Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity B
June 3, 2012

Reading I: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Responsorial Psalm: 33: 4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
Reading II: Romans 8: 14-17
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20 

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060312.cfm


Selections from the readings:

1.
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..."

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...

Gospel 

"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..."

Have you stopped to marvel lately?

There's a lot about names and naming in the bible. From the first pages, where the Lord took some clay from the ground and fashioned it into the form of a man and breathed life into it, and the 'man' is called ADAM, from ADAMA which means clay, and god breathed life into it so that it became clay-that-lives, clay-that-feels, clay-that-thinks. And then the Lord made  the woman who is called EVE which means the mother of all the living.

A story midway through the first book tells of a struggle Jacob had one night with a mysterious visitor. It went on all night, and towards morning Jacob got the upper hand for a bit, but the other begged to be released, and in return gave Jacob a new name, Israel, which means the one who struggled with god. Jacob begged to know the name of his assailant, because in his name would be not so much his identity but his role, his mission, what he did, why he had come, and where his power came from. To know his name would give Jacob power over him. In the event, the other refused for no-one can know the name of god.

Everyone's personal name declares their purpose.

So Jesus is a name that means saviour, and he will be called Emmanuel which means god-in-our-hands. He will be called Mighty-God, Prince-of-Peace, and other titles of awesome significance, like Christos.

We ought not to be afraid of the wealth of this mythology. Being poetic it is flexible, like soft clay or maybe rather more like Playdough, willing to be pushed and twisted and squashed into different shapes to suit our needs or our mood. It can be made into a limitless number of beautiful forms. It is plastic. As I write, in front of me there is a row of beautiful Wedgewoods, an array of old bottles coming from a time when craftsmen designed quaint and sometimes exquisite shapes for simple utility containers, a cluster of modern owls from the $2 shop - perfect in their detail and alive with curiosity, a 20" boy doll from a hundred years ago, a copy of a elegant Lladro lady reclining in front of an elaborately decorated china platter - among other ornaments and trinkets. In our younger days (we both enjoy cluttering every surface of our house with lovely things) we would have given each a name, but memory being what it is, now we just let them speak for themselves and we indulge our fantasies in silence, going where the mood might take us.

Can I do the same with the mythology of the bible? Why not? The first reading even tells us to go for it: go along that trail of wonder:

"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..."

Don't stop when you get to the end of the author's list: that is but the beginning. Modern science tells us of wonders so mind-boggling... Did a people ever hear the voice of God coming from deep space, from when time began? ...coming from the tiny cosmos within the atom? ...coming from our own sub-conscious dreaming? ...coming from the ancient memory of people still in touch with humankind's earliest thoughts?  ...coming from an empty tomb that symbolises that dying is dead and living is forever? ...coming from the wind and fire and water to enliven earth with breath of spirit? ...coming from the thoughts of you and me as we shape and form and direct the advance of evolving awareness?

But none of this is what today's Memorial is about. Today, this first day of another week, this anniversary day opening another year, this one day we have to enjoy today: the purpose of this day is to wonder at the Mystery we have heard from the spirit who teaches us, as Jesus taught us, to speak to god as "Abba", "Dad". Did a people ever...?

That's why we need to speak very softly when we use the Name that is the most personal name of god, the name that was revealed by Jesus, the name that gives access to the inner core of the Mystery. Take off your shoes. Tread softly for you tread upon my dreams. Speak softly, as you speak to the one you love when you are in deepest communion and you call him or her by their dearest name. The name that we as children are allowed to use for god: father, son, spirit.