By Father Rich Tomkosky
This past Sunday, we celebrated the gift of God’s revelation to the human race of who He is in His inner life. THE MYSTERY OF FAITH: that the one true God of the universe is three eternal persons who really are distinct from one another but united freely in a relationship of eternal love. Eternal three in one. A community of eternal life and love of which we are called to enter in our mind, heart, soul, entire life.
We human beings are made in the image and called to grow in the likeness of the Blessed Trinity. Along with the gift of freedom and the ability to think and love, being made in God’s image is the reason why we humans are social beings at the core of our nature. God is interpersonal in His life, the three divine persons living in eternal love in one substance of unity and life, and since we are made in God’s image, we also are called to be interpersonal, and are incomplete if we are not.
The vocation of marriage, of which most of the human race is called to, is a sign of this truth as the two become one flesh in a life-long commitment and show this self-giving love in a pre-eminent way by being open to new life by freely cooperating with God in an intimate way in bringing new human life into the world – which is why contraception is objectively a serious sin – that most modern people are sadly blind to; also which is why learning NFP, which keeps the Trinity in that most intimate part of married life, is so important if you need to space out children for serious reasons; 3% divorce rate for couples who follow NFP vs. over 50% of couples who contracept – take it to Confession if you have sinned in this area, or have been permanently sterilized, and with God’s grace do better going forward.
I as a priest give my life for the service of God and others in self-giving love in spiritually caring for God’s people. Many single people give their lives to help others. The bottom line is: we are all called, regardless of our vocation, to live for others and with others in our families, our parish, our community, our nation and our world. We are all truly brothers and sisters in God, called to live in the mystery of love.
We are not called to live in isolation from one another but can only find the ultimate meaning and purpose of our existence in living a life of self-giving love. But love for others must be rooted in God’s eternal love, not the worldly counterfeits of love which are in fact various forms of selfishness: be it lust, using others for our own pleasure in a multitude of selfish ways, seeing others as a means to our ends, or discarding others when they fail to meet our needs; living in the make-believe world of social media and the internet, or having a selfish view of freedom like we see when so many people today, including followers of Christ, claim to be “pro-choice” when it comes to the evil of abortion. Why can’t people see that abortion is the killing of an innocent baby made in the image of the Trinity from the moment of conception, and there is never a justification for that as the baby belongs to God? It’s not us for us to discard human life when we see fit, and there is always help available if one seeks it out, so both the child and the mother and father can be helped.
How we need to pray and do acts of reparation and penance, as our Lady of Fatima has asked us to do, that people see the truth of God and have a spiritual conversion, instead of believing the lies of the evil one regarding the sacredness of all human life, from conception until natural death, and all of God’s holy teaching.
Selfishness leads to death and destruction on so many levels. Love for the most vulnerable among us, especially the unborn and the elderly, leads to life, meaning, and purpose. To love and to be loved is the essence of the human vocation. Sadly, the world of today is often a desert of selfishness and death based on a false freedom that the devil promotes; rather than love and life of the Blessed Trinity, which is why so many modern people are miserable just like the devil and the other evil spirits.
You can’t give what you don’t have! And the demons have no self-giving love in their twisted understanding of reality! How do we learn to love properly? By rooting our lives in the love of the Trinity, and not the lies of satan and his cohorts.
In the course of Salvation History, how does the Trinity fully reveal the nature of true love to us human beings? We see the beginnings of this in the Old Testament when God the Father kindly reveals Himself to the Israelites and patiently teaches them the Commandments as the path to true love and life. Then we see the Trinity’s love more fully revealed in the Paschal mystery of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God made man, in His Life, Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension. Finally, we see it in the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to begin the life and work of love of the Catholic Church down to our present day and until Jesus returns in glory.
All three Divine persons are at work in each instance, even though One of Them is front and center. The Revelation of the Triune God over the course of human history shows us what true love entails, namely self-gift: to pour oneself out for the other. God has shown us the way!
We share in this mystery first in our Baptism when we receive the Trinity into our souls — the Divine indwelling by sanctifying grace, which means we are never ALONE in this life unless we choose that. The mystery of God’s very life in the depths of our being will never leave us unless we freely chose to fall from grace by committing deliberate mortal sin. Even then, God is so good that He will restore His life in our soul if we receive the Sacrament of Confession with a contrite and repentant heart, even for the most serious sins like abortion, other types of murder, adultery, stealing big items, deliberately destroying another person’s good name, perjury, being away from Mass for years, etc.
That’s why it is essential that we always strive to live in God’s grace and avoid mortal sin at all costs (make sure you know what the Church considers mortal sin and what it does not). If we stay away from mortal sin and strive to root out even venial sins, then Holy Communion received with deep faith and devotion deepens the life of the Blessed Trinity in our souls.
May each of us learn to love more deeply and truly by rooting our lives in the Trinity’s self-giving love, which is the goal of our entire spiritual life as Christians: to be sanctified by the Trinity in this life, and in Purgatory if we need it, which one day will lead to the Beatific Vision in Heaven, the fullness of life and love in the bliss of the Trinity’s Presence for all eternity.
As Saint Paul said, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it dawned upon the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corth 2:9). Never forget that life-changing truth as we go through the spiritual battle of this passing earthly life. It’s worth it to stay close to the Trinity always, under that mantle of our Blessed Mother Mary. God bless you.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and the Pastor of Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove.
