One, Two, Three – GO! By Wayne Miller

One, Two, Three – GO! By Wayne Miller

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

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. Deuteronomy 4:39

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.  Romans 8:16-17

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. Matthew 28:19-20

Piety

Abba Father, thank you for coming into the very center of my being, the divine unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Triune God, living in me, moving through me, blessing me and all your children.  Thank you for the gift of your acceptance of me with all my failings and missteps and evildoing.  Thank you for the wisdom and perspective of all your faithful throughout the millennia.  Thank you for the opportunity to GO forth filled with your Spirit – day after day after day.

Study

When I began reflecting on today’s Scriptures, I was disappointed and confused.  I expected text after text to be brimming with the power and joy and exhilaration of the Holy Spirit – tongues of fire – miraculous healing – triumphant loving communities.  But instead, we have three very personal reflections on who our Triune God is, in each of His Personas.

Moses: living his mission – his GO command from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob transmitted through a burning bush and a burning lifetime of repeated encounters with the face of Yahweh and the faces of a recalcitrant, beloved nation that longed for leisure and security in the midst of a mighty desert quest.  Moses exhorting his children with the only gospel he knew: “…the LORD is God … there is no other!”  Throughout all of history, this is our bedrock, the foundation upon which our lives must be built to joyfully live as His Children. 

God gave me Moses to teach me about God, the Father!

Paul: The fire-breathing Pharisee who wanted nothing more than to eradicate all heresy from his land – until Jesus and new brothers shared the Gift of the Holy Spirit.  Paul accepted his GO command to move his beloved Chosen People beyond the centuries of the distant God of Moses to experience the Joy and Freedom only possible through total immersion in the personal Love of God’s Holy Spirit. He knew the intimate power of living in the midst of the Love between God the Father and God the Son, and he had the courage and wisdom to accept a wider GO command when told that His Chosen People were more than the core Hebrew elect. 

God gave me Paul to teach me about God, the Holy Spirit!

Matthew: the only narrator in today’s trilogy who actually lived a visceral relationship with the man who was God Among Us: Jesus. Matthew accepted Jesus’ invitation to follow him, gave up a lucrative (if despicable) life, observed and chronicled Jesus’ miracle-filled, joyful, urgent, tragic, and triumphant life; and yet, in his very last encounter with God on Earth, he “doubted”.  Even then, God the Son entrusted to them the simplest and greatest and most terrifying GO command: give all nations the experience and knowledge of the Perfect Triune God and KNOW that I AM ALWAYS WITH YOU! “I” who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, forever united, forever preciously unique and perfect for our every relationship need, and forever with us in every circumstance of our lives.

God gave me Matthew to teach me about God, the Son!

Liturgy: we are so utterly blessed with the activity of the Holy Spirit throughout the living Tradition of our Catholic Faith.  We are blessed with the wisdom of centuries of God’s acting through his community to deliver to us these three images of Himself.  And then, we get the unspeakable privilege of acknowledging His Presence in a tiny wafer, taking Him literally within ourselves, and GO-ing out into our world to be His messenger. How can such a tiny wafer contain the grandeur and power and love and joy of the God of the Universe? I don’t know and I don’t care.  I just know that I am never alone. 

God gave me our beloved, wise, holy Church to nurture and teach me about the Kingdom of Heaven, here and now!

Action

Thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for surrounding me with the Love and the Touch and the Voice of our Beloved Trinity.  We each have our GO commands and the precious gifts given by the Triune God with which to accomplish them.

Let’s GO!

De Colores!