From of old I was poured forth

The Solemnity of the Holy Trinity can be seen as day of riddle solving. Well, perhaps not riddle solving. Maybe it is better said as mystery contemplating.

We are confounded in our efforts to understand God because we want to understand Him on terms that are comfortable for us.

Those among us with a mathematical mind try to comprehend the three in one mystery.

Those with a scientific mind seek to understand God by likenesses in the natural and created universe.

Those with a artistic mind look for keys to the mystery of God in music, stanzas describing the mystery of God in poetry, or brush strokes that unlock what is hidden in the canvas.

Those with a romantic mind, or perhaps heart, try to immerse themselves in the mystery of God, perhaps finding comprehension in their immersion in the idea of love.

None of these techniques is wrong, and none are prohibited or ruled out. God reveals Himself in myriad ways because everything that is good is drawn from God. All that is good lives in unison with God.

Brothers and sisters,

In contemplating the mystery of God we could re-cover St. Augustine’s walk on the beach, but to what end? To know that we will be frustrated in our trying?

I began with a line from the 8th Chapter of the Book of Proverbs. Wisdom, which is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was poured forth from of old.

That my friends is the key.

God has poured Himself into our lives. He has involved Himself with us in deep intimacy, right from the very moment of conception in our mother’s womb. He has created us.

In Psalm 139 we hear:

For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works! Thou knowest me right well;
my frame was not hidden from thee, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.
Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance; in thy book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Because of the incarnation, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Son, Jesus Christ, we have been born into a saved world.

St. Paul reminds us:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand

His coming as man has given us an introduction to a mystery so deep that Jesus reminded His disciples:

“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”

Jesus summed up the path to solving the mystery of God:

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.

The Holy Spirit will reveal all of the mysteries of God to us.

Now you may very well ask yourselves, when is this mysterious event going to occur.

My friends, it has.

In our Baptism and Confirmation the Holy Spirit was poured into us. God is poured forth and is self-revealing. He has provided all we need in order to know, understand, and love Him.

His Holy Church provides the structure and the foundational elements necessary to knowledge of God. Through the work of the Holy Church, most especially in the laying on of hands, the Spirit enters our lives to assist us on the journey that began in the womb, where God first touched us. Through the Holy Eucharist our intimate connection to God is renewed.

God’s self-revelation, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are a tremendous gift. When we are confused or frustrated, when we struggle to make sense of God and of our lives, when we cannot see the forest for the trees, God is here. He says, Here I am, this is what I look like, and I look like this because of love.

Understand that, and the door to God’s mystery opens. Love each other, and this is what you will look like, like the sons and daughters of God.

How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.