Homilies | Father Nathan

Father Nathan | Homily

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Today’s Readings for Mass During the Day:

First Reading — EX 34:4B-6, 8-9

Responsorial Psalm — DN 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56

Glory and praise for ever!

Second Reading — 2 COR 13:11-13

Gospel Reading — JN 3:16-18

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.”

– JN 3:16

I landed in the USA – our blessed country –for the first time in June 2009. I called my friends and family over the phone and shared with them. It’s so fresh in memory all that I shared about my first impression about the USA were the following…

1.    The places are neat and tidy

2.    People are so magnanimous and extremely kind

3.    I feel the Christian spirit

4.    Each house has an American flag. I love their patriotism

5.    The roads are straight and singles are working and everyone follows the rules. No police officers at the intersection. Each one follows the rules…

They are very words that came from my mouth. Whenever I go back home or and share with my friends over the phone, I always share these things. I literally loved it and WILL certainly continue to love it.

The very next day, one of the priests wanted to go to a nearby town. He had an international license. He wanted to me accompany him. I discouraged him to drive just because he doesn’t have an American license. He found out from officials that he could drive for a few months with an international license.

I was not for it but still accompanied him on the passenger seat. I know that he is NOT a good driver. In a while, I could see the red and blue light following us. I asked him to pull the car, he thought if ONLY when you have a siren on, of course, it’s due to ignorance. I shouted at him then he pulled the car.

He wanted to get down but asked him to stay at his seat and asked him to take out his license which I learned from reading the driver’s license manual. The police officer came to us. I will never again forget these words “HI GENTLEMEN, HOW ARE YOU GUYS? CAN I HAVE YOUR LICENSE PLEASE?”

it shook me up. For the first time, a police officer greetings a man with such a politeness. Of course, the officer guided him to keep up the speed limit and let us go.

As I told you I am new to the country. Meeting a police officer for the first time. A police officer was kind and gentle. I have never seen and heard it with my past. Usually, the officials back home would be rude and filthy. Such a first hand and first impressions…I love the nation, a nation built upon Christian principles. In God we TRUST…. God Gless America!

For The Past 2 Weeks My Heart is Heavy and Haunted

Having this at the back my mind. Assimilating and appreciating the greatness of our country, I cannot imagine all that’s going on for the past two weeks. It pained to see all that happening. People looting the things others, rioting on the streets and killing people and all the divisive and disruptive language …..

Where is my America that I admired????

Where is that kindness that admired????

Where are our Christian values???

Where is our patriotism?

All of these questions were haunting my mind….

I was reminded of last week’s preface prayer which so true with our nation and it’s so appropriate. I quote

“For, bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion, you bestowed the Holy Spirit today on those you made your adopted children by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son. This same Spirit, as the Church came to birth, opened to all peoples the knowledge of God and brought together the many languages of the earth in profession of the one faith. And may God, who has been pleased to unite many tongues in the profession of one faith, give you perseverance in that same faith and, by believing, may you journey from hope to clear vision”.

Remembering What Makes America Great

What makes America great — it’s our freedom with responsibility and we have trillions and differences and still, we appreciate and grow as one nation… but what we witness was the other way… In this scenario, we celebrate today the solemnity of the Trinity.

What is the holy trinity and What Does it mean?

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is a basic doctrine of Faith in Christianity, understandable not with our heads but with our hearts.

It teaches us that there are three distinct Persons in one God, sharing the same Divine Nature, co-equal and co-eternal.  Our mind cannot grasp this doctrine which teaches that 1+1+1 = 1 and not 3. But we believe in this Mystery because Jesus, who is God, taught it clearly, the Evangelists recorded it, the Fathers of the Church tried to explain it, and the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople defined it as a dogma of Christian Faith.

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the most fundamental of our faith. On it, everything else depends, and from it, everything else derives. Hence the Church’s constant concern is to safeguard the revealed truth that God is One in nature and Three in Persons. The Holy Trinity is part of many sects of Christian doctrine. The belief is that God is one in three-person: God the Father; God the Son, as represented by Christ; and God the Holy Spirit. The key element of this belief is that God is at once a single God, but also that each aspect of Him is individual.

This is the mystery we profess each week when we affirm our belief in the Son of God, who is

“consubstantial [one in Being] with the Father, God from God, Light from light true God from true God”

and in the Holy Spirit, who

“with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.”

(E- Priest) — (Holy Trinity: Our God is far beyond the grasp of our intellect. All we can say is: God, the Father, our Father, is Omnipresent and so I live in Him because the universe exists in Him. The Son, Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us — and so He is always with me; I live with Him. The Holy Spirit is the One Who inspires us all, from within us and so The Holy Spirit lives in my heart. There is only one God.  We live in Him; He lives with us and He lives in us. Yahve (a name for the God of the Old Testament) – “I am Who am” — He is all.

Every action of our Christian lives moves around this Trinitarian aspect.

The Annunciation (Luke 1: 26-38),

describes how God the Father sends the Archangel Gabriel to Mary to announce to her that God the Holy Spirit, will “come upon” her, that “the power the Most High will overshadow” her, that the Son will be made flesh in her womb: “Therefore, the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”.  

During the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16-17),

the Holy Spirit is shown descending on Jesus in the form of a Dove, while the Voice of God the Father is heard from the clouds, saying, “You are My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased” (Luke 4:22).  

John (Chapters 15 through 18),

presents the detailed teaching of Jesus on the Persons of the Holy Trinity.

In the preaching mission

given by the risen Lord to the disciples, Jesus commands them to baptize people “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Confer also Matthew 28:19; John 10:30)….

What Message Can We take for our lives???

1.    This Feast invites us to live in the awareness of the presence of the Triune God within us: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

2.    This Triune God, there are Three Divine Persons, sharing the same Divine nature in one God.     “There is one God, Who has three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each Person is God, yet there is still only one God” (CCC #234, #253-256) in the same way, as our country in bit tensed situation we are called to remember and work toward to be united and work for the common good being united and accepting each other with each one’s uniqueness and individuality.

3.    We need to see the Trinity as the model for our Christian families and in our nation: We are created in love to be a community and nation of loving persons, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are united in Love.  We belong to the Family of the Triune God.  The love, unity, and joy in the relationship among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit should be the supreme model of our relationships within our Christian families.  Our families and our nation have to become truly Christian when we live in a relationship of love with God and with others.  Amen. God bless America …

Welcome Back to Worship!  It is wonderful to see so many of you at parking Lot Mass.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

Have a Blessed Week,

Fr. Nathan