Homily for Trinity
Sunday
June 7, 2020
In the Name of the
Father
We all
know a great deal about the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and last week we heard
all about the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. But what about God
the Father? Who is He, and what is His role to play? On this Trinity Sunday, I’d
like to look at three things: the role of God the Father, our relationship to
Him, and how that relationship should impact our relationships with one
another.
So let
us begin: what does it mean to say that God is Father? A couple things. First,
it means that God is personal. He’s
not like the “Force” in Star Wars. He’s not just an amorphous “spiritual energy”
– no, He is deeply personal, which means we can have a real relationship with
Him. Also, we call the First Person of the Trinity “Father” because He is the
source of all existence in the universe. He is the source of existence in the
Trinity (the Son is begotten by Him, and the Spirit proceeds from Him), and He
is the source of existence of the world. He is Creator of all that is, and
everything that exists only exists because He is existence Itself.
How
beautiful it is to be able to call God “Father”! Once, St. Teresa of Avila tried
to meditate on the Our Father. The first day, she meditated on those first two
words, “Our Father” – considering how awesome it was that God invited her to
call Him Father! That made her the daughter of the Creator! The next day she
tried to get further in the prayer, but was still so moved that she could not
get past those two words: “Our Father”. Every day for an entire year, she would
go to prayer and seek to meditate on the words of the Lord’s prayer, but would
always become deeply moved to the point of tears with just those first two
words: “Our Father”!
What an
intimate name – to call God “Father”! That means that we are His children! One big
difference between Muslims and Christians is that Muslims call God “Allah”,
meaning Master, while Christians call God “Abba” – which means Father, or even
more intimately, Daddy. It would be unthinkable and blasphemous in any other
religion to call God “Father” – and yet this is precisely what Jesus urges us
to do. What intimacy! That we are among the family of God!
I
remember reading a touching story about a father who used to come home from
work and change out of his work clothes, and then he would invite his kids to
go through his work pants’ pockets and keep any treasures they found – a stick
of gum, a quarter, a pen, a cuff link. Fathers should be the source of all good
things, who bless their children lavishly. Our Heavenly Father, too, is the
source of all good things, who lavishes His love upon us. After all, Jesus
said, “If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
your Heavenly Father give gifts to you!” Yes, good earthly fathers sometimes
discipline their children too, but that is done out of love – just as our Father
in Heaven disciplines us, His children, out of love, because He wants us to be
holy, like Him.
In a
very significant way, our relationship with God the Father mirrors our
relationship with our earthly fathers. If you have had a difficult relationship
with your dad – maybe he was absent or abusive – please know that God the
Father contains all of the fatherly love that you lacked on this earth. Our
desire to have good earthly fathers is because we long for the love of the
Heavenly Father. Even if you had an imperfect father on this earth, remember
that God the Father has all of the perfections of fatherhood, including
infinite love and care for all of His children, including you.
For all
of you who are earthly fathers, then, you have a responsibility to mirror your
life on the Heavenly Father. St. Paul instructs men that “I kneel before the
Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth derives its name.”
Fathers must always seek the welfare of their wives and children, sacrificing
for them in imitation of the Heavenly Father. Fathers, seek to bless your
family as much as God has blessed you – we can’t out-bless God! This includes
disciplining your children and teaching them to fear the Lord, but never do so out
of anger, but only out of love and a genuine desire for your children to become
saints. Cherish your wife and kids, delighting in them, and being generous to
them – as God the Father does to us.
Finally,
calling God “Father” means that all of us are brothers and sisters. Thus, our
relationships should be marked with charity to all – toward people we don’t like, toward people of a different
skin color, toward people of differing political persuasion – all people are our brothers and sisters,
if God is our Heavenly Father. No one is excluded from Christian charity. This is
the only way to peace in our deeply-divided nation!
To sum
up: to call God “Father” shows us a great deal about who He is – the source of
all existence in the universe, and a personal God with whom we can have a
relationship. Our relationship to the Father should be one of great trust as
His children, as every perfect gift comes from Him. All fathers should seek to
imitate the Father, and since we are all His children, we ought to have that
same charity toward all. Truly, it is such a blessing to have a God who
revealed Himself as “Father”!
No comments:
Post a Comment