Unity With the Holy Trinity

Brothers and sisters agree with one another – Live in peace – The God of love and peace will be with you – The grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you always – communion of the Holy Spirit – this is a call to unity – unity is hard – Paul says, “Agree with one another.  Live in peace.” – this message seems providential with all of the protests and riots – it is a reminder of how difficult unity is in our world – how easy it is to destroy unity and how hard it is to build up – unity is hard…even in a marriage, with one person and you have chosen that person – it is still difficult…right? – even as something as fundamental and natural as the family , unity is difficult – there is such a longing in us for unity – a loving unity in a marriage – many soldiers speak of a power, when there is a band of brothers who are united in a common struggle – but this unity has been broken by sin – the devil always tries to divide – divide marriages – divide children against their parents – divide brothers and sisters – unity often seems practically impossible – an example of unity…a group of persons who get along very well together and have been doing so for a long time – the unity is very solid, because of the love they have – a love which is so strong, they put everything in common – no selfishness or egos  – no envy or misunderstandings – no fighting – a great joy to be together – the united group of persons I am talking about is the Blessed Trinity a Divine Family – so today this Feast of the Holy Trinity is an opportunity to lift up our eyes to this Divine Family who has a unity that is so strong it is eternal and nothing can destroy – many times unities in our world seem so fragile – this is a unity that nothing can destroy, because of the power of their love – in a unity which is all giving in which their joy is to give of themselves – the unity of the Trinity might seem so far away from our own experiences – remember that Jesus on the night before He died He was instituting the very Mass we are celebrating right now – right before He ended that time He prayed aloud to His Father, “ Father I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in Me…” – He was praying that all may be one – that was His prayer, when He was preparing to die – “Even as You Father are in Me and I in You that they also may be in Us.  That the world may believe that You have sent Me.  The glory which You have given Me, I have given to them that they may be one, even as We are one.” – Jesus wants that to be the unity that we have – an eternal Divine unity – that is His prayer – “I in them” that is the only way it can happen, if He is in us – “I in them and You in Me” – “so the world may know that You have loved them even as You have loved Me” – that sounds impossible like a pipe dream that is not happening, but what is impossible for man is not impossible for God – St Paul says, “Now in Christ Jesus, You who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ” – that is what we are here to receive, today – the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive in Communion – St. Paul says that Jesus Christ is our peace and He has made us both “one and broken down the dividing walls of hostility that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace that He might reconcile us both to God through one body through the Cross, thus bringing hostility to an end. – it is only His sacrifice that can bring about this unity – we are called to cooperate with that – we called to this challenge of unity – it is so important to Jesus that He is willing to die for – to unite us and is calling us to have that same desire that He has – to love unity – to follow Jesus in the Holy Spirit, so we are instruments and not destroyers of unity – builders of unity – we can ask ourselves in this Mass…what is one thing I can do to strengthen unity – ask the Holy Spirit during and wait for an answer – “ Father, I pray that they may be one even as We are one.”  Just the fact that you have made the effort to come together, today to celebrate this Mass and then to receive Holy Communion with Jesus is a great step towards unity – from the second Reading, today “Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God in the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”