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Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Homilies,

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First reading: Exodus 22:20-26
Psalm: Ps 18:2-4,47,51
Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him…

Over the past five weeks our Gospel readings have been taken from St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 21 and 22. Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph in Chapter 21 and had cleared the moneychangers from the Temple. Just before this grand entrance Jesus had reminded His disciples, for the third time:

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,
and deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Now the battle was on. Jesus was seated in the Temple precincts. The people were listening to Him. The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, lawyers, and Herodians – none of whom really liked each other, put their focus on discrediting Jesus in front of His listeners, having Him arrested, and killing Him if at all possible.

They devised word traps aimed at proving that Jesus was a bad Jew and/or an enemy of Rome.

The disciples stood by and watched as every word trap turned into a trap for the hunters. Jesus used every occasion to enlighten His disciples and all who listened. St. John Chysostom in commenting about these chapters from Matthew states that Jesus not only turned their words against them, but used their words to show who He was.

For all the scheming and plotting the hunters never stopped to ask themselves whether their target, Jesus, might be the Messiah. They never stopped to consider, even for a moment, that Jesus might be Emmanuel, God among them. Jesus’ replies show clearly that He is God in their midst.

Brothers and sisters,

When the lawyer asked:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

He didn’t realize that he was asking the Teacher. He was asking God, who gave the law.

In reply Jesus boils down the 613 Mitzvos into two commandments: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Further, He tells them that all law, all scripture, all of the prophets, in other words, God’s entire communication with humanity, hinges on these two commandments.

Love God, love each other. It as simple as that.

Some of the greatest philosophers and theologians have tried to capture and document the complexity of God. Who is He? Why does He interact with us? Why does He need us? How does He define Himself? What is the meaning of His self-revelation, suffering, death, burial, and resurrection? In contemplating God one could ask a million questions and find a million answers. I believe that those who come closest are those that define God as a simple being. God is One. He is all-in-all. He is simply love. Not wishy-washy romance or pining after a beloved, but pure, directed love.

Jesus directs and communicates the Father’s love. When Jesus tells us that we should come onto Him, take up His yoke; when He tells us that His yoke is easy, His burden light, He is telling us that perfection is found in our struggle to be like God; to be people of simple love.

My friends,

We are heavily burdened. If we were to enumerate the different costs associated with our lives they would amount to little except burden. The things occurring in the world this very days amount to unfathomable burdens. The credit crunch, failed banks and businesses, retirement savings accounts at half their value, terrorism, wars, our daily labors, getting up, going to work, struggling through the challenges that lie before us. Life would be a disaster if not for those moments that touch us, the moments that communicate simple love.

When we gather here in church to praise God, to communicate our love for Him, He communicates His love for us. When we see a new life, arising out of an act of love, we are filled with hope and promise. Celebrations that connect us to God and to our families, at Christmas and Easter, a wedding, and anniversary, a birthday, even a funeral are moments where burdens melt away and we are left staring at simple love.

These moments of love are moments in which we get to peer through a keyhole. We see the light and the promise on the other side of the door. The light on other side of the door is the love that we really long for, the love we need. That light is the perfection of love in God. Through the gift of faith we see that light and are left with a choice.

The choice God asks us to make, in all its simplicity, is this: Will we love God and love each other. When we decide to walk in God’s way, when we decide to live as children of God, children of the light, children of love, we become caught up in God’s life. We learn that love of God and love of each other is more than duty, but real joy – a gladsome burden. In making choices that reflect love of God and love for each other we grow to be more like Him. Each day we get better and better at living a life of love, at showing forth the light of God’s love.

During the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told us:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.—

Our light is the light of our Father in Heaven. It is the light of our brother, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is the light of simple and direct love.

As we walk through the day, as we encounter those enumerable burdens, we meet them as changed people. When we encounter darkness we are to challenge it with the light of love. Unlike the challenge the lawyer in today’s Gospel presented, a challenge without love, we are to meet our challenges with love. It is as simple as that. The unruly child, the angry boss, the demanding customer, the rude driver, the terrorist, the disease we never expected, the person in our family who refuses to return our love, the untimely death. There is no room in any of these for fear, only love.

All of God’s revelation hinges on love. It is simple. Love God, love each other. Amen.

Fathers, PNCC

October 26 – St. John Chrysostom from Homilies on Matthew

“But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together; and one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Again does the evangelist express the cause, for which they ought to have held their peace, and marks their boldness by this also. How and in what way? Because when those others were put to silence , these again assail Him. For when they ought even for this to hold their peace, they strive to urge further their former endeavors,and put forward the lawyer, not desiring to learn, but making a trial of Him, and ask, “What is the first commandment?”

For since the first commandment was this, “You shall love the Lord your God,” thinking that He would afford them some handle, as though He would amend it, for the sake of showing that Himself too was God, they propose the question. What then says Christ? Indicating from what they were led to this; from having no charity, from pining with envy, from being seized by jealousy, He says, “You shall love the Lord your God. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

But wherefore “like this?” Because this makes the way for that, and by it is again established; “For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light;” and again, “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.” And what in consequence of this? “They are corrupt, and become abominable in their ways.” And again, “The love of money is the root of all evils; which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith;” and, “He that loves me, will keep my commandment.”

But His commandments, and the sum of them, are, “You shall love the Lord your God, and your neighbor as yourself.” If therefore to love God is to love one’s neighbor, “For if you love me,” He says, “O Peter, feed my sheep,” but to love one’s neighbor works a keeping of the commandments, with reason does He say, “On these hang all the law and the prophets.“

Fathers, PNCC

October 25 – St. Augustine from the Enchiridion: On Faith, Hope, and Love

Of these four different stages of man, the first is before the law, the second is under the law, the third is under grace, and the fourth is in full and perfect peace. Thus, also, the history of God’s people has been ordered by successive temporal epochs, as it pleased God, who “ordered all things in measure and number and weight.” The first period was before the law; the second under the law, which was given through Moses; the next, under grace which was revealed through the first Advent of the Mediator.” This grace was not previously absent from those to whom it was to be imparted, although, in conformity to the temporal dispensations, it was veiled and hidden. For none of the righteous men of antiquity could find salvation apart from the faith of Christ. And, unless Christ had also been known to them, he could not have been prophesied to us — sometimes openly and sometimes obscurely — through their ministry.

Now, in whichever of these four “ages” — if one can call them that — the grace of regeneration finds a man, then and there all his past sins are forgiven him and the guilt he contracted in being born is removed by his being reborn. And so true is it that “the Spirit breatheth where he willeth” that some men have never known the second “age” of slavery under the law, but begin to have divine aid directly under the new commandment.

Yet, before a man can receive the commandment, he must, of course, live according to the flesh. But, once he has been imbued with the sacrament of rebirth, no harm will come to him even if he then immediately depart this life — “Wherefore on this account Christ died and rose again, that he might be the Lord of both the living and the dead.”‘ Nor will the kingdom of death have dominion over him for whom He, who was “free among the dead,” died. — Chapter XXXI.

Fathers, PNCC

October 24 – St. Augustine from the Enchiridion: On Faith, Hope, and Love

But if God regards a man with solicitude so that he then believes in God’s help in fulfilling His commands, and if a man begins to be led by the Spirit of God, then the mightier power of love struggles against the power of the flesh. And although there is still in man a power that fights against him — his infirmity being not yet fully healed — yet the righteous man lives by faith and lives righteously in so far as he does not yield to evil desires, conquering them by his love of righteousness. This is the third stage of the man of good hope.

A final peace is in store for him who continues to go forward in this course toward perfection through steadfast piety. This will be perfected beyond this life in the repose of the spirit, and, at the last, in the resurrection of the body. — Chapter XXXI.

Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, Political

What is it about Scranton

…and its Roman Catholic Bishops?

From the Citizens Voice: Scranton bishop tells forum his letter is ‘only relevant document’ for diocese.

Local and national Catholics reacted Tuesday to statements by Bishop Joseph F. Martino apparently discounting teachings of the national body of bishops during a political forum at a Honesdale Roman Catholic Church this weekend.

Martino arrived unannounced in the midst of a panel discussion on faith issues and the presidential campaign at St. John’s Catholic Church on Sunday. According to people who attended the event, the bishop chastised the group for holding the forum and particularly took issue with the discussion and distribution of excerpts from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ position on voting issues. The document defines abortion and euthanasia, as well as racism, torture and genocide, as among the most important issues for Catholic voters to consider.

—No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese,— he was quoted as saying in the Wayne County Independent, a Honesdale-based newspaper. —The USCCB doesn’t speak for me.—

Thomas Shepstone, a local businessman and Catholic who spoke about his opposition to abortion rights during the event, recalled Tuesday that Martino also told the audience that he voted against the U.S. Bishops’ statement and described it as a consensus document —written to mean all things to all people.—

According to participants, Martino expressed dismay that the panelists did not discuss the pastoral letter he directed all priests in the Diocese to read in place of their homilies on Oct. 4 and 5. In that letter, he called on Catholic voters to consider abortion above all other issues, except those he defined as having equal moral weight, like euthanasia and embryonic stem-cell research.

—The only relevant document … is my letter,— he said at the forum, according to the Independent. —There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.—

According to the Independent, the bishop also said he no longer supports the Democratic Party.

A diocesan spokesman on Tuesday confirmed the bishop’s comments as reported in the Independent…

And, this one’s the kicker:

Tagle said the bishop criticized the resident pastor, the Rev. Martin Boylan, for holding the forum and —seemed to justify his presence there by stating that he owned the building.—

I think Bishop Martino is channeling Bishops O’Hara and Hoban.

I found this article through the blog Another Monkey in The Bishop is not the Church. Obviously The writer’s understanding of the Bishop’s role is confused, and I can see why. Where the Bishop is, there is the Church, but of course confusion ensues when the Bishop concerns himself with politics and property ownership over the spiritual well being of his flock. His role is to teach. Teach is not spelled B U L L Y. If he taught his flock in love and channeled their energies into making over the earth, rather than one election, he would have far better success.

Perhaps the bishop needs a refresher on prudence:

Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; “the prudent man looks where he is going.” “Keep sane and sober for your prayers.” Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid. — The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1806

This CNS story on a homily by Archbishop Quinn from four long years ago is also instructive.

Perspective, Political, , ,

Rebuiding cities

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Strategies For Rebuiding Cleveland: What can be learned from other cities.

Like a flower in the sand, a peach-colored house blooms from a bleak and battered street in the inner city of Schenectady, N.Y.

On a block of outdated and sometimes boarded-up double deckers, the slender home wears vacation clothes. Its siding gleams in cool Caribbean colors. A decorative black fence necklaces a front garden bursting with colors.

Strangers might suspect they had stumbled upon an artist’s enclave or a bed and breakfast in the urban blight, but anyone from around this upstate New York factory town knows better. They will assume another Guyanese immigrant family has moved in and that, chances are, the street is on the rise. For where one Guyanese buys and restores, others follow.

Facing the kinds of job losses and abandonment known to Cleveland, Schenectady pursued a creative solution. It introduced itself to an immigrant group in New York City, lured curious couples north to view its impossibly cheap homes, and let capitalism and immigrant dreams run their course.

In less than a decade, people who hail from the South American nation of Guyana have become about 10 percent of the city of 62,000, and streets once considered worthless now stir with fussy homeowners.

“They breathed new life into this town,” said Albert P. Jurczynski, the former mayor who marketed his city with bus tours and his mother-in-law’s homemade cookies. “They changed Schenectady. And they never asked for a dime from anyone.”

With the real-estate catastrophe having devalued, crippled and partially emptied whole neighborhoods of Northeast Ohio, it’s time to ask, “What next?”

I love what Schenectady did. I have commented on it before, in other forums, and have recommended this model to civic leaders in other cities. This effort, along with other examples provided in the article, show that rust-belt cities needn’t weep over abandoned factories and boarded-up homes. Energy, leadership, vision, and a quelling of unfounded fears can rebuild what was thought of as lost.

On a recent weekday, Desmond Ramsammy and his wife of one year, Panchawattie, stepped out of an immaculate, two-family house near downtown Schenectady and surveyed a world they were surprised to find.

Crack dealers and layabouts once dominated Hawk Street at the edge of the Hamilton Hill neighborhood. Today, the narrow block reflects fresh paint and new energy. About 80 percent of the houses are occupied by Guyanese. They mind each other’s children, walk to West Indian groceries on busy State Street, and cheer the cricket matches over at Central Park.

Desmond Ramsammy, a heating and cooling mechanic, discovered the scene when he drove up from Queens to visit his brother. He came back with his wife.

“It’s much more relaxed here,” he said. “The cost of living is much less. Even gas prices are lower.”

The couple paid $127,000 for a house that had sat vacant for six years before Mohabir Satram, a Guyanese home restorer, bought and rebuilt it from top to bottom. Now it holds new dreams.

The Ramsammys expect to sell their small house in Queens for about $650,000 and use the money to start a business in Schenectady.

Annunciating words that are music to the ears of civic leaders, Desmond Ramsammy said, “We plan to raise a family here.”

The opportunities are there: urban farming, economic changes that will reinvigorate cities (see this from the Telegraph), industrious immigrants… Simply a change in the paradigm which will mesh with a return to core values (if we’re lucky).

Christian Witness, PNCC, Political, ,

A challenge for apologists

From Foreign Policy: The List: The Catholic Church’s Biggest Reversals.

In —Think Again: Catholic Church,— John L. Allen Jr. writes, —Catholics who have been around the block know that whenever someone in authority begins a sentence with, ‘As the church has always taught …,’ some long-standing idea or practice is about to be turned on its head.— Herewith, five of the biggest such reversals of doctrine in the church’s history.

The author goes on to describe changes in Roman Catholic ‘teaching’ on usury, slavery, the various changes brought about as a result of Vatican II, capital punishment, and limbo.

I have seen plenty of apologist websites that walk through the development of doctrine argument to ‘prove’ that the very teachings Mr. Allen mentions haven’t really changed. Mr. Allen’s book should further those arguments well into the future.

As Bishop Hodur pointed out in his reflections, especially as summarized in the Apocalypse of the Twentieth Century, the Roman Church’s ties to civil governance and power politics heavily influenced its teaching on these and similar issues. The Roman Church’s influence was not exercised in developing spiritual doctrine, but in expanding its political and temporal power at the cost of man’s spiritual well being. The changes Mr. Allen mentions are not changes in God’s understanding, but in man’s self understanding as defined by the political/economic landscape of the times.

The ultimate dissolution of the Roman Church’s political/temporal power occurred in the mid 1800’s. That dissolution resulted in pronouncements on infallibility and other solemnly proclaimed doctrines that remain an obstacle to Church unity to this day; an unfortunate reactionary move.

As time has moved on, the Roman Church has focused its understanding of self — away from political/temporal power — to proclaiming the power of the Gospel. Let us hope that the obstacles that continue to prevent unity, the political leftovers, and the false developments so influenced by power politics, fall awayI am not delusional on these issues. I have no expectation of results. I only offer a prayer that whatever happens is according to God’s will..

In speaking of the Church and national and social affairs Bishop Hodur wrote:

As is evident from this brief sketch, Christ gave adequate instructions to His followers regarding their behavior amidst these most important currents of human life. They should not try to stop them or oppose them, but they should move with them, refining them and directing them into channels which will lead to the uplift, prosperity and redemption of humanity. The church must not be the instrument of the aristocracy, of the wealthy, or of any particular faction in politics or society. Instead, it should bless and support any human endeavor and righteous work which is directed towards the betterment and enrichment of mankind, towards the creation of a more equitable social and political structure, and towards the triumph of peace, truth, beauty and light – in other words, the triumph of God – within the human soul. — Most Rev. Franciszek Hodur, Our Way of Life, Chapter VI, On Social and National Affairs.

A call to Christian witness in society, properly focused on bearing core faith before the world. Can the Church and its faith change the world? We in the PNCC would answer with a resounding yes.

PNCC,

A snapshop of history – Chicago and the PNCC

From Jeff Duntemann’s ContraPositive Diary, an interesting bit on the history of the Chicago Independent Catholic movement under Bishop Kozlowski, part of PNCC history: The “Pepper Riots” and the PNCC.

I haven’t run across Mr. Duntemann’s blog/diary before but it is very interesting as is his biography. The thought that crossed my mind is that he is a self-made, technologically minded renaissance man. Fascinating reading – check it out.

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