Prayers of the People: Wolves and Swords and Sparrows, Oh My! ~ 4th Sunday after Pentecost '26 Yr A

For Sunday, 21, 2026, Readings: Genesis 21:8-21, Psalm 86:1-10 16-17; Romans 6:1b -11, Matthew 10:24-39

 But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and...your slave woman...do as [Sarah] tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring will be named for you. I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring...God called to Hagar..."Do not be afraid; lift up the boy...I will make a great nation of him"...God was with the boy... [Genesis 21:12-13, 17b-18, 20a]

 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, and great is your love for all who call upon you...In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, for your will answer me. [Psalm 86: 5, 7]

   ...all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death...so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life...So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. [Romans 6:3b, 4b, 11] 

   So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows..."Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven...I have not come to bring peace, but a sword...whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." [Matthew 10:31-32, 34b, 38-39]

    In the prior reading from Genesis, Sarah was laughing ~ she got caught, denied it, and was brought up short. She was then granted happiness in her old age, or so we thought…

    This week we find a different Sarah, jealous and vengeful, separating the child from his father, Abraham, and willing to allow that child and his mother to die. God calmed Abraham and later Hagar, by telling her Do not be afraid. And we are told about this other son of Abraham, known to us as Ishmael, upon whom God also founded a nation, that God was with the boy.  

     Paul reminds us that in Baptism we die, to sin that is, and if all goes well with us, we are alive to God in Jesus. And then Jesus tells the disciples (us, too) not to fear those who disparage him. Yet although the words those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul are fearsome, Jesus reminds us that even sparrows sold cheaply are valued by God. He echoes God in saying do not be afraid because we are more valuable than many sparrows.  

    THEN, BOOM - where did THIS Jesus come from: Not bringing peace but a sword, setting family against family, households against one another? Separating us from him if we love others more? We have arrived at Part 2 of Jesus' teaching on what discipleship actually means. Last week we were sheep in the midst of wolves and now we learn what can happen when confronting those wolves, when we pick up His cross and follow Him. He has my attention ~ he had me at I have not come to bring peace, but a sword... 

     But then, how different is this from what we experience in life, especially in these tumultuous times, when we hold differing opinions with those we love? Political and even religious rhetoric can be fiery and fierce, families and friends stop speaking to one another. Strangers are yelling at each other in the streets and, of course, on social media. Sarah and her wrath against Hagar and her child Ishmael, fathered by Abraham, whose descendant founded the religion of Islam, is remembered and fuels the wrath among and between Jews, Muslims, and Christians, forgetting that we are ALL, Each and Every, Sisters and Brothers as the Children of Abraham, Children of the same God.

    The world seems angrier than ever and us vs them boils over all too often into violence, personal, global, and even as entertainment for the uber wealthy, politicos at high levels, and just-regular-folks ramped up to take it to the streets. Yet Jesus stops us in our tracks with his sword  because it begs the questions to ourselves and each other: What really is our life all about? How easily ~ like sheep ~ do we bolt headlong into everything except what our Shepherd wants from us? He doesn't want us to stop loving each other, we are simply to love Him more. The glint of the sword blade is a clear warning that being steadfast in faith, acknowledging Him above all else ~ family, friends, job, lifestyle, etc. ~ is fraught with far more than separation anxiety, it can be dangerous for a mere human. We are not to be the sword-carriers, we are to bearers of the Word, the Good News. And, as with life in general, some days will be easier than others. This is not a part-time occupation, a Sunday thing, or a Christmas and Easter duty. This is what we sign up for when we call ourselves Followers of Christ/Christians. The pay-off is full-time, eternal life. No easy road ~ yet ~ if we travel together, we can keep the wolves at bay and save some sparrows all while losing only that which keeps us from finding our true life. Remember that pray without ceasing thing? Start NOW and, oh yes: Do not be afraid. God in Christ is with us, always.

 LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ O Lord, Good and Forgiving, You bid us to choose between living now in false comfort or with division among us by walking in the newness of Christ. Keep us grounded, strong in our faith, willing to bear the cost in this life for the promise of Jesus in the next. 

                                                O God, Great and Wondrous                                         

           RESPONSE:          We lift our souls to Your Mercy

~ O Lord, Good and Forgiving, give us the courage to be what we expect and demand of political leaders in this World, across our Country, and in our Local cities and towns. Strengthen us to work in large and small ways to end quarreling, power plays, and violence that separate and kill us here and across this Earth. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                O God, Great and Wondrous
                                              We lift our souls to Your Mercy

~ O Lord, Good and Forgiving, comfort and help all who are seriously ill, addicted, or homeless, and grant extra blessings for all who provide support. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                O God, Great and Wondrous
                                                We lift our souls to Your Mercy

~ O Lord, Good and Forgiving, we commend those we love to the freedom of eternal life, resurrected and alive in Jesus, never to die again. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                 O God, Great and Wondrous
                                               We lift our souls to Your Mercy

~ O Lord, Good and Forgiving, we pause in this moment to offer You our personal heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

 

                                                 O God, Great and Wondrous
                                               We lift our souls to Your Mercy              

~ O Lord, Good and Forgiving, lift the hearts and souls of those anointed to guide us in Your Church in these wearying times. Grant unceasing energy as they endeavor to fortify us in our discipleship, as we seek to be worthy of Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions.

                                                 O God, Great and Wondrous
                                               We lift our souls to Your Mercy         

The Celebrant adds:  O Lord, our God, rescue us from the desert of denial, open our eyes to the wellspring of the Spirit, awaken our hearts to live first for Christ, and guide us to walk unafraid in Your Light and Love. We ask in the name of Christ Jesus, our Sin-Bearer; and the Holy Spirit, our Fount of all Wisdom; who together with You are One God, now and forever. Amen.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com

Prayers of the People: Oh Those Wolves ~ 3rd Sunday after Pentecost '26 RCL Yr A

For Sunday, June 14, 2026, Readings: Exodus 19:2-8, Psalm 100, Romans 5:1-8, 

Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)

   

They…entered the wilderness of Sinai…Israel camped in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him…Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: You have seen…how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself…if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed the whole earth is mine… [Exodus 19:2-5]

 

  Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness…Know that the LORD God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. [Psalm 100: 1-3]

  Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...we have obtained access to this grace...and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God...we also boast in our sufferings...[that] produces endurance...and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit... [Romans 5:1-6]

  Jesus went about...proclaiming the good news...curing every disease...he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said..."The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest"..."See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves...But the one who endures to the end will be saved."  [Matthew 9:35-38; 10:16]

   When we are given the readings for the Liturgy week by week, we might remember that last week Jesus called on Matthew to follow him to the utter dismay of the Pharisees, and that as usual, there were several other readings from the Hebrew (Old) Testament and something non-Gospel from the Christian (New) Testament, and virtually no other context because available. The Episcopal Church uses the New Revised Standard Version, NRSV. Try using that and one (or more) other translations., essentially, that’s for the Sermon. But when one actually reads Matthew and Luke all the way through, it’s almost a breathtaking experience to discover how continuously and seriously busy Jesus was from the beginning of his public ministry. Walking up mountains and down, taking boats to get across to the other side, teaching, preaching, healing, restoring health and life, gathering disciples, irritating the Jewish Authority, and the many many miracles. I say Matthew and Luke because they are the most detailed of the activities of Jesus. Mark is more like a Reader’s Digest Condensed version and John is a whole other thing, more cosmically centered on the divinity of Jesus sent by God to take on a human identity. While we are early in the Season after Pentecost, and regardless of your official and unofficial experience of Bible study, try to make a practice to read 2 chapters a day, beginning with Matthew ~ that won’t take long. If you don’t want to carry a Bible around, go to BibleGateway.com and just start at Matthew 1 and go. On the right of that page you’ll see the very many translations and paraphrases so click on the NRSV to start and then choose another translation or more for comparison.

   SO this week: Moses is ascending Mt. Sinai for God’s instructions on what to say to the Israelites on their journey out of Egypt. The psalmist reminds us to make a joyful noise and to serve the Lord with gladness and uses the metaphor of God’s people as sheep that Jesus picks up in the Gospel. Paul is telling us that in having faith we are justified to be given the access to God’s grace through Jesus. Through that access is our hope and God’s love through Jesus and the Holy Spirit even in our darkest times. It is also for us to know with our whole selves that we did absolutely nothing to deserve that grace yet is has been bestowed upon us.

   Then we move to Matthew’s account of this time when Jesus saw the crowds. He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. It is startling, at times, when the words of Scripture are so easily seen in the current news cycles, in cities and towns, in the streets of today, urban, suburban, and rural. When Jesus sent the disciples ~ and us by extension ~ out like sheep into the midst of wolves with the admonishment to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, it wasn't with the understanding that all will be easy and comfortable. In fact, then as now, the assignment is quite frightening and dangerous. The key tools for our success at attaining a share in the glory of God are wisdom and innocence. Innocence, it must be said, is NOT about being naïve or dimwitted. It is about paying attention to surroundings, who or what is lurking in them, and keeping ourselves and each other safe from the clutches of danger as best we can with all the endurance we can muster to the end of our individual journeys.

   Sheep are as good or better at flocking together as their feathery avian counterparts and just as skittish when disturbed. Unlike the birds of the air, sheep have limited directional options and will frequently scatter helter-skelter when frightened. The shepherd's job to calm them is all the more difficult and important as the shepherd must continually shift the flock to different pastures for feeding and safety. But sheep do come to trust their shepherd and to recognize and remember both animal and human faces and, along with a keen sense of smell, with the comfort or danger they represent. The behavior of the flock is communal and spontaneous ~ impulsive and reactionary ~ to threats real and merely perceived. How like sheep we humans are, except that our sense of "smell" doesn't always tip us off to the many wolves in our midst.  

 

     The wolves of this world are many indeed, but there are billions upon billions of sheep. The importance of our flocking together as a community of Christ was never more critical as now. Jesus was clear when he says later in Matthew: For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them [Mt 18:20]. As the body of Christ, each endowed with specific gifts from the Holy Spirit, we are called to labor in the fields of the Lord, to build up the Kingdom, and ultimately to share in God's glory through Jesus. Our safe haven is always shepherded by the constant Presence of Christ among and within us.   

    Our community of believers is a place to learn from, to comfort, and to guide one another around those wolves that would harass us, tempt us, and/or devour us. As we flock together, we also reap the benefit of joyful times. While we may not always feel like whistling while we work, we can seek pause to enjoy our life together, gather others lost and alone in their fields, and continually shift ourselves and our fellow sheep away from the dens of wolves to the path of hope that leads to the Eternal Pasture. As Paul told the Romans, hope does not disappoint. When we serve the Lord with gladness our noise will be joyful. As there are far more sheep than wolves in this world, let us sheep work to confound and confuse a few along the way, and even work to gather a few to start tagging along as friends. Jesus did!

 

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ God of Hope and Love, arouse and provoke us in heart and in mind to take up the labor in Your fields, sow to the Spirit, and reap the plentiful harvest to grow Your family of faith.

                                                Lord, Faithful and Good                                 

              RESPONSE:        We serve You in Faith with gladness

~ God of Hope and Love, keep us wise, fervent, and unceasing in our quest to speak Your truth to the wolves of misguided power. Guide us as we strive for Justice, Compassion, and Principled governing across this World, this Country, and our Community. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                Lord, Faithful and Good

                                                We serve You in Faith with gladness

                                

~ God of Hope and Love, grant comfort and endurance to all who suffer from chronic or life-threatening disease, depression, or desperate circumstance, and constantly renew the energy of their caregivers. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                 Lord, Faithful and Good

                                                We serve You in Faith with gladness

      

~ God of Hope and Love, as we grieve for all whom we have loved in this life, our hearts rest easier knowing You now hold them in Your everlasting embrace. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                 Lord, Faithful and Good

                                                We serve You in Faith with gladness

~ God of Hope and Love, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

                                                Lord, Faithful and Good

                                                We serve You in Faith with gladness    

   

~ God of Hope and Love, uplift and uphold all who lead us on our journey to You, as faithful witnesses of the love and presence of Christ, through their prayer and service in His name. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                Lord, Faithful and Good

                                                We serve You in Faith with gladness                                                                                                 

The Celebrant adds:  Holy God, Holy and Mighty God, guide us to safeguard our souls from the devouring wolves of temptation in this life. Fill us with the wisdom of innocence and joyful diligence in Your service, as we spend our human time in praise and thanksgiving for the gift of Salvation. We ask through the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus, our Christ;  and Your boundless love from the Holy Spirit; who together with You are One God, forever and ever.   Amen.

 

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com

Prayers of the People: Continuously, Constantly, Ceaselessly ~ 2nd Sunday after Pentecost RCL '26 Yr A

For Sunday, June 7, 2026; Readings: Hosea 5:15-6:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Romans 4:13-25, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

  For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. [Hosea 6:6]

  Offer to God a sacrifice of Thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. [Psalm 50:14-15]

  For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. [Romans 4:13-14]

  As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him… [Jesus] said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” [Matthew 9:9; 12-13]

   The opening reading this week is from Hosea, someone we don’t hear from all that much yet this week his thoughts appear twice. Hosea is one of the Twelve Minor Prophets whose writings are aggregated into one book in the Jewish Bible. In the Christian version of the Hebrew [Old] Testament, he has his own, if brief, book. The Talmud refers to him as the “greatest prophet of his generation” and his writings take us from significant doom to restoration. He is also quoted in the Qur’an and as we are each and all ~ Jews, Christians, and Muslims ~ children of Abraham, this should not come as a surprise though, sadly, it often does. We’ll see Jesus quote Hosea in Matthew 9:13, building on Hosea’s quote about what God truly wants ~ not things we think we are to sacrifice to God as God has/is everything. The Book of Hosea, 14 short chapters, is worth reading in full for he has quite a personal history of direction from the Lord which includes some rather shocking commands, and is of punishment, restoration, and forgiveness. Not the happiest of Biblical books but short and direct.

   The partial piece of Psalm 50 appointed for today continues this theme that God isn’t interested in the sacrifice of livestock but rather a sacrifice of thanksgiving and honoring God by actions that pay our vows to God. Reading the full Psalm from verse 1 to 23, gives us a greater understanding of what God is calling us to be and to do.

   After his conversion, Paul understood that strict obedience to The Law as only a system of rules was, in a sense, replacing personal goodness and obedience to God; a message found often in the teachings of Jesus. Paul further realized that for Gentiles to understand salvation, it needed to be expressed as God’s promise, as it had first been given to Abraham and later to Moses. As one source says: Therefore, Abraham could be the spiritual ancestor of everyone who shared his obedient faith, quite independently of racial heritage [emphasis added]. It is to the fulfilling of our faithful commitment and thanksgiving to God rather than arbitrary sacrifice that God calls us.

   This week’s Gospel reading from Matthew begins with the Call of Matthew: As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. After this was a dinner to which many tax collectors and sinners came to sit with Jesus and the disciples. The rigidly Law-abiding, self-righteous Pharisees asked the disciples why Jesus would eat with such people. Jesus overheard and responded that well people don’t need a doctor and, with the piece from Hosea but with his own interpretation said: “Go and learn what this means. ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” 

   So for this week, the sum and substance of these readings are fairly clear. God doesn’t want and certainly doesn’t need blood sacrifices, but rather for us to simply follow through with the faith commitments we’ve made and establish new ones that we may have been afraid to do. And, they/we who have begun to feel sorry for what we have and haven’t done can and must learn to accept the ceaseless outpouring of forgiveness that God is offering. Put the angry God of vengeance behind you. Too much rule-based religion has been grounded in fear. Hear the words of Jesus: EVERYONE who yearns to, wants to, hopes to, or is even afraid to receive the love of God, already has it. Believe it, and know that God through Christ, with the Holy Spirit, loves and forgives then, now, forever, and continuously, constantly, ceaselessly.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ O God, our God, You give eternal life to the dead and call into existence the things that cannot exist without You. Remind our hearts and our souls, to return our own selves to You, that we may not be counted among the wicked. In offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving, paying our vows to You, and through Your Covenant with us, we have the gift of calling on You in our days of trouble. Let us glorify our God!

                                                    Lord God of Promise

RESPONSE:                         By Faith we rest in Your Grace 

~ O God, our God, guide us in the ways and strength of faith, that we may deliver to the leaders of this Planet, this Country, and this Community, the message that we require mercy from and by you, without sacrificing  principles, morality, or loss of human rights and basic needs. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Lord God of Promise

                                                       By Faith we rest in Your Grace                                             

~ O God, our God, still the fear and quiet the anxiety of all who are ill in body, mind, or spirit, and give energy and strength of purpose to all who give them care. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                       Lord God of Promise

                                                       By Faith we rest in Your Grace                                  

~ O God, our God, embrace the hearts of all who grieve and guide them to the comfort of knowing, that all whom we have loved and lost, are now risen in the joy of eternal life with You. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                       Lord God of Promise

                                                       By Faith we rest in Your Grace

~ O God, our God, we pause in this moment to offer You our personal heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions

                                                       Lord God of Promise

                                                       By Faith we rest in Your Grace                                

~ O God, our God, renew again and always, the souls, the hearts, and the minds of all those anointed to serve Your Church, in guiding and teaching, listening and caring. Give them the self-knowing and courage to care as much for their own needs as for ours. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Lord God of Promise

                                                       By Faith we rest in Your Grace  

The Celebrant adds: Most High and Loving Creator, as Jesus called Matthew, so he calls us each to follow Him. Open our eyes and hearts each day with our spirits renewed, to go forth as Christ’s Body in all that we do in love and with mercy for all of Your people. We ask through Jesus, our Lord and Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit, the Fire of our Faith, who live and reign with You, One God, now and forever. Amen. 

 

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com

Prayers of the People: Old Man, Young Man, and a Bird, Really? ~ Trinity Sunday, 1st Sunday after Pentecost '26 Yr A

For Sunday, May 31, 2026,  Year A Readings: Genesis 1;1-2:4a; Canticle 13, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, Matthew 28:16-20

 In the beginning...God created the heavens and the earth...God said, "Let there be light...called the dry land Earth and the waters seas...Let the Earth put forth vegetation...and living creatures of every kind...Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness" and God saw everything that he had made, and...it was very good. [Genesis 1:1]

   Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever…in the high vault of heaven, glory to you. [Canticle 13:Book of Common Prayer]

   The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. [2 Corinthians 13:13]

   Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them...And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." [Matthew 28:16-20]

     We’ve arrived at Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday in what we call The Season after Pentecost, and the Roman Catholic Church calls Ordinary Time. From now until the beginning of Advent, each Sunday will be numbered with its weekly distance from Pentecost Sunday, which was the end of Eastertide. So, how do you think about the Trinity?

   Many of us were raised to simply wonder about this enduring mystery, or to dismiss it, or to merely ignore it. A frequent image we’ve been given of the Trinity is two men and a bird within a triangle. It’s well past the time to think outside of that triumvirate. 

    The imagery of the Holy Trinity is as varied as it is old and has always been intended to help us and all who came before us, attempt to articulate that for which there are no adequate words or images. The Dove of Peace and Tongues of Fire are two examples. God is an old man on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Creation of Adam. Perhaps Michelangelo painted the white bearded God as old metaphorically to suggest God's timelessness that is impossible for human comprehension. Jesus was human as well as Divine so that is maybe a bit easier to grasp, except he is too often depicted as a lighter-haired, blue-eyed European rather than the brown middle-eastern Jewish man he was. But how to express pictorially the inexpressible? Perhaps St. Patrick really did use a shamrock to explain how three are all in one. All of history has tried to understand the Triune God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit yet with mere human understanding we simply cannot. And, until very recent times, as religious leaders, theologians, Scripture translators, and of course heads of governments and legislators, etc., were predominately male, so too is the language. One significant exception is in the Hebrew Testament and theology, Wisdom is female. [for one example see Proverbs 8:1-4]. Of course, a mystery explained is no longer a mystery no matter what the gender references.

     There is no specific Scriptural reference to the Trinity. The Jews knew God as the Wisdom, the Power, and the Glory and tried to wrestle with ways to make God relatable to humans. It was through Jesus that the Apostles came to know God as their personal “Father” made manifest in the Jesus they knew and came to understand as God’s Son. The Holy Spirit fell upon them with the Gifts that gave them, and us all, the Great Commission in this Gospel ~ to go forth and make disciples of all nations. Yet, without going too far down a rabbit hole here, it is important to note that throughout all human history, parental language in Scripture can be a significant distraction for those with the experience of parental abuse.

     The mystery of the Trinity is nothing if not confounding and controversial. One God/Three Persons ~ separate yet one, equal with different roles that are ultimately the same, belief in one is meant to be belief in all and the One that is the same but different. Got that? That’s probably why we have Trinitarians, Unitarians, and No-tarians.

    Franciscan theologian Fr. Richard Rohr tells us that "...Niels Bohr, [a Danish physicist who was a major contributor to quantum physics and nuclear fission] said the universe is 'not only stranger than we think, but stranger than we can think...' The doctrine of the Trinity is saying the same thing: God is not only stranger than we think, but stranger than we can think...Perhaps much of the weakness of the first 2,000 years of reflection on most of our doctrines and dogmas is that we've tried to understand them with a logical or rational mind instead of through love, prayer, and participation itself..." Perhaps we are called, as more than a few theologians have suggested, to be almost a fourth person in the flow of God...

     If rational knowing all that God is becomes the substance and goal of our faith, are we merely reducing God to our human level? More than a few writers have said that if I can truly understand God, then my god is too small.

     One of my favorite ways to attempt a kind of explanation/understanding is through a piece of a 6th century creed from Dublin known as Tírechán’s Creed, albeit with the seemingly eternal and problematic masculine pronoun when speaking of God it says:

He has a Son who is co-eternal with himself;

   and similar in all respects to himself;

   and neither is the Son younger than the Father,

   nor is the Father older than the Son;

   and the Holy Spirit breathes in them.

And the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable.

   If we think outside the Triangle that was developed to try to contain and explain, perhaps we can arrive at the beginning where all things are possible with, in, and through God. So, while the mystery of the Trinity is not solved at least we have looked beyond the image of an old man, a young man, and a bird.

~~One of the best discussions of this comes from a book written by renowned New Testament Scholar Sister Sandra M. Schneiders, I.H.M. in her book Women and the Word (Paulist Press 1986) Here’s a link to an article that is well worth the read for food for thought: https://uscatholic.org/articles/199005/god-is-more-than-two-men-and-a-bird/

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Divine and Holy Trinity, from You is every form of the Creation and its Life, including our redemption and the fire of Pentecost within us. Even with all You’ve given, we beg You yet again, to urge our souls to discard the obstacles of our own making, that prevent us from fully dedicating our lives to You. 

                           Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
RESPONSE:            In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
 
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, quicken our fervor with the intellect, love, and courage You have instilled in us, to exhort the political leaders in this Nation, on this Planet, and in our Community, to immediately turn to principled governing with integrity, mercy, justice, and peace. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
 
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, infuse an extra measure of the grace of hope upon all who are ill in mind, body, or spirit, along with strength and perseverance for those who give them continuing care. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
           
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, in our earthly grief, we cling to the knowing that You carry those who have left our realm, into the warmth of holy comfort and the peace of Your life everlasting. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                         Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You

~ Divine and Holy Trinity, we pause in this moment to offer You our personal thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You
                      
~ Divine and Holy Trinity, bestow peace of heart, strength of mind, and courage of conviction, on all You have called and anointed as guides for our souls in this life. We pray especially for: add your own petitions  
 
                                        Creator-Redeemer-Spirit
                                        In the high vault of heaven, glory to You                                                                                             

The Celebrant adds: Eternal Whole, All Who are One, we are each endowed with Your essence to accompany us in all that we pray, think, and do. Enhance and enrich the desire of our souls to seek our ultimate fulfillment in humble service to Your call. We beseech You as our Holy Creator, our Messiah Christ, and our Sacred Spirit, Who together are One God, forever and ever.  Amen. 

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