Just as the beginning of Matthew’s gospel tells us that the baby Jesus represents, and is, “God with us” (i.e., “Emmanuel”), so the concluding scene in his gospel shows Jesus telling his disciples that he will be with them until the end of time. What a powerful theme to bracket the life of Jesus! We who face many challenges in being Christ-like—have the assurance that we are not alone in confronting those challenges. We are never alone.
In this farewell scene, we know something profound will take place just as it unfolds. How do we know this? Because it begins locating the scene on a mountaintop. Remember? In both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures we know that something grand is going to take place whenever a mountain scene occurs. Sure enough. Jesus has called them to the mountain because he’s telling them that with his departure, they will take the baton he passes to them—and carry on his mission.
He tells them to evangelize the world, and not restrict themselves to being clannish, and ethnocentric. He reminds them that their role now is to go to the ends of the earth and preach the Good News (gospel) to all people—and in doing so they should use words if they have to! This simply means that the way they treat people should be their best form of evangelization. And so this passage reminds us that the message of Jesus is a “catholic” one—a word that means “universal.”
You can see how important this scene is for humanity. It addresses our NOT seeing one another as brothers and sisters in Christ! Jesus tells us to baptize ALL nations as brothers and sisters. But what have we done? We fight others in war. We call people names if they look different from us. We harbor prejudices and often DON’T obey these verses which many Christians call the “Great Commission.”
This being Trinity Sunday, the Church calls us to reflect upon this mystery of our faith—a mystery we can’t fully understand. One reason the Mormon faith is not considered a Christian denomination is that it does not accept this basic tenet. Christians assert that there are three persons in one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Muslims reverence Jesus but do not accept his being one with the Father, and Christians, in turn, say they are not believing in 2 or 3 Gods—but One! They’ll say a triangle has 3 angles in it, but it is one figure—much like a shamrock has 3 leaves—but is one shamrock. Even Christians can’t fully understand how there are 3 persons in one God. So they have a hard time explaining the Trinity to a non-Christian. They can only use analogies like a triangle or shamrock. Such is why we call the Trinity a mystery that we can’t fully understand.
Theologians say that even though the bible doesn’t have the word “trinity” in it, the presence of 3 persons in 1 God can be drawn from both Old and New testaments. Similarly, we experience the Trinity in our natural way of praying to “God.” How so? Here’s a typical way people naturally pray (without consciously thinking of theology, per se).
One might look at a beautiful sunrise over a lake and thank God the Father (or Creator figure) for giving us such a paradise. Later in the day, the same person might say to Jesus in prayer “Help me carry this cross in my life, Lord. You were able to carry yours. Help me carry mine.” Lastly, we might go to bed and lay there asking the Holy Spirit to empower us the next day to find words to speak at a business meeting, or to a family member or friend. And so we’ve prayed to a Father/Mother/Creator/Great Mystery figure (words can’t fully define God). We’ve prayed to Jesus, and we’ve prayed to the Holy Spirit—all in one day. We’ve addressed the one God as Father, Son, and Spirit.
Interestingly, in the first century, people were baptized in the name of Jesus (reported in Acts and Paul). Toward the end of the first century, baptisms invoked the three persons—as we do now. By the 11th century, Pope John the 22nd made it a universal practice to honor the Holy Trinity. The Church spent many years arguing exactly what Jesus taught on the matter.
A sampling of questions they addressed are: is the Son equal to the Father? Who came first? Did Jesus exist at the beginning of time—and then was packaged as a baby boy and sent to earth? Did Jesus know all things when he lived? If so, does this mean he pretended to suffer on Good Friday?
Over the centuries, theologians drew conclusions that made them preach against “false teachings,” and the word used when referring to a false teaching is “heresy.” One such popular heresy that reverberates within Islam and elsewhere is “Arianism.” This position was taught by Bishop Arius and it claimed that Jesus was a good man, but not equal to the Father. It is known as the “Arian Heresy.”
This weekend is also Memorial Day weekend. Not a Church feast but a secular one, the topic reminds me of the aphorism “There are no atheists in foxholes.” One might claim to be an atheist–but in battle, with lethal shrapnel flying everywhere, soldiers will take cover in a foxhole and PRAY to God that they be spared. Once out of the foxhole, they might revert to their claim of being an atheist—but for that period on the battlefield, they were talking to the God they said did not exist.
An atheistic mom or dad has a similar experience. When their little boy or girl is newly born and given to their atheistst parent, the miracle of life speaks to the parent’s heart and reminds them—if only for a short while—that God exists.
The founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius Loyola, was a soldier. Like me, he could think of Mass as the foxhole wherein we ask God to help us in the battles we face. In this foxhole of the Mass, we lay bare our hearts to God and ask for insight into why we were made the person we are. We picture the battles we’ll have to face when we leave this foxhole—and ask God to protect us, and to help us slay the dragons that create wars that produce Memorial Days around the world—in every culture.
We’re in this foxhole with others who share our vision of preserving the paradise given to us by God. In this foxhole of the Mass, we are reminded at communion time that God will nourish us where we most hunger. We get new battle plans while in the foxhole—plans that will help us overcome the enemies of faith, hope, and love.
So this secular observance we call Memorial Day reminds us that God our Creator-parent brought us into the world to live as Jesus instructed. If we follow Him, there will be no need for Memorial Days anywhere on earth. Why? Because if we are guided by the Holy Spirit, we will have no stomach for war or prejudices that breed hatred. This foxhole sacrament reminds us of the Trinity—of God the Father and Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, being with us until the end of time.