[Propertalk] Trinity a 2017 - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

Part two of Sunday's draft.

Bob
 “Fear,” as Tom Hanks put it, “fear is whispered in our ears and
shouted in our faces. Faith must be fostered by the man or woman you
see every day in the mirror. The former forever snaps at our heels and
delays our course. The latter can spur our boot heels to be wandering,
stimulate our creativity and drive us forward. Fear or faith,” Hanks
challenged, fear or faith, “which will be our master?”

	 Oh, I know it’s not always as simple as that. There are all sorts
of objects, animate and inanimate, which seem to stalk us, to block
our pilgrim’s paths so often. And, as likely as not, these tend to
push us in the direction of fear. However, this is where the
continually self-revealing God’s Love may encourage us.

	 I don’t know about you, but there are times when thinking about
God the Father may not bring me an overwhelming sense of relief. In
fact, there are times when I think of the father, the Creator, and I
draw back a little hesitantly. I wonder about a relationship between
such greatness and the person I feel I am. The relationship between
humans and God is pictured pretty rosily in Genesis, at least
initially. Then doubt sets in. Perhaps someone introduces the aspect
of fear through a series of “what ifs”, and we set off down that
incredibly long road, if your imagination was gripped as mine was by
the report of 300,000 year-old homo sapiens’ remains found in
Morocco and they’re authenticated.

	 For generation after generation, God was so impressive, but to all
but a few Sarahs and Abrahams, and Zipporahs and Moseses, and some
others, of course; for generation after generation, fear, or at least
discomfort, reigned until the right time was reached when God became
flesh-and-blood, making self-revelation through Mary.

	 Even God-in-the-flesh, though, didn’t dispel all fears. Did Jesus
ask and expect too much? It was all very well to talk about love and
dignity, but how can one live up to such standards? The disciples
certainly had an extremely tough time of it.

	 Still, God continued to realise the needs of humanity and came among
us. God never left us alone. And that’s what we celebrated last
Sunday – the saga of the continuing expansion of our understanding
of the relationship God wishes for us, and the presence, albeit
unseen, but certainly felt, of the Holy Spirit who works on our hearts
and our minds to help us to hold on to our faith that, indeed, the God
who created everything loves us so passionately; the God who walked
alongside our ancestors; the God who inspires and comforts us to this
day; this marvelous, barely understandable God LONGS to draw us closer
so that we will not be afraid of anything.

	 So, here we are, living in faith not just while in this room, but
with every breath we take. Here we are, ready to fight fear, as
Scottish-born American naval hero, John Paul Jones, said, “If fear
is cultivated it will become stronger. If faith is cultivated it will
achieve mastery.” 5

	 Here we are, ready to accept once again the blessing of Jesus that
He WILL be with us, always. Let us recognize fear for what it is, then
– an attempt to draw us from the love of our Triune,
continually-revealing God. Instead, let us accept the invitation
described by Brother David Vryhof, another member of the Society of
St. John the Evangelist, who wrote, “The God whose very Being is
Love, whose Trinity of Persons flow together in mutual self-giving and
love, invites us to participate in this Divine Love, to become one in
the reciprocal self-giving, love and joy of God’s Triune Self. What
a beautiful invitation it is!” 6 It is in this participation that we
REALLY come to know God in three Persons, God all-revealing, God
all-loving.

	 Let us not be afraid of the dark – ever!

	 Let us live in this Light which our gracious God has created for us!

	NOTES:

	[1] Isaiah 9:2 (in English translations. 9:1 in Hebrew)

	2 _“More”,_ from _“Brother, Give us a Word”,_ by Brother
Curtis Almquist, SSJE, 7th June, 2017 http://ssje.org/word/ [1] 

	3  Tom Hanks [2] – Commencement Address at Yale, 2011. Tom Hanks’
Graduation Speech Transcript:
http://gradspeeches.com/2011/2011/tom-hanks [3]

	4 Philippians 4:8 (New Jerusalem Bible)

	5 Source unknown, quoted by Tom Hanks, Op. cit.

	6 “Participate” from “Brother, Give us a Word”, Br. David
Vryhof, SSJE, 6th June. 2017 http://ssje.org/word/?p=15126 [4]

Links:
------
[1] http://ssje.org/word/
[2] https://www.facebook.com/TomHanks/?fref=mentions
[3] http://gradspeeches.com/2011/2011/tom-hanks
[4] http://ssje.org/word/?p=15126

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