The Three-Personal God
Trinity Sunday
Announcements for May 29, 2021:
With the spread of COVID-19 infections slowing to a trickle, we are at liberty to return to most of our pre-pandemic practices. Our Masses will no longer have capacity limitations, and physical distancing will no longer be required. Anyone inoculated against the disease is free to come without a mask.
Reflecting the above shift, New Jersey's bishops announced last week a re-implementation of the Sunday obligation beginning the weekend of June 5-6. This applies to everyone in good health who isn't in regular contact with vulnerable people. Anyone who has a cough or a fever should not come to church.
With the more extreme measures to mitigate viral transmission we've taken this year no longer being needed, we're looking to wind down the Walmart Mass. We'll continue to have our drive-in option through June 27th.
As we return to something approaching normal, I'm asking that we cultivate patience, understanding, and empathy for the people around us. The pandemic has not yet divided us as a people -- let's not allow that to happen now.
Check out the Parishioner Portal for more announcements.
Please be in touch with me if you need anything at all, or if you'd like to share any questions or concerns.
Dear Saints,
This weekend, we celebrate The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The feast is all about who God is in himself. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on God's inner, triune, life.
One of the reasons why we want to know more about God is that we are created in his image and likeness. If we want to know who we are made to be, then we must in some measure know who God is.
God, as he is in himself, is an eternal exchange of glorifying, self-forgetful love. God is a community of persons. God's very nature is to be totally other-oriented.
Likewise, it is our nature to be totally other-oriented. We discover most deeply who we are by giving ourselves totally away to God both in worship (loving God by making him the very center of our heart and life) and in mission (loving our neighbor, near and far).
Furthermore, our very identity is being in community. Through and with and in Christ, we are inserted into the communion of the three-personal God, which empowers us to create authentic community as we make God's love (his for-the-other-ness) real for everyone we encounter.
Finally, but not exhaustively, it is our being made in the image and likeness of a triune God that drives us to keep gathering as a people, no matter what challenges and obstacles we have to overcome to do so. Worship and mission aren't added extras of the Christian life -- we simply aren't who we were made to be without them.
I love you, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you very soon.
In the Love of the Three-Personal God,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
PS Trinity Sunday is known as Casual Heresy Sunday. Turns out, it's quite a challenge to talk about God's inner life. Check out the video below for a number of failed attempts at understanding the Trinity, and take a look at the Athanasian Creed for a little bit of intellectual clarity.
St. Patrick's Bad Analogies
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Trinity Sunday
The Trinity
Andrei Rublev, c.1420