C Cycle – Feast of the Holy Trinity 25

Jn. 16:12-16

There is no doubt music is an integral part of our liturgical worship.  I admit I am biased when it comes to the quality of the music ministry in my parish.  We have someone in charge who understands how music frees us worship the God, encounter Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  As we gather to give thanks to God, joining in the songs of worship enabling us to experience the love of  our God who is present to us. The songs we sing at various points in the liturgy have the ability to transport us into the presence of God and connect us to God in a way that we can literally feel the embrace of God and transport us beyond our sinful selves into the arms of Jesus.

After the liturgy of the Eucharist the songs we sing can break down the barriers of our sense of unworthiness and allow us to mentally and physically stand in the presence of God.  In fact, in one way our liturgy elevates our ability to experience God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit welcoming us into their presence.  Music aids that because it demands we say words of surrender and acknowledgement. We are gathered to give thanks to God for sending us Jesus and to Jesus for sending us the Holy Spirit.  We are there to connect not to stay isolated within ourselves. 

Everyone involved in the liturgy should be sensitive to how movement and every word spoken acknowledges the presence of God.  However, it is more likely that many of those attending mass are singular in their thoughts.   For some that means the Eucharist is the main event, the summit of the mass.  For others it is the scriptures. Followed by an inspiring homily that challenges them to reflect on how they are responding to God.  For others it is a necessary obligation, an attempt to ensure compliance with the dictates of our faith.

Did you ever think of what God is trying to accomplish within us during the mass?  It is certainly not to have us check off a box of attendance.  God has more in store for us than we can imagine and today as we celebrate the Holy Trinity perhaps, we should consider if any person of the Trinity is in our thoughts during the liturgy.  Perhaps it is time to reflect on what is going on within us during the liturgy and express it. Even if we are bored and our thoughts are elsewhere.

God has expressed His desire for us clearly through the words of the prophets and through Jesus.  It is God’s desire that none should perish and that none of us should avoid revealing our inner most selves to God.  Our problem is we do not believe ourselves to be worthy.  We ignore how the parable of the prodigal son is how God will treat our sin.  But if our image of God is that of a harsh judge, or of a distant father then what we need a renewal of our minds.  A renewal Jesus came to earth to accomplish by sending us the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, “if you see me, you see the Father.”  He also said, “I only do what the Father tells me.”  Every word of Jesus is a revelation of the Father’s desire for our wholeness, our freedom from the bondage of sin, and for us to understand how desperately God desires our hearts not our sacrifices. 

God promised to send us the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and to empower us to grasp the true nature of who God created us to be.  Jesus in that upper room the night before He died said He “would send the Spirit to us to remind us of all He said and did.  The Holy Spirit was present at the creation of the earth, and it was the action of the Holy Spirit that brought forth all God created in the heavens and on the earth.  Including us as God breathed life in the lifeless Adam. 

Trinity Sunday is not for us to understand the Trinity but how the Trinity understands our need for all three to be at work transforming us int holy women and men. Our ability to worship can never be animated without the Holy Spirit moving us to freely worship in spirit and truth.  The Word of God will never penetrate our hearts until the Holy Spirit makes is alive and becomes active within us.  Once those things happen within us then we will understand and appropriate the grace won for us by the death of Jesus and have us stand in the presence of God and give thanks.

We worship a triune God, and we should be allowing all three to do something within us as we gather to worship. Nothing happens within us that is not known by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  If we feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit we must realize that nudge was motivated by God and was known by Jesus.  We are not just in church to “receive Jesus” but we are there to have God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit receive us as we acknowledge their desire for us to be one with them.

This week as we worship, I pray that you allow your heart to engage with the songs your music ministry chooses. Allow yourself to enter the celebration at the beginning of mass by “entering His presence with thanksgiving.”  Acknowledge the presence of God in the Word and Jesus in the Sacrament as you respond to the gospel being proclaimed and the Eucharist you receive.  Take time after receiving the Eucharist and allow the Spirit to move you to worship with holy hands lifted aloft as you give thanks for the freedom won for us by Chris.  If you want experience good worshipping music go to our web site www.basilthegreat.org and view today’s mass which was streamed.  But above all “May the Trinity fill you with peace.”