Homily Notes for Trinity Sunday, June 3, 2007

(Actually, we will have a visiting speaker to talk about Cristo Rey High School. Below are reflectionsthat would have been developed into a homily for Trinity Sunday.)
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Each year, there is the same cycle of feasts after Easter: Pentecost, The Feast of the Holy Trinity and the Feast of Corpus Christi (The Body and Blood of Christ). I often find these feasts difficult to speak about.
The Trinity is about relationships, the relationship of Jesus to the Father and the relationship of the Spirit who comes from them and our sharing in that relationship.
Appropriately, I picked up a new book by Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. It is titled Jesus of Nazareth. It is written in his own name and in the introduction he says it is not a magisterial act but an expression of his own personal search for the face of the Lord. He says everyone is free to contradict him and asks only the initial goodwill without which there can be no understanding. I’ve can’t recall a Pope writing in such a personal and humble way.
The book is academic – he’s a real scholar – but readable. Even if you aren’t familiar with all the academic issues, you could still gain a lot from it. So I would recommend it. (Big of me!)
I like his emphasis, which I quote from the book jacket. “What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: God. … He has brought God, and now we know his face, we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about our origin and destiny: faith, hope and love.”
In my lifetime people have portrayed Jesus as many things. I’ve learned from all of them. But I like the simplicity of the Pope’s language. Jesus didn’t come to serve any of our ideologies. He came to reveal God. With God all of these other things have meaning. Without God, they are meaningless. I’m looking forward to getting more deeply into the book.