Dear Disciples of Christ at Holy Spirit, St. Helen’s, and St. Mary’s,

Imagine that opening declarative sentence from today’s Gospel of John. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” What a truly wonderful declaration that is. God so loves you that he gave us his Son! We are that special in the eyes of God that he would send his only Son to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. God loves us. God desires to be one with us, but sin interferes with that union. The Son is sent to break us away from sin and restore us to full grace.

The love which moved God to send his Son and summoned the Holy Spirit to fulfill that intention speaks to the very nature of God. Elsewhere, John reminds us that God is love.
God’s love is a threefold reality. The blessing St. Paul extends to the people of Corinth
proclaims that reality. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Corinthians 13:13) God is a unity of
love. Three persons whose love is so intense that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are truly one.

This Trinity Sunday, we enter more fully into that reality. We proclaim it. We name it. We believe it to be true. Our God is one God expressed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The central key to this article of faith is unity. God is united in love within three persons. This union of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is manifested in their actions to love us.

When our One Catholic Family asked for names for the new parish we were all becoming, Holy Trinity appeared several times. The transition team seriously considered that name as an expression of unity. We valued the expression of unity it portrayed.
You could say it scored 5 stars in the unity factor. It would indeed speak to the unity sought within our One Catholic Family, but it lacked the other qualities we were searching for, such as expression of each parish’s unique qualities. It also did not address the nature of the parish we are being called to become. A sense of mission
was missing.

However, the suggestion of Holy Trinity as a new parish name does remind us that we are to strive to form a sense of unity among ourselves. “God so loved the world that he sent his Son,” in order to free us from the very bonds that held us captive. That liberation comes as the result of a love so intense that Jesus would offer his life on a cross for us. You see, sin is division, and love builds unity. Our ultimate calling is to be instruments of God love and witnesses to the actions which build unity.

This Trinity Sunday, let us strive to build an unity of love in order to receive God gift of
peace to be shared across our three parishes. Let us be united in our witness to God’s love found in all of us.

Fr. Tom