May 30, 2010: The Most Holy Trinity

 Click to hear audio of homily.

Whenever I baptize a baby, a curious thought always comes up. I wonder if this baby looks more like the daddy or the mommy. Yeah, the nose looks like the daddy, and the eyes are definitely moms...But at that age it's hard to tell. I showed a recent photo of myself with my parents to parishioners, and one said I look more like my dad and another said I look more like my mom. But people cannot tell just from the photo what's I have inherited from mom and dad that's not visible. For example, my sister got my dad's awesome brain while I got his gentleness. My sister got my mom's gregariousness while I got my mom's industriousness. Those of you who have more than two children know that it is a great mystery why out of the same sets of parents there are so many diverse personality traits in their children. So how our children turn out to be is a demonstration of a great mystery of how we cannot judge from the visible appearance what is underneath--the invisible reality. And there is one trait that all of us inherited that is invisible.

In chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis, God says something curious after creating the light, the earth, the plants, and the animals, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them...God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good." (Gen 1:26-27, 31) God says something that perks our curiosity. He said, "Let us make," not "Let me make." It makes us wonder who is all included in the word, "us." He then said, "in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them." Here we begin to go deeper into the mystery. The divine image is not a solitude, but a family.

When someone looks at my family photo, my visible features cannot be just explained by looking at my mom's features. They also need to look at my dad's features to make sense of my features. My existence, also, cannot be explained by looking at my dad alone. I exist because of my mom's and dad's continual love for each other and their love for me. Likewise, in a much more deeper way, I exist because of the Heavenly Father's love for His Son, and the Son's love for the Father, and even that love between them--the Holy Spirit--all sustains me. Truly, my entire being, who I am, who I am suppose to be, all that I am is immersed in this mystery of the Trinity. I may not acknowledge what they do for me and may even deny their existence, but the reality is that once they ceased to love, I do not exist. Would I exist if my mom and dad had not loved each other? If I tried to explain to someone that I don't have an earthly father, would they believe me? No. It's so self-evident that in order for me to come into being, I needed a father and a mother. And it should be as self-evident that without the love between the persons of the Trinity, I would not exist, for I was created out of Love.

Our short life here on earth is like a practice run, like a sandbox in which little children begin to learn how to live in this Heavenly Family. We learn their Family Values which are faith, hope, charity; we try to live out these family values by our kindness, patience, and gentleness and gentleness toward our earthly family members. When our very short life here on earth is over, we already know how to live among the eternal Heavenly Family members.

Someone asked me, "Father, I don't get why we have to believe in all these saints, especially Mary." And I give them this analogy. Suppose you are a teenager who live in a two-story house, and your room is on the second floor. You recently got your own cell phone, so you're busy texting away. In your room is all sorts of things that modern teenager would have--computer connected to the internet, a Nintendo Wii, a nice flat screen TV connected to digital cable, and any other toys that you can think of. Down stairs, your mom and dad are calling you down to eat dinner. Since you are in the midst of texting while watching TV, you say, "In a moment." While the family down stairs has begun dinner and having a lively conversation, you are left out, preoccupied with the toys that distract you. Somehow this teenager feels that these toys are more worthwhile and meaningful than spending time with the family in conversations.

This sometimes describes our attitude toward spending time with the Heavenly Family especially on Sundays. A sumptuous banquet is going on every Sunday here at the sanctuary at mass with lively conversations between the Heavenly Family members and the earthly family members. St. John Chrysostom, a Doctor of the Church, said that, "When Mass is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled with countless angels who adore the divine victim immolated on the altar." Sometimes when I celebrate mass here, I feel the unexplainable presence of Blessed Mother and the saints here at the sanctuary. When we come to mass preoccupied with distractions, it's much harder to experience this daily miracle. When our heart is prepared to enjoy this Heavenly Banquet, however, we experience from it unexplainable joy.