“Go forth and baptize all nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” In the name of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic God we are to conquer the world for eternal happiness. Happiness is achieved by acquiring the Truth about ourselves and our Creator; embracing the beauty that God has placed everywhere and for everyone; and desiring the goodness which seeks to love our neighbor as we love the Triune God. That’s right: I affirm and I attest that there is but one God Who is one in the divine nature and triune in persons. This is the Catholic God that in the final moments of this world’s life will gather all creatures before His judgment seat and receive those who believed and loved His Son. So let’s ask the question that answers all “Who art Thou, oh God, and who am I?”
As created and contingent human beings we are meant to know, love and serve the One Who called us into existence. Hence wisdom begins by coming to know God. We can know Him through every bit of His creation. The divine artist leaves His marks everywhere and the deeper we study the more we are in awe of His masterpieces. We can come to know our God through the revelation given to us by the only begotten Son born of the Virgin Mary. Through his daily teaching by word and work we come to know and love that Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. We know Him by His miracles: “Go tell John what you have heard and seen.” No person on the face of this earth has performed the miracles testified to by his apostles and by the people at large. Finally, we can come to know Him through the saintly souls that have lived and revealed His Life in their own. As St. Paul reminds us: “I live, no, no not I but Christ lives in me.” Study the saints.
Knowledge by its very nature leads us to love. The greater our knowledge of someone the more capable we are of loving that individual. Love then is expressed in our words and our works. If you love me, you will keep my commandments, our Lord told us. St. James remarks that our faith is measured by the love which expresses itself in works: i.e. feed the hungry, cloth the naked, teach the ignorant. We do not embrace God simply by saying “I believe.” Our love must produce the fruit of good works to indicate the divine life within our souls.
Love begets service and this action tells the world that the Triune God is living within our interior castle. It is clear that we have rejected all sin; that we seek to live in deep union with God every moment; that all is calm about us. Service simply confirms the truth that our baptism is for real. Today that lack of meditation upon the Holy Trinity leads us to a secular world mentality that sterilizes. The sacred is neglected in favor of the sensational, the pleasurable. The result is that God is neglected and that society becomes pointless. We were created to know, love and serve God in this world and to be happy with the Holy Trinity for all eternity only if we learn to love the divine expression of God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.He is God and we are His. Let us turn to our Lady for the relationship that draws us to our goal for she is the way to Jesus and He will draw us into the heart of the Holy and Blessed Trinity.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt
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