The Holy Trinity, Hendrick van Balen the Elder 1620s, Sint-Jacobskerk, Antwerp, Belgium.

“A bell’s not a bell ’til you ring it –

A song’s not a song ’til you sing it –

Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay –

Love isn’t love ’til you give it away!”

Although that is not in today’s readings, you might say it reflects the truth the painting above is trying to convey…

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I know those words above are not to be found in today’s Scripture readings, but I contend they could have been! Oscar Hammerstein II wrote that verse, a song in the musical The Sound of Music. Maria von Trapp sings it to Lisl, a daughter of the widower Maria had just married. Lisl has fallen for a young man in the town and was eager to act on her feelings. Maria cautions patience and care, and the song suggests what Lisl should be looking for. Has the truth in the song actually happened yet? That’s the question. So: what has all this to do with today’s feast? Everything! God the Father had guided the Chosen People through centuries of turmoil, betrayal, trust, adventure, conquest and defeat over and over again. And God had clearly decided that they were ready for the ultimate truth, the overwhelming revelation from the lips of his own Son. And the message was simple, pure and direct: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34-35). God had approached Abram/Abraham at a time when children were being sacrificed as the price to be paid for divine protection. That was taking place in Canaan, where God wanted Abram to go, and that, I believe, was the main reason God intervened in human life at all. Over the centuries, God managed to alter that mind set into one of appealing for divine assistance, allied to good lives and obedience to God’s will as revealed over hundreds of years and as stated in the Hebrew Bible. And clearly God had decided that now was the time for the ultimate revelation: the Holy Trinity. And at the heart of the Holy Trinity is love. That is the divine power which never fails. It is eternal, and can be relied upon through anything and everything. St. Paul says today: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you (with which every Mass begins). And ultimately, the proof beyond all telling: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” How much more proof do we need? Rather than deny that, Jesus was prepared to undergo ultimate suffering as a proof of that reality. Each one of us is the focus of God’s love – that’s how important we are to God! And remember, never say “How can God feel that way because of me – what about the millions of others? So don’t forget: we are dealing with God, all powerful, all loving and able to show it each and every one one of us! And, as is the nature of love, God wants it returned! It is then true love, alive and healthy.

And logically, love demands at least two conscious beings able and willing to do exactly that. So clearly God had decided that the Chosen People were now ready for the revelation. But God has made us all with a profound freedom to say yes or no. On the whole, the Chosen People said “No” to the Messiah (“a murderer they save, the Prince of Life they slay”), and the Christian Church was born, claiming the divine reality of Three Persons in One God. And at the heart of  this new divine revelation was love. There are three realities within One Godhead. They are so united in love that two things happen: Complete unquestioned dedication to each other, and with a love so strong that it must be shared. Within human reality, the union of two results in three, echoing the Trinity itself. Here (and I am assuming much) the Father and Spirit unite so profoundly and eternally that the Son is always and always has been and always will be the reality of that love. I think that we humans reflect God, who made us. It is said that all artists incorporate something of themselves in their work. This is called automimesis, a concept the result of the Renaissance. Well, it’s possible. Vincent van Gogh certainly seems to have achieved that. Self-portraits are very frequently found even among the greatest painters (Rembrandt?). God is the greatest of all artists who gifts us with our own talents with which we are make our way through life. And within all of those, the light of God should flow, author of all. So no matter who or what we are, God is present as a matter of love for each of us, and so we are expected to respond and reveal the divine within each of us in what we do, what we say and what we believe. And I repeat my strong belief that the feminine reality must be present in God for such to become reality. It seems to be unthinkable without it. And the Spirit is the feminine principle. This is seen in the mundane – the gender of almost all of the Aramaic/Hebrew words relating to the Spirit are feminine (including the word Spirit itself) – and the numinous union of the Father-Spirit is expressed in the Son eternally. And it is our greatest privilege to be invited into the very heart of love itself by God Godself! It is the nature of love to be given away, and it is our privilege to return it when it came, with humility, gratitude and joy. And, in the end, to be taken up into that very source of all love and life – forever.

The Holy Trinity, Attributed to Francisco Caro 1627, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

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The Descent of the Holy Ghost, Titian c.1545, Church of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy.

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“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit….”               Acts of the Apostles, 2:1-4a.

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Consider the following: 1. The followers of Jesus were terrified that they might suffer the same hideous fate as their master, and end up crucified. 2. The gospel of St. John mentions twice that they cowered behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. 3. There were crowds of Jewish pilgrims crammed into Jerusalem at that time for the feast of Pentecost (the original Jewish-Greek name for the feast, 50 days after Passover. (The Jewish name became so confused with the Christian name that today it is called Shavuot or Weeks). In other words, the entire Christian church was cowering in a single room, traditionally the “Upper Room” or the “Cenacle”. So if the Holy Spirit had not descended upon them that day, all would have been lost. We would not live within a Christian ethos, our laws would be radically different, and almost certainly more brutal and unforgiving. Our world would be unrecognizable (see this recent thinking on what the world owes to Christianity). Jesus had promised some kind of gift, but no-one had a clue what he meant. They just waited for the fateful banging on the door and being marched away to torture and death. Then it happened.

But first, one strange thing about this feast day is that it has more names than any other in the entire Christian and Jewish year:

Pentecost Sunday (50 days after Passover: Greek: 50th πεντηκοστός pentēkostós) – The Birthday of the Church – The Descent of the Holy Spirit –  Shavuot (“Weeks”) – The Feast of the Law – The Feast of Weeks – The First Fruits of the Harvest.

And in the old days, all the Christian Sundays following this feast were “Sundays After Pentecost” (which is perhaps a little bit more poetic than “Sundays in Ordinary Time”). Our Jewish friends by tradition say that 49 days or seven weeks after the original Passover, the Hebrew people arrived at Mount Sinai where God gave them the 10 Commandments  (hence the Feast of the Law). They also count the “Omer”, the first barley crop, a handful each day from Passover to Shavuot and present that to God in the Temple in Jerusalem, the First Fruits of the Harvest.

And so, in that crowded Upper Room, suddenly “there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak”. At which moment they all became highly animated, went flying out into the crowded, Shavuot-celebrating crowds and began to proclaim the arrival of the Messiah in every language to be heard in that crowd of pilgrims from all over the Roman world (and thereby symbolically annulling the curse of Babylon with all the mixed languages. Genesis 11:1-9). The paralyzing fear of crucifixion was, it seems, banished forever. The Age of God’s Holy Spirit had begun!

And please recall my words from a few weeks ago. In Hebrew, the words Spirit, wind, tongue, fire, are all grammatically feminine, as is dove (Jesus’ baptism). Although theologians argue over the significance, or not, of that, it is my opinion that it is not accidental. I maintain that our Trinitarian God, through which we were all conceived, has indeed a feminine principle contained within the spiritual heart of the Trinity. Each one of us can therefore identify with the Holy Trinity completely and without question. We can all be totally at home within its life-giving strength. Even in the opening of the Book of Genesis, the verb used to describe the Spirit “hovering” (merachefet) is in the feminine form, which can be interpreted as “the Spirit of God… she was hovering” (Genesis 1:2). And of course there is also the Book of Wisdom, that word also being feminine in gender, and throughout that book, “she” is used to refer to Wisdom and her works. So there is a strong case to be made that in name the Holy Trinity encompasses the feminine strongly and is at its heart. And today we celebrate that most mysterious and challenging heart of Christian belief, the Holy Trinity. The Trinity created each one of us in the profoundest love and hope, offering to every one of us the hope of eternal joy and happiness, as is found in the heart of the Trinity. It is communal (the Three Persons), open as we are all invited in, and is life-giving, the heart of love itself. So we cry out “Alleluia” (remembering that the “a” at the end of the word stands for “Yahweh”, hence Allelui-Yahweh” – “Praise God”), and we enter the living heart of life itself and are invited to remain there now and forever: Praise God!

Pentecost: The Descent Of The Holy Spirit,  Emperor Nicholas 1 Illustrations, Paris 1841, France.

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The Ascension, James Thornhill 1720s, Dorset Museum and Art Gallery, Dorchester, UK.

(All dioceses have the option of celebrating the Feast of the Ascension either on the traditional Thursday, 40 days after Easter/Passover, or on the Seventh Sunday of Easter. The New York Diocese celebrates on the traditional feast day.)

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“….as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”   Acts of the Apostles, 1:9-11.

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The Ascension of the Lord effectively brings to a conclusion the time on earth of the Son of God, the Messiah. Prior to the feast of the Nativity, it was the time of God the Father, carefully preparing the people of God for the arrival of the Messiah. In that time were revealed the essential divine qualities of God: Power, Mercy, Listening, Forgiveness, Freedom, Loyalty and Relationship. Jesus demonstrated and lived all those qualities in his life, setting the perfect example for all of us to follow. Very shortly after his return to heaven, God sent down the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, inaugurating the Era of the Holy Spirit, in which we now live. It is our destiny to live by those same qualities so that we echo in our lives the identical vision of life God the Father and God the Son established for us. We are enabled to do so with the strength and direction of the Holy Spirit of God. We are not alone! We can model our lives with those same qualities and so become true disciples of God.

Power: God enabled the 90-year old Sarah, wife of Abraham, to bear a child, Isaac, thereby establishing God’s people here on earth. Jesus demonstrated the power he has as God’s Son by curing the incurable. By virtue of the gifts God has given each of us, we have power to fulfill God’s will in our lives. And we all have power! Even youngsters, for example, have the power to make their mothers’ lives a misery or make her day glorious! We all have power. It is how we use it that counts!

Mercy is when we show compassion on those who do not deserve it. Even when we mess up, God shows mercy, even though we do not deserve it. So we have to do likewise to others.

God listens! God heard the cries of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, and told Moses at the burning bush. Jesus heard blind Bartimaeus cry out to him, he heard him, turned and healed him. We should always be aware of what we are told, and the meaning behind it, perhaps requiring help.

God forgives us. Remember the ultimate example, from the cross itself, Jesus forgave his torturers. We must forgive, which is healthy compared to bottling hatred up and allowing it to dominate us.

God believes in freedom. Count the number of times Jesus released people from captivity, both in body and in mind. We can each of us try to do that in some way. It is of God.

Loyalty is a divine characteristic. In the Old Testament, for example, Hagar, Sarah’s slave and mother of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, was expelled from the camp by Sarah, but God protected her and ensured she was safe. God was loyal in proving she was safe. Jesus was overwhelmingly loyal to his Father, even though that led to the most horrific consequences. He remained loyal to the bitter end.

And finally, God is has the closest possible relationship with us. How more intimate can Jesus be by stating “Take, eat: this is my body”? We actually incorporate the Lord of All literally into us! Try to link up as many examples of these virtues as you have shown in your life. The more you can recall, the closer you are to God!

So, in all these ways, we are able to adopt and incorporate within our lives, the very qualities demonstrated by God. In that way we become true children of God, fulfilling our true destiny of union with the Lord forever.

Welcome Home, Danny Hahlbohm.

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Church of  St. Thomas à Becket, Fairfield, Romney March, Kent, UK.

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.     John 14:2-3.

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My Anglican (that is, Episcopalian) friend Richard takes delight in showing me wonderful locations near his home city of Eastbourne on the south coast of England. One day in 2014 he outdid himself. We drove to the middle of nowhere, turned a corner and I saw the sight pictured above, and took that picture. The village in which this tiny church was located vanished long ago, but the church still stands where it was built  perhaps 800 years ago. Today’s readings triggered that memory, a House of God still standing despite everything the world could throw at it. Although built at a time when the Pope was recognized as the leader of the church, it is now part of the Anglican Church, perhaps one of the “many dwelling places” in today’s gospel? Jesus had just mentioned to his friends that he would be shortly leaving them. One can try to imagine the pain that announcement must have had; here was the greatest man they would ever meet, and I’m sure they knew that, and yet he said he would shortly be leaving them, abandoning them as perhaps they felt. Just imagine the most grief-stricken moment you have ever endured, and it might have been something like that. The thought was simply unbearable. Yet Jesus told them that he would prepare a place for each of them where he was going, which one imagines was some consolation, but of course they had no clue as to what exactly that might mean. All but John, remember, were to be martyred for their faith in Jesus. But his assurance that he was “the way, the truth and the life” and was the sure foundation of the new life they were to live, and that gave them the strength to create what was to become our Christian way of life.

But that new way of life was soon to face its first challenge. This first style of living was, it seems, to have many things in common including meals. That almost naturally led to complaints that “they” were getting more than “us”. There was apparently a social divide among those first converts from the Jewish communities, one local (getting more food it was claimed) than the other, the “Hellenists” or foreigners whose language was more Greek than Hebrew (getting less). Well, the apostles, the first leaders of the community or “The Way”  (they were not to be called Christian for some time) were much more interested in spreading the Word of God, as today’s passage from the Acts of the Apostles puts it, than “serving at table”. So they asked for volunteers to handle the dispute so as to free themselves up. This was agreed to, and seven were chosen to run the early community peacefully and well. Interestingly, all seven are thought to have been Hellenist Jews. However, it seems to have solved the problem as “the proposal was acceptable to the whole community”. This event is considered to have been the creation of the first order of priesthood, the deaconate. The word διάκονος, diakonos, is an ancient Greek word meaning servant or waiter. Also, Stephen, one of those first seven deacons, was the first person to be martyred, or killed, because of his belief in Jesus as the Messiah. He was therefore our protomartyr. His feast is celebrated in December 26th. One further note. Everything being held in common, as described in the very early church, seems to have been a kind of voluntary communism. It did not last very long, but is still found today in the church. When I joined the Jesuits in 1973, for example, I surrendered all of my belongings quite voluntarily, and entered into community life, clearly a form of (Christian) communism – but one which works!

And then there is the second reading today. St. Peter calling Jesus Christ the cornerstone, the foundation of the entire Church. Upon this stone was to be built the Church of God, starting with the apostles who were called by Christ, the deacons who managed the daily running of the Church, and everyone else, all dependent on Christ himself supporting everyone with the strongest spirituality. And just like that ancient church pictured above, the Christian community has survived right down to this day, through endless ages and tumult. and now it is up to us to support it, nurture it and strengthen it for those generations who follow. And we do that through being perfect examples of Christian love, support and vision, as strong as the stones in that small church above, which has been through all the centuries and survived!

And from one of the humblest of Christian churches (above) to one of the most magnificent, all beloved of the Lord:

Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière (Our Lady of the Beautiful Stained Glass) or the Blue Virgin, 12th Century, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, France.

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Jesus as the Gate for the Sheep, unknown provenance.

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So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.    John 10:7-9.

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The first words spoken by St. Peter in today’s first reading are “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified”. Considering that we had been told elsewhere that they were so terrified (that they too would be crucified) that they had locked and hidden themselves away from those very authorities Peter was addressing – so what is going on? What on earth had happened to them to abandon all fear and declare in public what the authorities would consider blasphemous and worthy of crucifixion? Quite simply the Holy Spirit of God. That same Spirit that had descended on Jesus being baptized by John in the Jordan River and anointed him as the Messiah. That same Spirit who conceived the Lord in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. That same Spirit had descended on the terrified followers of the Lord and rendered them Lions of the Truth about Jesus, as witnessed in today’s first reading. And it is that same Spirit that has guided God’s Holy Church down through the ages, protecting, defending and strengthening her. In fact, on reflection, the Old Testament contains the revelation of God the Father through the ages, then the age of  God’s Son who founded God’s Church, inspiring those who would carry on after him, guided by the four Gospels, and the Age of God’s Holy Spirit who has been with us since Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, guiding us down to this day. Without that courage and strength seen in today’s first reading – without God’s Holy Spirit – there would be no church, no hope, no message and no guidelines to heaven. That leads us to the profoundest mystery of all, the Three Persons in One God. And it was at this juncture in Salvation History that this greatest truth of all was revealed.

Now look at today’s second reading, a guide as to what we should do when challenged, following this example: He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly”. Not easy as we are so easily attracted by all that glitters….

And then, ultimately, we come to the sheepfold itself, and the Gate whereby we enter, to be told it is the Lord himself. To enter that way we anticipate that we “might have life and have it more abundantly”. All given freely, without condition, given out of love of us. One might ask, how can this be?  What needs to be done? In fact, the first people to hear this, in today’s first reading, asked the identical question. And the answer is: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.”  And that includes us, here and now, all called by God to holiness and fulfillment in the Lord. For we are those lambs in the meadow, guarded by none other than the Son of God himself. But, Jesus says, “All who came before me are thieves and robbers” caring nothing for us, wanting us captive, slaves to whatever might lure us out of the fold and into captivity. And there is such a choice! Drugs, money, power, anything that would draw us away from the one who really cares for us and our safety and offers  protection, and instead into the domination of the one who wants us in slavery, leading to destruction and, ultimately, the worship of evil. And that leads to hell, the antithesis of life: the realm of Moloch, the god of death in one form or another. There are so many!

So we should respond positively to that open and free invitation, to enter into true life, true love, acting as Jesus did, no matter the outcome. For we are never alone in that. We have the Divine Shepherd, the Divine Entry into true fulfillment and happiness. That means trusting in the Savior, following him, obeying him and responding to his voice, having been given the strength of the Holy Spirit and obeying the Father’s will for us all – to live guarded by the shepherd and guardian of your souls as Peter says in today’s second reading. So, to put it bluntly, we rely on the total power of the Blessed Trinity to protect and help us navigate the shoals and jagged rocks of our lives, trusting totally in the love that God has for each of us.

The Holy Trinity Stained Glass Window, unknown provenance.

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