This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, and we try to say something about the doctrine of the Trinity. I believe that Hilary of Poitiers said it best when he spoke about how the Church “defines” the Most Holy Trinity as attempting to define something that is it not containable in words. He said we would be better off acknowledging that the Trinity is an ineffable mystery that no words can contain. Yes, the Most Holy Trinity is something experienced more than defined. For me, St. Augustine gave us the best metaphor to describe the Trinity as that of love: “God the Father is the lover, God the Son is the beloved and God the Holy Spirit is the love that flows between them.” I think that is beautiful and understandable. When we love one another, we participate in God’s very self and the flow of the Trinity.
As Catholics, we always make the sign of the cross before and after every prayer we say invoking the Trinity and the flow of love between the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity. We do so as individuals and as a community and call upon the love of God to hold us and keep us. That is true if we pray for ourselves or pray for others and it comforting to know that the Holy Spirit is God’s love flowing to and through us. Sometimes all we can do for someone we love is pray for them and ask God’s love to flow unimpeded to them, we ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit to flow to them.
I want to thank so many of you who have asked about my brother Paul who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that has metastasized to his liver and lymph nodes. After a battery of tests at Stanford, they chartered a course of aggressive chemo for the next several months starting yesterday, Friday. Paul is my closest brother and best friend, and this news has been shocking. On Thursday, we celebrate a Mass of Healing for him at his home parish of Holy Spirit. While it was very difficult to preside, it was the right thing to do because as Catholics when we are confused and suffering, that is what we do; we pray with and for each other. It was a healing Mass for all of us. I ask you to please continue to pray for my brother.
I also ask for prayers for myself. I will be going in for a minor heart surgery called ablation to deal with a heart condition called AFib on June 1. The added stress of my brother’s condition has triggered my AFib in a major way and I was advised to undergo the surgery sooner than later. I will be recuperating for a few days, so please be patient with me as I get back to full strength.
Speaking of praying, many of you have asked how to have someone prayed for in the parish. There are a few different ways to accomplish this. First, you request a Mass intention for this person, and use the website to add these prayers (Mass Intentions). Until recently, people had to wait for several weeks or months for Mass intentions because we only had one Mass a day. Now that we have 6:30am and the 8:30am, we have plenty of room for Mass intentions. This is an ancient way of asking our Church to pray for someone especially around birthdays, anniversary, graduation or in sickness or dying. These prayer requests can be for the living or the dead.
When we return to inside Church attendance, you can write them directly in the “Book of Prayers” which is located by the statue of Mary in the Church and every weekend we pray for all those who are listed in the book of prayers. Also, if you do not want their name to appear publicly then we can ask the Silent Prayer Partners to add them name to their private list of prayers.
Most importantly, I encourage all parishioners to pray for people as you are asked. I receive a number of requests to pray for others and so I keep a list on my iPhone. When someone asks me, I add their name and intention to that list. Every week, I review the list and print it using it as a book marker for my prayer booklet. You can develop your own prayer method, but I ask you to please pray for each other especially in difficult times. I can feel the power of your prayers and they sustain me and carry me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
God Bless,
Fr. Brendan