World Day of the Poor | Feast of Christ the King
[Father Paul]
First of all, thank you to those who were present at Mass and took a moment to fill out our Faith Commitment Form. This will help us keep our records up to date and it will help with our budgeting as well.
Today is a beautiful feast of Christ the King, and I would like to focus on Jesus as the second person of the Trinity. Now the Trinity is theologically very difficult, there are many attempts at understanding it, some perhaps better than others. If we do think we understand it, we probably don't! But at its most basic, we believe in one God in three divine persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Recently, I came across a beautiful explanation of the Trinity from a most unlikely source, it was a chapter heading of a book on project management published back in 1997 ("To do, doing, done: a create approach to managing projects and effectively finishing what matter most," by G. Lynne Snead and Joyce Wycoff, New York: Fireside, 1997).
"When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts,
the circle of creation is completed inside us,
the doors of our souls fly open and
love steps forth to heal everything in sight."
The quote is attributed to Michael Bridge, and I have no idea who he is. But yet, without perhaps intending it, this is one of the best descriptions of the Trinity that I have ever come across. Consider each line:
When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts.
Who is doing the looking? This is God the Father - seeing what is happening, governing, seeing everything, all knowing, all powerful, but also having a heart of love, a heart to give. As we recite in the Nicene Creed: "I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible."
Who are the hands doing the work? The work is the expression of Jesus, the Word of God, who is "begotten, not made, one in being with the father." Jesus is the work of God in the world, particularly the work of redemption, with his death on the cross. That is why Jesus is worshipped and glorified. This is why today we celebrate the sovereignty of Jesus.
What work is being done? It is the work of love coming from God's heart: A heart of compassion, a heart of justice, a heart of love. Could this not be the Holy spirit? God speaks His word to the son, and this word is love. The Holy spirit is the love that is shared between father and son in the trinity. As we recite in the creed: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets."
And so the second line reads "The circle of creation is complete inside us." If we refer this to God, the circle of creation is complete in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This circle is not only complete in God, but it is perfect in God, a perfect circle, with no waste, no darkness, no sin, no death, no end and no beginning.
And the third line: "The doors of our souls fly open." This is what happened in God. This perfect Trinity wanted to express itself and did so by creating everything there is out of nothing and God did this with infinite power, power that is beyond our understanding. God spoke this word and it came into being. As we read, from the prologue to John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people."
Then what happens? "Love steps forth to heal everything in sight". The work of the Trinity, its very core, the very centre of all that is, the work that had remained so hidden in God is now manifest as love incarnate. "And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us," not only to show us who God is, but how God loves, how God heals, how God saves. Jesus has stepped forward to heal everything in sight.
On the surface, this quotation has nothing to do with theology or the trinity or consubstantial with the father or anything like that. It's the opening quotation in a chapter in a book about project management. We have projects to do as well, and the message for us is that when we see our hands doing the work of our hearts, then the circle of creation is complete inside us also, allowing the doors of our souls to fly open so that love can step forth and heal everything in sight. That would be a life worth living! And, as the book of Revelation reminds us, "The leaves of the tree of life," -- the leaves of your life -- "are for the healing of nations."
But the circle of creation is not yet complete in us, because we are only mortal, fallible, sinful (sometimes). But in God, the circle is complete. This is why Jesus rose again on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures. This is why He returned to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. To complete the circle and bring us inside it to dwell eternally in the Godhead with God as His adopted children.
And this is why we worship Jesus as the King of the universe, worthy of all praise and adoration.
I conclude with the preface for the feast of Christ the King, which I will read in a few moments:
For you anointed your Only Begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, with the oil of gladness
as eternal Priest and King of all creation,
so that, by offering himself on the altar of the Cross
as a spotless sacrifice to bring us peace,
he might accomplish the mysteries of human redemption,
and, making all created things subject to his rule,
he might present to the immensity of your majesty
an eternal and universal kingdom,
a kingdom of holiness and grace,
a kingdom of justice, love and peace.
And so, with all the Angels and Archangels,
with Thrones and Dominions,
and with all the hosts and Power of heaven,
we sing the hymn of your glory,
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