Trinity

We celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity tomorrow and contemplate the revealed life of God as Father, Son and Spirit. A trinity of persons in unity of substance. I like this reflection from Fr. Crouse:

To know God as absolute Being, absolute Knowledge, and absolute Love, [Father, Son, Spirit] is to be spiritually reborn: it is to know ourselves as encompassed and upheld by Providential care, and thus it is to see our own lives in a new spiritual perspective. It is to lose ourselves in the worship of a goodness and a glory infinitely beyond ourselves, infinitely beyond all earthly things, infinitely beyond all worldly pretensions and pettiness. It is to see our troubles, our frustrations, our disappointments, our ambitions and achievements, all in a new spiritual perspective, "high and lifted up" -- a radically different perspective, the perspective of eternity. 

But perhaps we ask, with Nicodemus, "Is this really possible? Is this really practical? Can a man be born when he is old? How can these things be?" Nicodemus was a sensible man, no doubt: a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, and he couldn't let go of his supposedly sensible, practical perspective. Jesus warned him, and Jesus warns us: unless you are spiritually reborn, you have no part in God's kingdom. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It is what we worship that makes us what we are.

It is what we worship that makes us what we are. There's wisdom in that, to say nothing of the Holy and Undivided Trinity.

God bless,

LSP

Torrential Rain and Mammon

Driving to the second Mass of the day was a bit of a deal because of torrential rain. Who wants to hydroplane across HWY 22 in the downpour? So I took it slow and wore a pair of Wellington boots to keep my 1% inside-the-beltway loafers dry.

In the sacristy I pointed to the boots and asked our MC, who's a renowned bronc champion, if he liked my "new church shoes." He shook his head.

"It's not that bad out there."

"Well c'mon, it was pretty much zero-viz coming up from the compound."

"Look. I'm not interested in your sad little stories, LSP."

"Yeah, said the rich man. You can't serve God and Mammon."

Wellingtons

And that's what the sermon was about, with reference to Dives and Lazarus. Note that the former isn't named in the Gospel, he's nameless and accordingly not written into the book of life. "I do not know you," says Christ, elsewhere, and, "Depart from me ye cursed, into the lake of eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not feed me."

A Random Fish

No, the rich man was too busy enjoying the mammonistic gravy train to love God or his neighbor and accordingly found his way to perdition, which is separated from heaven by a great chasm.

Don't Worship This

Some say the god of our age is Mammon. I'd think twice before you pledge allegiance to that particular deity.

God bless,

LSP