Lord, Hear Our Prayer
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Kristin and I were talking the other day and she mentioned that she'd like it if I wrote about Sunday's gospel. Every Sunday;-). She said she'd just like to know that the readings were there and that she could have something to think about--you know, in case a certain sweet toddler got all squirmy and led her mama out of the sanctuary, thereby causing her to miss the entire Liturgy of the Word. Not that that ever happens. Much.
Well, turns out I used to do that every week.(Both the being lead out of the sanctuary and the writing a post for such an occasion.) I have a whole bunch of just such posts. And I'm happy to do it again. These are for you, Kristin, and for any one else who wants a virtual community with which to hear and pray.
First Reading
Moses said to the people:
"Ask now of the days of old, before your time,
ever since God created man upon the earth;
ask from one end of the sky to the other:
Did anything so great ever happen before?
Was it ever heard of?
Did a people ever hear the voice of God
speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?
Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself
from the midst of another nation,
by testings, by signs and wonders, by war,
with strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors,
all of which the LORD, your God,
did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.
You must keep his statutes and commandments that I enjoin on you today,
that you and your children after you may prosper,
and that you may have long life on the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever."
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
R. (12b) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made;
by the breath of his mouth all their host.
For he spoke, and it was made;
he commanded, and it stood forth.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you received a Spirit of adoption,
through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
if only we suffer with him
so that we may also be glorified with him.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;
to God who is, who was, and who is to come.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."
Today is Trinity Sunday. In our house, that's a good reason for Neapolitan ice cream sundaes--Neapolitan being the flavor of choice for three-in-one. But beyond the special theme for our usual Sundaes on Sunday, what's this feast all about?
On this day, as we contemplate the mystery of the Trinity--that God is at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--imagine for moment what that means. It's kind of overwhelming--this whole mystery thing. Tim Keller writes, "The doctrine of the Trinity overloads our mental circuits. Despite its cognitive difficulty, however, this astonishing, dynamic conception of the triune God is bristling with profound, wonderful, life-shaping, world-changing implications."
The early church fathers used the phrase perichoresis [Ancient Greek περί (peri, “around”) + χορεύω (khoreuō, “dance”)] to describe the Trinity is a kind of holy dance. It's a dance of joy and love. There are three distinct persons, each of whom moves around the other two. In a beautiful dance, each member of the trinity circles the other two and pours love into them. In this house, we understand just a bit the complexity and the artistry of that kind of choreography.
Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will glorify Him, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. . (John 16:12-14)
Then He tells us that He glorifies the Father (John 17:4) and the Father glorifies the Son (John 17:5).
So each person of the trinity is glorifying the others. But what does that really mean?
Do you ever stop to think of what it means to glorify someone? It is to take utter delight in them. It is to pour self-giving, overflowing love into them. It is pure love and joy shot through a being. In the unique, extraordinary case of the Trinity, three beings are all dancing pure joy around the others in what C.S. Lewis astutely remarked is, “the great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality.” (Mere Christianity)
And where are we in all of this gloriousness?
Today's reading in Romans tells us that we are right there. The Holy Spirit is bearing witness to our spirit. Further, the Savior has died for our sins. Even more, we are created in the image of the Father. All so that we claim the inheritance: We, too, are glorified in a holy dance. He's pouring all that love in to us.
Pretty exciting stuff, huh?
Don't you want to sing and dance and shout for joy right along with them?
That's good.
Because today's gospel calls you to go tell it from the mountaintops: notify the world. You have a pastoral mission to trumpet joy to all nations. You have a liturgical mission to baptize them in the Spirit. You have a prophetic mission to teach them everything He has commanded you. And how, how will you do this?
He will be with you to the end of time.
You're in the dance. The music of the Holy Trinity is welling up from inside of you and it's spilling out. You're not doing it. The Lord is. The same Lord that somehow is three persons and is still one God. If He can do that, don't you think He can fill you with His glory? Glory enough to do everything He's called you to do?
He's the music and the rhythm and the movement. All you have to do is get up and dance.
~*~*~*~
The internet is a formidable force for bringing the comfort and consolation and hope of the Lord to all of us. It can be an incredibily powerful medium for community. There is an unfathomable resource for prayer here. We have on the 'net the privilege of praying for people and of being witness to the miracles brought forth when fervent, faith-filled people pray for one another.
Let's be that community of hope and faith for one another.
How about this idea? What if I pop in here every weekend, share Sunday's gospel and talk a wee bit about how we can live it and pray it in our homes? And then you tell me how we can pray for you that week? Deal?
{And please, do return and let us know how prayer is bearing fruit.}
