All you Need is Love: Trinity Sunday

 

                                                      

The Trinity Sunday 2026 

May 31, 2026

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Exodus 34:4-9; Daniel 3; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18

 

The church celebrates the Trinitarian nature of God by highlighting three aspects of God’s relationship with us. In this God we see the Father, loving the Son, who receives everything from the Creator Parent, and the Spirit between them is the divine love poured into the world. It ought to tell us that life itself begins in joy and overflowing love. We are meant to live in communion, not in isolation or competition. The new encyclical, Magnificent Humanity, by Pope Leo emphasizes this communion through Catholic Social Teaching and care for the common good. God’s love wants us to know that we have life in abundance and overflowing joy.

 

Paul’s letters to the Corinthians show us the way forward: Rejoice, change your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, and live in peace. It is a simple plan of life. We also know life is complex. It is easy to be nice to nice people. It is not so easy to remain nice to people who have poor social boundaries or lack social etiquette. It is less easy to be nice when some family members are divided, when politics remains polarizing, when people think their thoughts are the only right ones. We find ourselves in a world of increasing loneliness and with people living beside one another, but not truly with one another. Hence, a major reason for Pope Leo to concentrate on Artificial Intelligence and faith’s interaction with science. Here is where the Trinity comes in. Every act of reconciliation reflects the mercy of the Trinity.

 

Though we try to listen, it is difficult to be with someone who listens poorly and speaks as if the person owns the truth. They suck the air out of the room and are not open to the informed thoughts of others. It is difficult to remain in relationship when someone has an addiction or mental illness or is stubbornly closed to other’s opinions or looking at one’s own areas of growth. It is difficult for a good person to choose charity over contempt when it appears as the other person seems to get rewarded for bad behavior. It is not easy to stay position and as a person of innate goodwill, and that is exactly what God is asking us to do.

 

Our work of encouragement is not syrupy niceness. It means that we have to strengthen another person’s spirit, even if the person acts poorly socially. We have to call forth courage so that someone who is tentative can choose what is best for herself. We have to help someone remember who he is, not as an accumulation of failures or bad decisions, but as a person that God is still trying to get to one’s real self. Whenever we heal relationships or help one understand herself better, we reveal the image of God. When we take the time to listen deeply or forgive thoughtfully, we reveal the image of God. When seek unity without trying to dominate the other person, when we call the best forth from him, we reveal the image of God. Love does not erase differences. It is able to hold people together in communion. A Trinitarian community is one in which we help each other become fully alive. 

 

          The Trinity reveals the greatest gift possible – self-giving love. God is love. Love is God. If we feel any increase of love, we experience the grace of God. If we cannot know for certain if God was present, we ask ourselves, “Am I experiencing love?” If the answer is yes, God is present. It is the very nature of love, the very nature of God, to join and bond with others because love is intrinsically relational. Love is a cosmic force. It wants to relate. It cannot exhaust itself. Love creates more love, a deeper love, a transformative love. Love is who God eternally is. 

Earth - Our Teacher!

 

Earth Teach Me to Remember

Earth teach me stillness 
as the grasses are stilled with light. 
Earth teach me suffering 
as old stones suffer with memory. 
Earth teach me humility 
as blossoms are humble with beginning. 
Earth Teach me caring 
as the mother who secures her young. 
Earth teach me courage 
as the tree which stands alone. 
Earth teach me limitation 
as the ant which crawls on the ground. 
Earth teach me freedom 
as the eagle which soars in the sky. 
Earth teach me resignation 
as the leaves which die in the fall. 
Earth teach me regeneration 
as the seed which rises in the spring. 
Earth teach me to forget myself 
as melted snow forgets its life. 
Earth teach me to remember kindness 
as dry fields weep in the rain. 
Ute, North American

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu7Ii-ssFh8&t=248s

May 31, 2026

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Dr. Jennifer

Kryszak

It’s an awe-inspiring moment. Moses heads up Mount Sinai to meet with God. God passes by and declares God’s nature, God’s identity – “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity” (Exodus 34:6).

Moses does what many of us would do. He worships God.

It is Moses’ next response that I find awe-inspiring. Moses invites God to journey with the Israelites. His invitation is honest and raw. They are a stiff-necked people. They are sinful. And yet, Moses asks God to receive the people.

And God does.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and ponder the nature of God. The readings encourage us to reflect on who our God is – Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. The Trinity itself is a mystery that we as humans cannot fully understand. And yet, we are called to contemplate the relationship of the three persons of the Trinity and embody their relationship in our lives.

This is in part why I find Moses’ reaction to God awe-inspiring. Moses opens himself to relationship with God in the hope that God will receive the people as God’s own. This includes a recognition of who Moses is and who the Israelites are. Moses does not mince words. They are a deeply flawed and imperfect people.

And yet, Moses trusts in the presence of God.

This openness to relationship with God requires assessment of who we truly are and what it means to believe in and follow the Triune God.

Relationships take work. We hear this again in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. “Brothers and sisters, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11). Paul notes that the call to be in relationship with God requires that we are in relationship with one another – that we mend our ways and move our daily lives in the direction of peace.

We live at a time of great unrest and conflict within our nation and across the world. Violence and war are normalized, accepted, and even praised by political leaders. Gun violence remains the number one killer of our children. Domestic violence and suicide plague our society, cutting short the lives of our family and friends.

Distrust and fear of conflict paralyze us before conversations or relationships can even begin. We know what is right, and we know what is wrong with those who disagree with us. We hold our beliefs tight and restrict our vision, our willingness to see God at work in others.

What does it mean to live in peace with one another at a time when there is so much division and violence? Does it mean that you avoid difficult conversations with family members who disagree with you? Does it mean that we ignore our role as citizens within a democracy in order to maintain a semblance of peace in our families, communities, and nation?

This is not the peace that God calls us to. True peace requires knowledge, understanding, and action. To live in peace means that we are aware of the fear, pain, and isolation of individuals and communities. It requires that we are open to challenging conversations that enable us to see another person’s point of view. It means recognizing our imperfections and when we are the ones isolating and harming others.

Peace means that we work with and advocate for vulnerable communities, encouraging our elected officials to enact policies that value life over profit. It means that we recognize and respond to our nation’s role in conflicts around the world. As we mend our ways, we challenge ourselves to collaborate and develop practices that connect, honor, and nurture.

Like the Israelites and the Corinthians, we are called to deeper relationship with God and with each other. “Mend your ways. . . . live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11).

We cannot be at peace with God if we are not at peace with ourselves and others.

The gospel assures us that Christ did not come to condemn the world but so “that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). In his life, Jesus shows us the way to salvation – a life of deep trust in God, one lived in peace and love. Throughout his ministry, Jesus demonstrated a deep knowledge of people, including the religious and political leaders of his day. This did not lead him to avoid, denigrate, or harm those with whom he disagreed; rather he chose the way of peace and nonviolence, continually inviting others to join him.

Today and every day, we are invited into deeper relationship with the Most Holy Trinity. Like Moses, do we ask God to receive us as God’s people? Do we mend our ways and live in peace and nonviolence?

At a time of such conflict in our society and world, contemplating the Most Holy Trinity and responding with openness takes courage and faithfulness. May we have the audacity to ask God to receive us as God’s people and the willingness and commitment to mend our ways and live in peace and nonviolence.

Ebola . . . Prayers for all involved . . .

God of Mercy, be with those who are suffering and dying from Ebola, a deadly hemorrhagic disease caused by a virus. Comfort those in mourning and bring peace to those in caught up in panic.

Wise and Faithful Guide, watch over and protect others in Africa and elsewhere from catching this deadly disease. Strengthen those who are risking their own lives to care for their very sick patients. May the greatest care be given to isolate those who afflicted, and caution be taken by the authorities to stem the spread of Ebola. May we be filled with compassion for all those who are suffering. (Author Unknown)

+ + + (Previously posted  ~ August 11, 2014)

God of our anguish, we cry to you
For all who wrestle with Ebola.
Grant we pray, peace to the afraid,
Your welcome to the dying and
Your comfort to those living with loss.
And, merciful God,
bless those many loving hands
That bravely offer care and hope.
God of healing,
Jesus healed those who were brought to him.
Hear our prayer for the peoples of Africa
suffering from the Ebola outbreak.
Inspire and enable people who are ministering in this area
to be a source of healing, comfort and hope to those affected,
and agents for the education
and equipping of communities
to stop the spread of this disease.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we lift our prayer. Amen
(Adapted from writings of Fr. Stephen Smuts)

Welcome, Summer!

 

Summer Prayer . . .

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan,  
and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of              
up and down,
who is gazing around with her enormous and                        
complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly                                                                            
washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, 
how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

~ Mary Oliver

Live Prayer - anyway!

 

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.

If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable; be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, there may be jealousy; be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway. —Kent M. Keith

Pentecost . . .

 

May 24, 2026

Pentecost Sunday

Martha

Ligas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0xP3Ou8N3Q&t=3s

Last week’s Ascension story at the very beginning of Acts tells us that Jesus’ friends were looking up at the sky after he ascended to the heavens. Messengers dressed in white appeared and said why are you looking up? He’s gone now. The mystifying reality and the energy of the Jesus movement had come to a halt.With Jesus gone the disciples went upstairs and locked the door, so afraid of being found. So afraid of what would happen if the wrong people found out that they were associated with the one who had been crucified. The fear was tangible. It was consuming. So they hid.

My privilege is such that I don’t know this fear. But I do know that many do. This experience of locking the door as a barrier from the threats that lay behind it has become a bodily reality for far too many. At this very moment far-away neighbors are hiding in shelters from threats of warfare. Neighbors nearby are hiding in churches, desperate to keep their families together. Women are hiding in safehouses from partners turned abusers. Friends are hiding their identities in order to keep their jobs or their families. Our broken world is full of fear that hides behind locked doors. The threats are real. The fear is real. And the reality is, not everyone is in a place to break free from those shackles. We’ve got a lot of work to do until that day comes.

But this Pentecost message today is for those who have locked our doors out of another kind of fear. For those, like me, who are so overwhelmed sometimes by the need that it is just easier to shut the blinds and lock the doors. This message is for those of us who cower away from the threats that keep our neighbors suppressed, because there just seem to be too many of them. This message is for those of us who too often choose fear over courage, not out of necessity, but out of convenience. And the message for us on this holiest of Pentecosts is this: let the Holy Spirit in. If you still yourself and quiet your heart, you can hear the knocking. The Spirit is ready to bust down the door. She is actively waiting to animate our very selves, to set our hearts on fire, to lead us through a thrown open door into a world that desperately needs our ministries. The Spirit is here, the Spirit is ready, and a closed door is no barrier— but a closed heart is. We have to choose to let her in.

While the apostles were no doubt surprised by the Spirit’s grand entrance into the upper room, the concept of a Spirit would not have been new for them. In Hebrew Scripture the term used to define Spirit was Ruah, meaning breath, or wind. Liberation theologian Leonardo Boff describes ruah as “a primitive force that breaks the conventional patterns of human behavior.” Ruah is the force that stirs things up. That works outside of convention. That pays no mind to the way things have been. Ruah is uncontrollable– it blows where it wills. It is the great animating force that defies convention and breathes new life. It fills all of creation—  and it can be embodied in humanity… if we are receptive to its nature. If we open ourselves to creativity, to a new kind of courage, to possibilities yet to be named.  If we let it in.

So while the apostles were left stunned at Jesus’ sudden absence, they were given the greatest parting gift: his animating Spirit. The force that flows through all of existence, the force that animates and creates and stirs things up, channeled by the divine love of God into their very beings. And with the Spirit on their side, how could they be afraid? They opened the door and they never looked back. Can we do this too? Can we make the choice, on this Pentecost Sunday, to open our hearts to the Spirit who has come a’knockin’, to see that our fear is no match for what we can do when we are empowered by her animating force? Lift the window shades. Throw open the door. The world needs you, and the Spirit will show you the way.