Sunday, May 30, 2010

1 + 1 + 1 = 1

Triune God gave us today a simple lesson of arithmetic. Well, not that simple, because no one in the whole history of the Holy Church can claim he or she knows exactly what he or she is talking about, in regards to this mystery of faith. Thousands of volumes have been published throughout the ages on this topic trying to solve this mystery and explain it to us, minnows, in human terms, pictures and ideas. So at least we have a vague idea Who is He - our God whom we are supposed to Love, Adore, Praise and life for...


The Solemnity of Most Holy Trinity we celebrate today gives us a simple equation as a challenge for our reason and our faith. Yes, faith, as reason, to be honest, has little, if not nothing at all, to do here and everything else we were taught in schools. How comes that One plus One plus One equals One? That's what the whole mystery of One God in Three Persons is all about and it is simplest presentation of this article of faith; one, if not the most, of the difficult articles of faith we have in the Catholic Church. 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. Period. Surely, with this Divine Equation you won't go far in our schooling systems, probably not futher that a couple of weeks in nursery class for babies.

Various people tried to explain this phenomenon in more comprehensible and acceptable terms. Three states of water - ice, water and steam. Then three leaves of shamrock (St. Patrick's alleged method of teaching this article of faith). And other efforts trying to bring us closer to the mystery of One God in Three Persons. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And still One God...

I am a simple guy and like simple solutions. So, I do not try even to reason and ask myself - how comes? I simply say - God, I believe You... If you say so that this is Who You are, then this is Who You are in fact. And my human mind will never comprehend this mystery. I do not even try... Because, the moment I will claim that I understood it, You will cease to be True God and will become a golden bull at the feet of the Holy Mountain. You will no longer be God, but I will have created my god to my liking and my ability to comprehend things and mysteries in this world. And this is exactly what most people would do in their dealings with difficult articles of faith. They would twist them to their liking and ability of thinking and comprehending. Others will reject them altogether, and other, but few I suspect, will go ahead in blind faith.

I abhor gods of my making. I have a lot of them already who try to take Your place since early years of my life. I will not reason and argue and doubt, because You are the Truth and Life and Light, You are my Everything. You revealed to us that You are One God in Three Persons and I accept it without a shadow of doubt, because You are God and I am Your creation, and I can only understand as much as my human brain can accept in its limitations. Only so much...Like a helpless bottle facing the vast stretch of Lake Victoria which I can see from the top Divine Mercy Hill here in Kiabakari, especially in evening hours, glittering on the horizon like a New Jerusalem, inviting me to its premises...Helpless, cause it knows that it cannot contain the whole water of the Lake...Only so much as it can hold, just a few drops...And this is me, trying to comprehend the mystery of Triune God and the Divine Equation: 1 + 1 + 1 = 1.

I have been baptized in Your Name, my Triune God. I have just finished this morning the Holy Mass with baptisms of 65 school kids who I baptized in Your Triune Name. They, as myself, have just entered the mysterious world of faith. In this world our human senses, reason and comprehension are of little use. We, as 2 Corinthians 5:7 teaches us - "Walk By Faith, Not By Sight"...The day of our Baptism we entered a world of faith, in which thick fog of mystery covers everything. We believe You are there, in this fog, just as You were in the cloud on top of Tabor mountain when Jesus transfigured in the presence of His three disciples, and they were encompassed by the cloud in which You spoke to them...

We find ourselves in the same cloud, in the same fog on the day of our Baptism. We must abandon our reasoning, we must embrace Your logic and arithmetic of grace and salvation. We must forget about 1 + 1 + 1 + = 3 and accept than in fact the result is 1. We must abandon our greed and accept Your divine economics that by giving we are in fact receiving, by showing mercy in fact we are even more so touched by mercy.


We must abandon our selfishness and individualism, and embrace the community, cause trying to walk alone in our Catholic faith we will get lost in this fog.


In this fog of faith, the only way to get through safely and not get lost in it, is to hold Jesus' hand. But He usually extends His hand through others. So, if I want to get through my Christian life safely and live a worthy life, I need to find a guide who knows the way. This is my Holy Mother Church and in Her - holy, wise, prudent and experienced fellow Christians whom God puts on our path of life, no doubt about it. I need to get hold of them, I need to hold their hands and ask them to lead me and guide me. Be it a bishop, priest, nun, my parent, sibling, neighbor, friend... I will know who exactly that person or these persons are, if I ask You to show me them in sincere prayer...


For sure each one of us, if only we look with open eyes, will notice those God-sent sentinels and guides who are here to lead us through safely...


And finally, when my life comes to its end, the fog will be lifted in front of my eyes...


I will see and experience what St. Paul described, simply out of lack of proper words in human language and in human limits of comprehension: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9)



And then, in a split second burst of divine light, everything will become so simple and obvious...

1 comment:

  1. Hello - I was just blogging this morning on 1 Cor 2:9 and found your wonderful picture of the moon on the horizon. I shared it in my blogpost with reference to your site. If you would like to see the post it is http://wp.me/p2hybl-bQ . Praying blessings of hope to you and those you love!

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