This weekend we have the feast of the Holy Trinity to celebrate. It is a celebration of relationship, of union, and love. The Trinity reveals a way of life that God wants us to enjoy. Throughout time, people's understanding of God has shaped how one lives in society and how one interacts with other people. If we have an understanding that revolves largely on the Old Testament, we will most likely see God as a taskmaster. He may be a God that enjoys punishing whoever does not live up to some lofty standards. To live in fear, spills over into our worldly relationships.

The Ku Klux Klan, whose understanding of God would be that of a white European male, would think their God is indifferent to anyone not of their race. The clan is Christian and even in the midst of lynchings, they were still in the pews on Sunday worshiping like nothing was wrong. When our understanding of God is so flawed, we cannot possibly be in harmony with the concept of relationship and what God had in mind at creation. Faulty understandings of God will usually lead to imperfect love. This weekend we celebrate the perfect.

The Trinity is perfect love and perfect relationship and is the model for human relationships desired by God. We can be thankful for this model. It took a long time for the Church to realize this and if we look at our own history, that perfect love does not need to convert souls at the sword or go to war in the name of Christ. Perfect love does not say that there are things worth killing for...only dying for. It is a good weekend to thank God for love...because the lack of it has taken the lives of so many service men and women who never were able live until a natural death.

Happy Birthday

This Sunday we celebrate the birthday of the Church, Pentecost. The best scholarly estimates put us somewhere around the age of 1,980 years old, give or take a few years but who's counting when you you've made it this far. We should be proud though as believers of every generation have sustained the Church in spite of persecution and even threats from within. From the time of the Apostles, believers have listened to and obeyed the voice of God to bring us to this point in time, when we have been asked to sustain the Church for the next generation.

Through all the human weakness, God has delivered the voice of Christ to succeeding generations. We owe a great debt to all who have gone before us. Untold numbers of martyrs who willingly died like Christ to spread the faith. We have untold numbers of saints who witnessed a life of sacrifice, penance and prayer and who have drawn untold numbers to Christ and the Church through this witness. We even have to thank the heretics in a way, as they're errors brought forth the courage of so many to stand and fight for the truth as we now know it. Much of our doctrine and dogma has been strengthened or established by those God raised up to fight a particular heresy.

We never know the tribulations that the Church will face. The Church still suffers many martyrs every year. We in this country have not been asked to do so. Perhaps someday God will again ask the Church, even here, to be martyrs and be courageous for the faith. At the very least, God continues to call all of us to sainthood by modeling the lives and stories of those who have gone before us. A wonderful happy birthday to all of us.

I'm outta here

This weekend in Milwaukee we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. Why on earth is this a good thing that Jesus left us (let alone we celebrate it)? Logically, it would most likely be a good thing that Jesus stayed for a while and moderated at the very least, the early Church. But even Jesus said it would be better if I left. It was Jesus' desire to send the comforter or Holy Spirit. We will celebrate that feast next weekend at Pentecost. With all the disunity in the Church, the disunity between Christians, and conflicting opinions, it seems that Jesus' presence in the world a bit longer might have been good for us as perhaps many more questions would have been settled.

Perhaps, but the gift of the Holy Spirit would not have happened for the Apostle's if Jesus had stayed. It was the gift of the Holy Spirit that enabled the Apostle's the courage and wisdom to begin and spread the Church to the corners of the world. It is the same gift of the Holy Spirit that enables us to do the same thing in the physical absence of Jesus. Jesus tells us in John 5:31 that if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. It is the witnesses of Jesus' life, words, and deeds that need to form and nurture the Church. The testimony of the Apostle's, and the testimony of Christians everywhere as to what Jesus has done in their life speaks volumes.

Changed lives and lives that reflect a change in direction witness to Jesus living inside the believer. Repentance does not mean "sorry" but to "change your mind." It is only from the fact that Jesus left us on earth to be self-determining, that we were gifted back with Jesus in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus knew He could work in every single believer in time and do His work through them, not just as a teacher and preacher on earth giving words that can be forgotten. Jesus leaving assured Himself that He will have ears, hands, feet, eyes, and mouths in every generation. It was Jesus' departure that insured His presence for us today and until He returns.