Go Make Disciples

June 7, 2009

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.

“This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other. You must keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever.” Deuteronomy 4:39-40

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!" The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:15-17

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Matthew 28: 19-20

Piety

It all began with baptism. We were marked with the sign of the cross. Just as the Roman Slaves of the first centuries of the Church were marked with the sign of their owners, we were marked at our baptism with the cross of Christ. We were given Gods life. In the indwelling of the Trinity we belong to God. We are possessed by God. Cleansed by the waters of Baptism, we have been sanctified. Our holiness is Trinitarian. God has revealed himself to us. He has revealed to us his inner life. The Holy Spirit teaches us to observe all that Christ has commanded us. Christ promises to be with us always, until the end of the age. God has chosen us to be his own people. Nothing greater had ever happened. God has spoken to Moses and the Jewish people from the midst of the fire. God revealed his statutes and commandments. Then in the fullness of time after speaking through the prophets and the patriarchs, he spoke through his only Son. And the Son revealed to us that he had to go so that with the Father he could send the Holy Spirit. And so the Trinity is complete within us. We have the Spirit of Adoption, through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!” The spirit tells us we are children of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

Study

It is not enough that we belong to God. We have been given the mandate to make disciples of all nations. That requires work on us. We need to be able to go at least through each other to share our baptism with all nations. Our world has to be taught to observe all that Christ has taught us. We have been blessed in our Lord choosing us to be his. Now it is our job to spread the belonging to God by revealing God to all nations by our apostolic work.

Action

Making a friend, being a friend and leading a friend to Christ is only the beginning of our apostolic Action. Baptism makes us a part of the community of nations. We must do our part to make the one Spirit and the one Lord known to all. It is not our work alone. He works with us when we reach out in the power of the Spirit to make the Father known. It is our responsibility to share with each person who comes our way every day the Christ that is the real meaning of our lives. What we do for the Hungry, the Thirsty, the Prisoner, the Sick and the Naked is what we do for Christ and what we will be judged on. How we reach beyond ourselves to create the family of Nations is the logical conclusion of our being a community of believers. Our families are the living out of the Trinity.

How we love and share with our family members is how the Trinity has its best expression in our lives. Every prayer we utter finishes with the sign of the Cross which gives word and form to our belief in the Trinity. The Preface of the Trinity says it all for us. Three persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendor, yet one Lord, one God ever to be adored in everlasting glory. Family love gives flesh and blood to the greatest of the mysteries of life. God is revealed in the very living out of our love for each other. By the blood of the Cross the blood of the Family has its ultimate meaning in how we live our lives for each other.