my feelings—or worse, someone else’s feelings—then my life is built on an utterly unstable foundation, and I can’t help but feel anxious...all the time.
When the human person’s value is a function of feelings—whether it’s feelings about the self or feelings about someone else—society becomes radically unstable, people become utterly insecure and the world becomes increasingly dangerous.
I don’t know many, if any, people who feel more secure and happy these days than they did, say, ten or twenty years ago. When I look around—when I talk to people—and I talk to a lot of people—I see and hear folks who are in a constant state of anxiety about the state of the world—an anxiety that is rooted, in large part, in their uncertainty about their own purpose, value, origin and destiny.
All this, of course, is just a snapshot of a godless society, and like any snapshot, it does not capture the entire panorama. There are countless additional examples of the devaluation and destruction of the human person that we could enumerate to expand the view. But who can deny that our brief survey here captures some of the more significant realities of our degenerate culture that have become the “new normal”?
The next question we must ask is: How did we get here?
Well, believe it or not, the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity—celebrated at Mass in the Catholic Church throughout the world today—sheds important light on the state of our society in general, and on the question “What is man?”, in particular. Now that we’ve considered the question “What is man?” from the perspective of an atheist society that plays God instead of worshipping him, let’s tackle this question from the Christian perspective.
The best starting point is actually to ask another question: “Who is God?”
In fact, the answer to that question ultimately answers the question, “What is man?”
So, let’s dive in.
God is a Trinity—one God in three Persons. God the Son—Jesus Christ—revealed that God the Creator is a Father...Our Father. He also revealed—and eventually sent—God the Holy Spirit, to remind us of everything he taught us (cf. Jn 14:26) and to guide us into all truth (cf. Jn 16:13).
Now, because our finite human minds could never have arrived at the knowledge of God as a Trinity without this truth having been revealed by God himself; and because our limited minds can never fully grasp this truth even if we can say the words; we need help to even begin to understand the implications of the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity for the question, “What is man?”
In the Gospels, how did Jesus help his followers understand the infinite ways of God? He illustrated the things of God through parables. What does a parable do? It takes the unfathomable ways of God and translates them into human terms we can relate to, in order to understand—just a little bit more who God is, and—by extension—who we are—in relation to God.
In his loving providence, God has actually implanted in human society a miniature version of his very nature as a community of life and love—by placing a realworld copy of himself right in our midst. And because we can relate to this icon from personal experience, we not only begin to understand a little bit more about who God is, but we also begin to understand a little more about who we are. In other words, we discover the answer to the question, “What is man?” by answering the question, “Who is God?”
What is this icon God has placed in the midst of human society that sheds light on who he is...and who we are?
The natural family—husband and wife...father and mother...joined by God in natural marriage—and the children that are the natural fruit of the bodily expression of love between the man and the woman.
Let’s see why how is so: [Describe the icon].
The family—the icon of God’s very nature as a community of life-giving love—opens a window into God’s own inner life to us on earth. We must understand, then, that any attempt to close this window by destroying any aspect of the natural family and its natural relations, is not just the work of confused, godless human beings.
It is the master plan of the Devil because Satan knows that if he succeeds in blinding us to who God is, then we will—just like Adam and Eve—begin to take things into our own hands—to take the place of God—to the point of destroying everything we’ve received from him—including ourselves. This isn’t “conspiracy theory”. This is American society in 2019!
God is a family—a community of life-giving love. No religion besides Christianity makes such a claim. And knowing God’s nature is key to answering the question, “What is man?” precisely because we are created in God’s image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:27) as we read in the book of Genesis:
...God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it... (Gen 1:26-28)
We are in God’s image and likeness, but not by physical appearance. If that were so, then God would be bald with a white goatee and bad eyesight. No, we are in God’s image and likeness above all in our ability to enter—consciously and deliberately—into relationships of life-giving self-sacrificial love—precisely as male and female.
Every attack on the human family, then, is much more than an ideological agenda or a political program.
It is the work of the Devil! Its human proponents are just the Devil’s pawns.
Unlike animals which merely reproduce, human beings procreate—actually collaborating with God in the pro-active creation of new little images of God—male and female—each with a physical body and an immortal soul.
Man and woman, in the natural physical act of love, provide the raw materials for the new person’s body. God provides the soul.
So, natural marriage, lived in obedience to the law of God, is already a participation in the very life of God...here on earth!
Participation in the very life of God—living in the heart of the Most Holy Trinity’s life-giving love for eternity in heaven—is the destiny of every human person—the reason we were created.
God has not only revealed himself to us, gradually, throughout the course of salvation history, in order to reveal the depth of his love for us. He has also given us a way—in this life—to already taste this love—to experience it in family and natural marriage—as he designed family and natural marriage—so that every step of our journey back home to him is taken under his loving guidance.
Ignorance of our connection to the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, then, is deadly to individuals and to human society.
Awareness of our connection to the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, on the other hand, is essential in order to know who God is, and...by extension...who we are.
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