DAILY- HOMILY

JUNE 3, 2007
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST BLESSED TRINITY

PROVERBS 8:22-31
Thus says the wisdom of God: "The LORD possessed me, the beginning of
his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; from of old I
was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. When there were no
depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs
of water; before the mountains were settled into place, before the
hills, I was brought forth; while as yet the earth and fields were
not made, nor the first clods of the world. "When the Lord
established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault
over the face of the deep; when he made firm the skies above, when he
fixed fast the foundations of the earth; when he set for the sea its
limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command; then was
I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day,
playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his
earth; and I found delight in the human race."

ROMANS 5:1-5
Brothers and sisters: Therefore, since we have been justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even
boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,
and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope
does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into
our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

JOHN 16:12-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "I have much more to tell you, but you
cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will
guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will
speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are
coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for
this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and
declare it to you."

REFLECTION
Today we celebrate the greatest mystery of our faith, the mystery of
the Holy Trinity. We would not know anything about the Holy Trinity
if God had not revealed it to us. The mystery is this: that God is
father, Son and Spirit. It is not so much something to talk about,
for words are totally inadequate; instead it is something that we
should celebrate, pray and live.

The Trinity is not an easy subject to preach about. We are dealing
with the mystery of God. Today is not a day for deep theological
reflection. It is a day to keep things simple. When water in a pool
or well is still, we can see into it. Even if we can't see right
down to the bottom, we can see something of what is contained in its
depths. But once we begin to stir things up, everything disappears.
Perhaps it is far better on this day to invite ourselves to gaze
briefly into the mystery of God, than to plunge ourselves into deep
theology that leave us confused and lost. The following two stories
may help.

Two men were walking one day along the seashore, discussing the
mystery of God. However, they were getting hopelessly bogged down.
Suddenly they came upon a small boy playing on the beach. He had dug
a hole in the sand and kept running down to the sea, dipping his toy
pail into the water, and running back up the beach to empty the water
into the hole. The two men watched him for some time as he ran back
and forth filling and emptying his pail. They found the scene
amusing. They went up to him and asked him what he was doing. Very
seriously the boy told them that he was trying to empty the ocean
into the hole which he had in the sand on the seashore.

The two men smiled and walked on, resuming their discussion about
God. After a while one of them said to the other: "You know we were
amused just now when that child told us what he was trying to do.
Yet what we have been trying to do in our discussion about God is
just the same. It is just as impossible for us to understand the
mystery of God as it is for that child to put the water of the ocean
into that hole. Our minds are but tiny toy pails, whereas the
reality of God is as great as the ocean." The point of this story is
quite obvious. Yet it should not be used to justify laziness or
superficiality in our approach to the mystery of God.

In the second story, a farmer went into the city. He was walking
down a busy street when he suddenly stopped and said to a friend who
was with him, "I can hear the droning sound of a bee or insect." The
friend was amazed and asked, "How can you hear the sound of an insect
in the midst of all this noise and confusion in the street?" "I can
hear it because my ears are attuned to its sound," he replied. Then
the farmer listened even more intently, and following the sound,
found the insect which was caught in a spider's web in the ledge of a
window.

His friend could not get over this. But the farmer showed no great
surprise. Instead, he took a few coins out of his pocket and dropped
them on the sidewalk. On hearing the sound of falling coins, all the
passersby stopped in their tracks. "You see what I mean," said the
farmer, "None of those people could hear the sound of that insect,
but all of them could hear the sound of coins falling on the sidewalk
in spite of the sounds in the street. People hear what their ears
are attuned to hear, and ignore or miss all the rest. The point
being made here is again very obvious.

It is natural to admit the existence of God as soon as we open our
eyes. Yet many look and see nothing. They listen and hear nothing.
We have to be attuned to hear and see God. This calls for great
openness and sensitivity on our part. But the best thing a Christian
can do is to look at the Gospels. In other words, we have to look at
how Jesus spoke about this mystery of the Holy Trinity and lived it.

He spoke about God as a merciful and forgiving Father. He spoke
about himself as the Son of the Father, who came to save us by dying
for us on the cross. And by seeking to do the will of the Father at
all times, he showed us how a child of God should live. The will of
the Father was that he should bring us the good news of salvation.
But it was the Holy Spirit who commissioned him for this work. He
said: "The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me. He sent me to
bring good news to the poor."

We are dealing with a great mystery, yet anyone can grasp it in such
a way as to be able to pray about it and live out this mystery in our
daily life. We think of God as our Father, a Father who loves us
deeply. It is from him we come, and it is to him that our lives flow
like a river towards the sea. We think of Jesus, the Son of God, as
our Brother who died that we might live. He leads us to the Father's
house. We think of the Holy Spirit as the one who helps us to live
like Jesus and who binds us together as brothers and sisters in a
community of love. Like fish in the sea and birds in the air, this
becomes the very atmosphere in which a Christian prays and lives.
Now, how do we live out this mystery of the Holy Trinity in our daily
lives? How do we show our love for the Holy Trinity in a very
practical way?

In our world of financial ups and downs, all of us, especially the
unemployed and elderly, need special trust in the Father. Like the
birds of the air, we too are not always sure what the future has in
store for us. We too need to trust that our heavenly Father will
provide. In a world of selfishness and self-centeredness, we need to
follow the example of Jesus' self-sacrificing love. In a world of
conflicting voices and ideas, we need the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. There are so many times when we honestly don't know what is
right. There are also times when we don't know what is the best way
to handle some situation. It is during times like these that we need
to pause in prayer and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

We truly show our love and reverence for our heavenly Father when we
trust the Father in our hour of need just as the birds of the air
do. We love and honor Jesus when we love as he loved, reaching out
even to our enemies. We love and honor the Holy Spirit when we
listen to him, especially in prayer. Trusting in the Father,
following in the footsteps of his Son Jesus Christ and listening to
the promptings of the Holy Spirit, these are the ways of bringing the
Holy Trinity into the nitty-gritty of our daily lives. And after
all, at a practical level, this is what the Feast of the Holy Trinity
is all about.

It is the celebration of the great mystery that God is our Father
whom we can trust; that Jesus Christ is our Brother whom we can
follow and, that the Holy Spirit is our constant companion whom we
can always turn to for guidance.

God bless you.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
.. for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
.. for the safe trip and a new beginning for Mrs. Teresita Nunez Choa
.. for the personal intentions of
- Jasmin
- Lydia and family
- David
- Jenny and Cory
- Corky
- Ed and Irma Pastor
- Sister Normita, DC
- JDM
.. for enlightenment and guidance of Socorro
.. for the eternal repose of the souls of
- Maria, Candido, Isidora, Jovita, Alfonso, Alfonsa, Alipio
- Alice Ty
Eternal rest grant unto them and may perpetual light shine upon them.
May they and all the souls of the dearly departed rest in peace.
.. for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Marietta Dela Cruz
- Wedding Anniversary: Jose & Consolacion Ong
- In Memoriam (+): Ramona Chua Hwan (Nov 2, 1955 - Jun 3, 2005)
.. for world peace and reconciliation.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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