Homily for The Most Holy Trinity - Sunday 4th June 2023

Homily for The Most Holy Trinity

Sunday 4th June 2023

This passed week, I had an in-depth conversation with one of my sons. He acknowledged that there was no way he could alter my believe in God as he had seen me journeying towards becoming a deacon. Even before that journey started, he knew I had a deep faith. He was witness to this. As he grew up, I shared what I had learnt but I also challenged him to go out and find his own way.

The reason for this was that I had been allowed by my own father to discover my path. He respected me as a person, though he too had strong opinions. As a child my father had been challenged by the church he belonged to. He had been falsely accused of something he had not done, and the priest was more interested in getting some church windows repaired, damaged during the war, than the wrong he had forced upon an eleven-year-old boy. A boy who had been honest in the first place but had still been prosecuted.

This action had forced my father to question his believes. He was not happy with the church, because he saw hypocrisy. He felt hurt and rejected. Yet, as I grew up and watched my father, a gardener. Jesus shared many parables able the vine, the vineyard, sowing the seeds and how they grew. I learnt much from my father, and although it appeared that we had different views on religion, he did not get angry with me when I chose to become a Catholic.

Each of our journeys are never easy. There were times when I struggled with my decision to change churches. It was Jesus who called me. The call in my heart was disturbing. It took several years, but Jesus presented me with signs that showed me he was there, accompanying me along the way.

When my father became ill, my duty as a son was to be at his side to help tend to his needs in the last few weeks of his life. At one point he asked me why I was not in tears, especially as I knew he was dying. It was not the time. Jesus had given me the strength to be there with him. The tears did come, but my faith was strong, and Jesus carried me through.

My son also struggles, he had been brought up a Catholic, so my experiences were different. He said he did not believe, yet what he also told me was how he respected others and gave them their place. His words cannot be repeated here, but mirrored Jesus’s commandment to love one another as you love yourself. Do not annoy others or be a nuisance, might be another way to say what my son said. Though he tells me he does not believe and struggles with what he sees happening in the world, especially all the injustices, he is aligned with my political stance.

As a teenager I was accused of being a Marxist, but Karl was not my mentor. Instead, I was following the examples shown in the Acts of the Apostles. About being part of the community, helping others and sharing. In many ways, I am still influenced by the writings of St Luke as I have been led towards the diaconate.

I still love my children from the depths of my heart, and I know God loves me the same way, if not more. He knows where I go wrong and nudges me in the right direction. My son sees me as a man also struggling in the world, trying to make sense of what is going on around me. He recognises his own journey but is still happy to spend time with me, even with my faults. There is a deep bond between us, and I respect his choices, even though he has not followed the same path as me, but then who does. We have our own mission to fulfil, and Our Lord takes us where He needs us to be.

Today’s Gospel tells us how much God loves this world, that he was prepared to make the extreme sacrifice of letting his son go through a torturous journey and to die on the cross to pay for our sins. He allowed this as a one time only sacrifice for all of those who believe in him. If we do, we will have eternal life. Jesus did not come to condemn us. He knows how much we struggle with what this world throws at us all the time. If we try to tackle everything on our own, we will be crushed.

Our loving Father also gives us space to make mistakes. If we find it hard to believe it may be because we are blinded by how the Devil tricks us. Yet, the Holy Spirit is always with us. When our time is right, he will reveal himself to us. This is when we are challenged. If we still cannot accept Jesus as our saviour, it is then that we need to worry.

I see my father in my son, and the same spirit flows through them both. Each teaches me, and whether they know it or not, they are also my guide through the Words of our Lord. I keep them both in my prayers, and Our Lord encourages me not to worry, not to judge, as this is not my place. What comes from our hearts is the fruit that the Lord is looking for, and he knows our hearts best. He can harden them as he did Pharoah, or he can soften them so that we can have compassion the same as Jesus did as he practiced his ministry. All we have to do is open our heart to the Holy Spirit and trust in the Father and the Son.