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“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

Reflections from Scott Hahn

How God Loves: Scott Hahn Reflects on The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 06.12.14 |

Readings:
Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9
Daniel 3:52-56
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
John 3:16-18

We often begin Mass with the prayer from today’s Epistle: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” We praise the God who has revealed himself as a Trinity, a communion of persons.

Communion with the Trinity is the goal of our worship - and the purpose of the salvation history that begins in the Bible and continues in the Eucharist and sacraments of the Church.

We see the beginnings of God’s self-revelation in today’s First Reading, as He passes before Moses and cries out His holy name.

Israel had sinned in worshipping the golden calf (see Exodus 32). But God does not condemn them to perish. Instead He proclaims His mercy and faithfulness to His covenant.

God loved Israel as His firstborn son among the nations (see Exodus 4:22). Through Israel - heirs of His covenant with Abraham - God planned to reveal himself as the Father of all nations (see Genesis 22:18).

The memory of God’s covenant testing of Abraham - and Abraham’s faithful obedience - lies behind today’s Gospel.

In commanding Abraham to offer his only beloved son (see Genesis 22:2,12,16), God was preparing us for the fullest possible revelation of His love for the world.

As Abraham was willing to offer Isaac, God did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all (see Romans 8:32).

In this, He revealed what was only disclosed partially to Moses - that His kindness continues for a thousand generations, that He forgives our sin, and takes us back as His very own people (see Deuteronomy 4:20; 9:29).

Jesus humbled himself to die in obedience to God’s will. And for this, the Spirit of God raised Him from the dead (see Romans 8:11), and gave Him a name above every name (see Philippians 2:8-10).

This is the name we glorify in today’s Responsorial - the name of our Lord, the God who is Love (see 1 John 4;8,16).