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Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Homilies,

First Sunday of Lent

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

This psalm represents a powerful prayer. David is asking God to purify him, to give him a clean heart, a steadfast spirit. David is asking God to release him from sinfulness. David does not want to be apart from God’s presence. David does not want to loose the Holy Spirit’s presence in his life.

It is a wonderful prayer. It is the sort of prayer that speaks in part of David’s despair, the sort of despair we all feel when we are apart from God because of sin. More-so this prayer speaks of David’s love for God, his desire to return to God, not through his own power, but through God’s grace.

Brothers and sisters,

It is the first week of Lent, and a perfect opportunity for us to reflect on our attitude toward God, our love, and our sinfulness.

As we sit here, quietly, we should reflect on what is passing through our minds and hearts. Do we feel superior, intellectual, proud, smart, victorious, doubtful, worried, happy, guilty, righteous?

Of course, David knew all those feelings. Those types of thoughts are indicative of the distance we create between ourselves and God, between the ideal God calls us to, and the way we choose to live. Our sinfulness makes distance all the greater, distance from God, distance from each other.

As we sit here, in silence, let us reflect on just how far we are from God, just how much we need His hand. We need Him to reach out; to reach out, take us up, and hold us close. We need the gift of His grace so that we might return. We need to fall on our knees and beg Him for that grace – the grace that will renew us, creating a clean heart in us, renewing our spirit, making us steadfast in our opposition to sin.

My friends,

We are deep in sin. So deep we don’t even see it or realize it. We have made ourselves numb to the fact that we do things every day that hurt our brothers and sisters. We do things that hurt each other. From words to glances, from phone calls, visits, and E-mails, to websites we shouldn’t visit, and thoughts we shouldn’t think. Like Adam and Eve, we need to own this realization:

they realized that they were naked

We are naked in our sinfulness. We think we love and protect, but we are lost. Separateness from God gnaws at us. We feel it in guilt and in regret. If only I had loved better, if only I had been more charitable, if only I had held my tongue.

David knew his sin. Realizing his separateness from God, David cried out:

Cast me not out from your presence

David knew he was naked.

The Letter to the Roman tells us that Jesus bridged the gap, and saved humanity:

For if, by the transgression of the one,
death came to reign through that one,
how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
and of the gift of justification
come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

In Jesus’ coming David’s prayer was answered. Jesus came into the world to manifest God’s presence. He is here, among us. He is not far off – here is our hearts, here in these words, here on this altar, and here in this tabernacle, recently so rudely invaded.

Jesus is here, with the grace to keep us close, to guide us from sinfulness to life – true justification.

We cannot do it alone. We can do nothing to justify ourselves. We are not justified through our works, through our service, through offices and positions of authority, nor in pointing to the faults of others.

We must come here. We must walk up to the altar, heads down, sadness in eyes and voices – we must ask again and again:

Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

Jesus showed us the way. In the face of continual temptation He showed us that we have the ability to say no. He said:

—Get away, Satan!

He vanquished Satan. Thus we too can say, get away evil.

Lent is here. Time to face reality. We have sinned. With David we must say:

For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
—Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.—

When we do that He will come with His grace, to call us back, to hold us, to heal us. Like Daid, we do not want to be apart from God. It is never too late. Call on Him today. He is here.

Amen.

Fathers, PNCC

February 9 – St. Ambrose of Milan from Concerning Repentance

For what is it when you refuse the hope of forgiveness but to shut out? But the Samaritan did not pass by the man who had been left half dead by the robbers; he dressed his wounds with oil and wine, first pouring in oil in order to comfort them; he set the wounded man on his own beast, on which he bore all his sins; nor did the Shepherd despise His wandering sheep.

But you say: “Touch me not.” You who wish to justify yourselves say, “He is not our neighbour,” being more proud than that lawyer who wished to tempt Christ, for he said “Who is my neighbour?” He asked, you deny, going on like that priest, like that Levite passing by him whom you ought to have taken and tended, and not receiving them into the inn for whom Christ paid the two pence, whose neighbour Christ bids you to become that you might show mercy to him. For he is our neighbour whom not only a similar condition has joined, but whom mercy has bound to us. You make yourself strange to him through pride, in vain puffing up yourself in your carnal mind, and not holding the Head. For if you held the Head you would consider that you must not forsake him for whom Christ died. If you held the Head you would consider that the whole body, by joining together rather than by separating, grows unto the increase of God by the bond of charity and the rescue of a sinner.

When, then, you take away all the fruits of repentance, what do you say but this: Let no one who is wounded enter our inn, let no one be healed in our Church? With us the sick are not cared for, we are whole, we have no need of a physician, for He Himself says: “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” — Book I, Chapter 6

Fathers, PNCC

February 8 – St. Ambrose of Milan from Concerning Repentance

Is it not evident that the Lord Jesus is angry with us when we sin in order that He may convert us through fear of His indignation? His indignation, then, is not the carrying out of vengeance, but rather the working out of forgiveness, for these are His words: “If you shall turn and lament, you shall be saved.” He waits for our lamentations here, that is, in time, that He may spare us those which shall be eternal. He waits for our tears, that He may pour forth His goodness. So in the Gospel, having pity on the tears of the widow, He raised her son. He waits for our conversion, that He may Himself restore us to grace, which would have continued with us had no fall overtaken us. But He is angry because we have by our sins incurred guilt, in order that we may be humbled; we are humbled, in order that we may be found worthy rather of pity than of punishment. — Book I, Chapter 5

Homilies, PNCC,

The transformative Word of God

From a guest post by Ray S. Anderson at the Faith and Theology blog: Encountering the Word of God: against effective preaching

If one should dare to preach Word of God, be prepared to be exposed to the —naked— event of proclamation

As some of you know, in the PNCC the Word of God – in its proclamation and preaching is considered a sacrament. This post makes that point very well – trust in God to deliver His word through you – not your magical oratorial skills or props. By doing so we are led to an encounter with God’s transformative Word.

Fathers, PNCC

February 7 – St. Ambrose of Milan from Concerning Repentance

Consider, too, the point that he who has received the Holy Ghost has also received the power of forgiving and of retaining sin. For thus it is written: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.” So, then, he who has not received power to forgive sins has not received the Holy Spirit. The office of the priest is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and His right it is specially to forgive and to retain sins. — Book I, Chapter 2

Fathers, PNCC

February 6 – St. Ambrose of Milan from Concerning Repentance

Therefore had the Lord Jesus compassion upon us in order to call us to Himself, not frighten us away. He came in meekness, He came in humility, and so He said: “Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.” So, then, the Lord Jesus refreshes, and does not shut out nor cast off, and fitly chose such disciples as should be interpreters of the Lord’s will, as should gather together and not drive away the people of God. Whence it is clear that they are not to be counted amongst the disciples of Christ, who think that harsh and proud opinions should be followed rather than such as are gentle and meek; persons who, while they themselves seek God’s mercy, deny it to others — Book I, Chapter 1, para. 3

Christian Witness, Perspective

They will know we are Christians…

Received the following through my Christian Newswire newsfeed: Pope Chooses ‘Political Correctness’ Over Christ

“In a very disturbing acquiescence to “political correctness,” the Pope Benedict XVI has chosen the approval of non- Christians and unbelievers over the truth of Christ,” said Dr. Gary L. Cass, Chairman and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. “Because Christians are commanded by Christ to demonstrate love, they must pray for conversion non-Christians which Christians believe are lost. Christians single out the Jews for prayer out of a genuine concern for their souls.”

The Catholic Church has announced that the Pope Benedict XVI will rewrite the Good Friday prayer to remove what some have claimed are negative references to Jews. The prayer reads, “Almighty and everlasting God, you do not refuse your mercy even to the Jews; hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people so that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness.”

The references to the “blindness” and “darkness” of the Jews are to be stricken from the prayer because of the efforts of people like Abraham Foxman and organizations like the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.

“Christians have always believed that Jesus is the only Savior of mankind and the true Light of the world,” said Cass. “To not believe in Christ is to not see Him as the Savior and therefore to be spiritually blind. If you do not live in the light of Christ, you therefore live in spiritual darkness. This is biblical Christian truth, even if it is “politically incorrect.” ”

“The temerity of some Jews to demand that a prayer for the conversion of the Jews be stricken from the prayers of the church is astonishing,” said Cass. “For two thousand years Israeli Jews have renounced Christ and Christians. Jewish teachers have belittled Christ and Christians in the most strident terms in their sacred writings, the Talmud. I do not see these same Jews demanding anti-Christian texts be removed from their Talmud…”

A few thoughts on this. I think that this statement is lacking in mercy – and Christian charity. While I fully acknowledge that no other faith group can direct Christian prayer, I am perfectly willing to allow the Bishop of Rome to speak on the matter – to understand where he is coming from. Charity demands that we listen to our brother and think before rushing to condemnation.

It is also interesting that this group, which has made nary a statement about Catholicism or the Roman Catholic Church (per a search of their site using their search box – criteria included: ‘Catholic, Catholicism, Rome, bishop, and diocese), would choose this particular issue on which to opine. Further, I do not think that the roots of the organization lend themselves to ventures in Catholic liturgical criticism.

On the issue of the prayer itself – the Roman Church will pray what it prays, and it has that right. The Bishop of Rome, in the Roman Church’s understanding, has full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction, so he can rewrite things and he can use his office to make them stick (as long as they are not heretical). Does this surprise anyone anymore.

On this issue of language, it does evolve – especially in the sense of its common usage and understanding. Meanings change over the years. The same can be said of the term blindness. Do we want to take the time to help people understand the metaphorical and varied intellectual meanings of the word blindness – or do we want to be clear?

You could even make a technical argument by stating that blindness is an inability to see, something that is not true for the human heart. Do we as Christians believe that God created hearts that are unable to find Him? Not at all! So are the Jewish people spiritually blind? I think not. I do not think anyone is. If we fully acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the way, truth, and life – we must rely on God’s grace in moving hearts.

PNCC

Gifts ordered

I received everyone’s mailing address and everyone who requested a subscription to God’s Field and/or a PNCC monthly calendar will receive both. The order has been placed. I would give it about four weeks just to be safe. If you do not receive anything by then, please let me know.

Fathers, PNCC

February 4 – St. Gregory Thaumaturgus from the Twelve Topics on the Faith

If any one affirms that Christ is perfect man and also God the Word in the way of separation, and refuses to acknowledge the one Lord Jesus Christ, even as it is written, let him be anathema. — Topic 8

If any one says that Christ suffers change or alteration, and refuses to acknowledge that He is unchangeable in the Spirit, though corruptible in the flesh, let him be anathema. — Topic 9

If any one affirms that Christ assumed the man only in part, and refuses to acknowledge that He was made in all things like us, apart from sin, let him be anathema. — Topic 10

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