June 15, 2014
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Opening Prayer
First Reading: Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9
Psalm: Daniel 3:52-56
Second Reading:
2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Gospel Reading: John 3:16-18
QUESTIONS:
Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 232-267, 219, 444, 458, 679
Our Lord does not come down from Heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to Him - the heaven of our souls, created in His Image, the living temples of the Adorable Trinity. -St. Therese of Lisieux
“For God So Loved the World…”
Pastor’s Column
Trinity Sunday
June 15, 2014
“God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but may have eternal life.” John 3:16
We are now living in a time of great mercy from God. Yet we may legitimately ask, why was it necessary for our Lord to die the way he did? Couldn’t there have been another way? Even Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, prayed that the Father would take the cup away from him and that he knew that God could do all things, implying that there was another way. But this was the way God chose to save us. God the Father could have sent a surrogate.
We remember that Abraham was called upon by God to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. Yet, in the end, God did not ask this sacrifice of Abraham – he simply wanted to know if Abraham was willing. Instead, through Jesus, God the Father offers us his Son. Only in this way could God show us unequivocally that he loves us and how much he loves us.
How can we deny that God has given us everything when we realize who it was that died for us, who it was that was offered up for us? And we, as Catholics, renew this every time we come to Mass! In John chapter 3 Jesus also points out that some will not take him up on this offer. It seems incredible – who doesn’t want to have eternal life?
Ah, but others feel there must be strings attached – perhaps they think Jesus is going to cheat them out of a fun life. Or they think he’s a figment of somebody else’s imagination. They are perhaps too distracted or busy. Or, seemingly, a better offer comes along than waiting for eternal life – we want to live just the way we want to – in the here and now.
And it’s true – to have an authentic relationship with Christ does demand discipleship of us. We can’t meet him and stay the same way we were! But who would want to – after hearing the truth, we want to become truth ourselves in every aspect of our being.
Jesus warns us in John 3 that there are those who will refuse to believe in his mercy or even his existence – and, in the end, there is a cost to this because Christ is all that there is. The very fact that he came into the world begins the wheels of judgment turning because we human beings are in the process of sorting ourselves out between those who want to move in with God – which is heaven – and those of us who will refuse to go in – and this is hell.
It is not the will of God that anyone be lost – look at his open arms on the cross! They are nailed in a position of forgiveness. All we have to do is come to him. Only those who refuse to come to him invite the judgment. We as Catholics have a wonderful sacrament of reconciliation. We can come to Jesus with the greatest of sins, anytime we want and he will always forgive us.
Father Gary