Fr. Nelson: Fr. Nelson will be visiting Bristol Bay from June 15 until June 27. He will then vacation in the Philippines for a month or so and return to start ministering to our Bristol Bay Communities. He will spend the first two weeks of each month at Saint Theresa in King Salmon/Naknek and the last two weeks of each month at Holy Rosary in Dillingham.
Potluck: Let us have a potluck for Father Nelson after Mass on Sunday the 19th, this Sunday. Please bring your favorite dish.
Gospel: The Holy Trinity is difficult to understand. Please see Homily and readings below.
Thank you: We developed a few more leaks in the sink in the bathroom and also the drain was pugged up. Pat Durbin spent a few days figuring it out and fixed the problem. The problem came about after fixing one leak, then others started. The joys of a 65 year old rectory. Thank you again Pat for donating your time and talent!
Have a wonderful week...Fr. Scott
Homily and Readings:
Trinity Sun A 2011, DLG Sand, Ex 34:4-6&8-9; 2 Cor 13:11-13; John 3:16-18
There is a well-known legend that St. Augustine of Hippo, while he was planning his great work on the Holy Trinity, was once walking on the seashore when he saw one boy carrying water from the sea and pouring it into a hole which he had dug in the sand. "What are you doing?" said the bishop. "Emptying the sea into this hole." "But how can you empty the sea into that little hole?" "And how can you", said the boy "understand the doctrine of the Holy Trinity with your finite human mind?"
Today is Trinity Sunday. Trinity is about unity. Explaining the trinity is not easy. It is the greatest mystery of our faith. It is tough to explain and understand. It is not mathematics. The Holy Trinity is a divine mystery.
Mathematics are finite. They can be figured out. Humans make mathematics. Math is something that is completely within our knowledge. We can use logic to figure it out.
A divine mystery is infinite. We can only partly understand them. Human arguments must be expressed in symbolic language. Our arguments are finite. Humans cannot fully understand Infinite…the unlimited…the endless.
In whatever way we use to portray God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it will always be inadequate and incomplete. How can God have three faces and yet exist as one being…one nature and three persons?
Our Catechism states, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself.” This is tough stuff!
The trinity is three persons but one nature. Here are a couple of inadequate and incomplete ways to think about the relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
One – The love of the Father and the Son was so great that it brought forth the Holy Spirit.
Two – The Father and the Son exist in a relationship of love. That bond of love that binds them together is the Holy Spirit.
Three – Similarly, the love between a wife and a husband is so great that it brings forth a child.
Saint Patrick famously used the three-leaf shamrock to explain the unity of God in three persons.
Intellectually, we can never solve the problem of one nature and three persons…the Holy Trinity. But, the mystery of the Holy Trinity does not have to be solved. The Holy Trinity is an experience of faith that we are called to encounter throughout our lives.
What most of our founding church fathers settled on when trying to explain the Holy Trinity is this: God is not an idea or a principle. God is a loving relationship. We are invited into that relationship. The idea is to open our hearts to the love of the Holy Spirit. By doing this we are drawn into the loving relationship that exists between the Father and the Son…the very Holy Trinity itself.
The degree to which we understand the feast of the Trinity will be shown in the care we take in our many and varied relationships, be they social, intimate, professional, civic, or international.
Every time we do anything to form new and good relationships, mend those that are broken, help other relationships to be deeper and richer, or just enjoy the ones we have, we get drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery of the Holy Trinity (562 Words).
Exodus 34:4-6&8-9
Moses then cut two stone tablets like the former, and early the next morning he went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets.
Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with him there and proclaimed his name, "LORD." Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, "The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardons our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own."
2 Cor 13:11-13
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you.
John 3:16-18
For 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
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