Three in one
The Church celebrates the
Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist) at the Easter
Vigil with adults who have identified a call to the Roman Catholic faith. Following the celebration of these
sacraments, these neophyte Catholics continue their faith lessons throughout
the liturgical season of Easter. In this
stage of their catechesis, known as mystagogia,
the learning happens through reflection on the lived experience, and each week,
they are encouraged to reflect on the mystery of their call to follow Jesus,
paying particular attention to the lessons he taught his disciples after his
resurrection.
The practice of reflection in
this manner doesn’t stop just because the Easter Season has now come to a
close, so even the weeks immediately following the celebration of Pentecost
bear their own opportunities for deepening our understanding and appreciation
for the mysteries of our faith. Today,
the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or Trinity Sunday
as it has come to be known. No matter
whether we celebrated the Sacraments of Initiation at Easter, or as little children,
this Solemnity allows us an opportunity to deepen our appreciation for a very
special gift which has been given to us, but in order for us to do so, we must
dare to unwrap it, gaze at it, allow it to mould us, and teach us.
The words of the book of
Deuteronomy remind us today of a truth which has been revealed to the Jewish
people, our ancestors in faith. The Lord is God in heaven above and on earth
beneath; there is no other. Since
the days of Moses, we have known that there is only one God, however our
understanding of who this God is has been deepened and explained further when,
in the fullness of time, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to live among us
and to reveal Him to us. Having taught
his disciples that he and the Father are one, Jesus then commissioned them to
spread this good news to the whole world.
Go therefore he told them, and make disciples of all nations, baptising
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
Like the disciples who were
sent out from Galilee, we who receive the gift of life in baptism are
commissioned to continue this work of making disciples of all nations. Led by
the Spirit of God, we are all sons and daughters of God. Ours is the task of continuing the mystagogia for the sake of others in our
world who perhaps have indeed been brought to the font and been baptised, but
who have not had the opportunity to understand the true depth of the gift
entrusted to them. There are many in
our world today who have received the bread of life, and even celebrated the
Sacrament of Confirmation, but who still have not had the experience of knowing
the true depth of love that has been shared with them.
It sometimes takes an entire
lifetime to understand that our God is one, that He sent us the gift of His Son
Jesus, and that after Jesus returned to the Father, they in turn sent us the
Spirit as the enduring gift, the Paraclete who will remain with us to guide us
until we ourselves are reunited with Him in heaven.
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