We may celebrate Christmas as the “fiesta” of Jesus, God the Son. And the “fiesta” of the Holy Spirit may be Pentecost Sunday. But when is the “fiesta” of the Father?
According to Fr. Jim Ferry, who celebrated the 3:00 PM Mass on the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity on June 3, it must be on Blessed Trinity Sunday. In his homily, Fr. Jim said that the love and power of the Father is manifested through His Son, Jesus.
Fr. Jim referred to the first reading, where Moses reminded the Israelites of the might and power of God. It was God who saved them from slavery and sustained them with manna as they wandered for forty years in the desert. With Moses as the prophet, God gave the Jews commandments – not to burden them, but to help and guide them in being faithful to Him.
Yet the Israelites in the Old Testament times did not think of God as a three-person Being. It was Jesus who revealed this to them: “I and the Father are one,” Jesus declared. And we ourselves are in communion with Jesus through the love and power of the Holy Spirit. Hence, when we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, we are at once connected to the Triune God.
Fr. Jim reminded everyone of the sublime truth and mystery of the Holy Eucharist. “No other religion,” Fr. Jim stated, “has a God who invites His creation to share in His divinity.” By receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, we share in the divinity and love of God.
Like Moses, Fr. Jim reminded the community to “Love God” and, subsequently, to “Love one another.” As a manifestation of His love, God sent us Jesus to suffer and die for our sins. With Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, He has bequeathed on us the Eucharist as a real sign of His love. If we receive the Eucharist, we will be in communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. With the Eucharist, we allow the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us to love and do good. We will then be in communion with other believers who are also in communion with the Triune God.
In praise of the Holy Trinity, Fr. Jim enjoined everyone to give glory to God by praying:
Glory be to the Father!
Glory be to the Son!
Glory be to the Holy Spirit!
Finally, another reminder of the presence of the Holy Trinity is the brief way we open and end our prayer. We say “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This is the Sign of the Cross. The cross is the symbol of the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God the Son. The Sign of the Cross is the symbol of love, of our salvation and of God.
- by Mario Ampil