The Commissioning of the Disciples [June 3, 2012]

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity [June 3, 2012]

Matthew 28:16-20

16The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.17When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.18Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19Go, therefore,* and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Reflection

When we examine the life of Jesus, we soon notice how intensely he was bound to his Father and to the Holy Spirit. Let us reflect on this idea for a short time, beginning with Jesus’ relationship with his Father.

All the gospel writers, but particularly John, show Jesus in constant communication with his Father. And because of his closeness to the Father, Jesus knows very clearly who his Father is and how he works. He tells the Jews, for example, “it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, my Father gives you the true bread from heaven” (John 6:32). On another occasion, he assures the people, “Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me” (John 6:45). We are also aware, of course, how Jesus always seeks to do his Father’s will. In the garden of Gethsemane, he prays: “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done” (Matthew 26:42).

At this point, let us ask ourselves a simple question: Jesus we know, was God, but he was also man. Being a man, he would come to know the Father as any human would. How is it possible that as man he came to know the Father as well? The answer, I think, is through the power of the Holy Spirit. Through his prayers Jesus opened his heart, so much so that the Holy Spirit found a way, as it were, to come to him and reveal to him the love of the Father and the Father’s will. Perhaps another way to put all this is to say that in dialogue, that is to say, in constant communication made possible through the Holy Spirit, Jesus came to know the Father. And in knowing the Father, he also came to know the Holy Spirit.

The key word is “dialogue.” Jesus was in continuous dialogue with the Father. In this way, he came to know not only the Father but also the Holy Spirit.

Our present Superior General, Fr. Anthony Pernia, has written some marvelous things about the importance of dialogue and the desperate need we have today of dialogue. Through dialogue we come to understand one another. It is the bridge that we build between ourselves and those who in some way or another, may be different.

God, as we know, exists as a Triune God. This tells us that the persons of the Trinity are always in dialogue. Through constant dialogue Jesus is able to discern what the Father wants him to do, just as he becomes aware of the Father’s deep love for him. And in the process, the Holy Spirit acts as a kind of intermediary, making the communication between Jesus and his Father easier to understand and carry out.

In our daily life, we find that it is easier to communicate with some people more than others. At the same time, we also discover that when we do approach someone who may be a little difficult to speak to, if we speak to them with good intentions, inevitably some good comes of it, whether it be clearer understanding of the other person’s position, a clarifying of our own, or a feeling of greater closeness to the other person. As previously mentioned, our model is the Trinity and the marvelous way each person in the Trinity communicates with the others.

Let us ask God to help us as we dialogue with one another. May we imitate the Trinity in their love for one another and in our realization that we are all children of the same heavenly Father.

Reflection Credits: Fr. John Seland, SVD; New Reflections on the Sunday Gospels

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).