Father Rick Bolte's Homily

C: Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity    2007-06-03

The fact that our God is a triune God is something that many people believe but do not think makes any real difference in their lives.  But it actually is very important.  Our God is not Zeus.  Our God is not a single person who presides over the people of the world granting favors and passing judgment.  Our God is a Trinity.  The simple formula we’ve all learnt, “Three persons in One God,” reminds us that our God is a community of persons, not just a single, all-powerful being.  A single-person god is always above us and we relate to this kind of god only from a distance.  Even if we can imagine this god to be a loving god, this god remains apart from us.

Our Triune God is a God in relationship.  This is first of all the most intimate relationship among the three persons.  Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel, “Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he (the Spirit) will take from what is mine and declare it to you."  In other words, everything the Father has, the Son has, and the Spirit has.  All are sharing the same Good News.  Later in this particular discourse Jesus prays “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.  And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.”  The exciting Good News here is that not only is our God an intimate relationship among the three persons, but we are invited to be a part of that very intimate relationship!  We are called to be one together and with our God.

This past Wednesday I heard a word I hadn’t heard in a while, “solidarity.”  Ted and Mona Lewis were talking about their experiences in Zambia.  Solidarity begins with a willingness to feel for (empathy) and with (compassion).  This is an important first step that not everyone takes.  Many of us close our feelings down because we don’t want to get entangled in other’s personal lives, we don’t want to feel guilty about the beggar on the street, and we don’t want to give to the charities that show sad pictures of children on TV.  But to be in solidarity, to aspire to the oneness that Jesus calls us to, we must care.  We showed it this week at the funeral of Matt Zdinak.  Many people went to the funeral home and came to the Mass here Friday.  Many people had tears in their eyes not just for the loss of Matt but more because they could feel the pain of the family and friends who experienced great loss and confusion.

A second large step into solidarity is that decision to get involved.  It usually begins by giving things to people who are in need.  It moves from a disconnected hand out to a more involved hand up.  There is a movement in this step toward greater involvement with the person in need.  The goal in this step is to connect with those in need so much that their concern is yours.  You see then more than just the immediate needs and begin to look at the larger picture of what causes these people you’ve come to care about to have the difficulties they do.  It generally moves one to see the need to change how systems (economic, political, etc.) work.

The final and perhaps biggest step into solidarity is when we leave our positions of power and strength.  When we stop helping others and realize how much we receive.  It’s no longer a one way relationship where we do all the giving. Instead we recognize how much the other has to give us.  Those who seem to be the poor in our midst often have so much to teach us about true happiness and what in life really matters.  They can help us be free of all the things we think we need to have or do to be happy and respected.  We can even find that inner peace where we face systems we alone cannot change.  We can face the evils of our society without allowing that evil to conquer us by making us feel helpless or vengeful.  We can stand in solidarity with those who are hurt by these evils and acknowledge with them that these ungodly powers have no real power over us in the ways that matter most.

We are invited to solidarity with God and one another.  If we keep our hearts open, if we are willing to respond to those hurting in our world, if can be open to what we are offered through the powerless; God will lead us to that true solidarity that is his kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”