“God's People in the Relationship with the Trinity”
May 26, 2013
THE CHRISTIAN FEAST OF יהוה אֱלֹהִ֔ים-YHWH ELOHIM
Isaiah 6: 1 – 8/Psalm 29/Revelation 4: 1 – 11/John 16: 5 - 15
His Eminence
The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
and
Primate
of the
National Church in the Philippines
and
the Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
The Season of Easter has come and has gone. For some, the understanding of what God has done for us ends at the end of Easter. We recognize and we are thankful for the fact that God has sent His Son that He has taken away our sin and our iniquity and He has given to us new life. But God has more things in store for us.
The early Fathers laid it out step by step for us so that we will not miss out on all that God has given to us. In Pentecost, God sent His Spirit to dwell within us. The purpose of that dwelling is that it will provide for us the help that we need. He said, “I will send you a Comforter, One that will come to your aid; One that will by your side to help you, to guide you. He is the Paraclete; a Lawyer that will give you counsel, wisdom, knowledge and understanding.” God says, “Just ask and I will bring this out to you.”
In many of our lives, we hear the things that God has done for us. We find it very difficult to believe. We find it hard to comprehend that God would have so much concern for us and commitment to us that He would do all that He said He would do.
We live in a world wherein we take the words of people with great doubt and great question. We have heard many make promises and they do not fulfill them. So when it comes to hearing God speak to us, we also find ourselves questioning, “Can this be true? Can this be that which He intends of me? Would He give this much to me? I am just flesh! I am just a human. What are all of these things to me?”
In the world system today, there are many who are looking for hope and help. They realize that there is something missing in their lives. Sometimes, they find themselves in courses that man has put together trying to help them like Transcendental Meditation, Yoga to calm the body, the mind, the being. They listen to another spirit of some kind where they don’t know exactly where it comes from and what it is all about. They recognize that there is something more that can bring into their lives hope and peace.
As Christians, many times, having been given so much by God, we don’t really accept it as real or ours. We are taught to accept only those things that we can understand and those things we can touch, feel, and see. Yet, everything around us is built on the unknown, the invisible. We can’t understand much of it and yet we depend upon it.
When we hear the promises and the direction of God, we find ourselves pulling back, not saying, “I don’t believe,” but yet at the same time not giving a whole commitment to what God has given to us. We wonder, “Where is God? Where is that peace that He said He would give to us? Where is that joy? Where is that wisdom? Where is that counsel that I need in the midst of my problem?” Do we really stop and let Him speak to us? Do we set aside other things or are we busy with our thinking and our own mind that we don’t give God a chance to speak to us?
Today, the Scriptures reveal to us the fullness of God‘s gifts to us. And again the questions: Is it real? Could this be true? The Trinity is a lofty mystery. It probably cannot be explained to anyone’s satisfaction, and yet this is what God shows us in Scriptures. It reveals to us that there is more than one personality in the Godhead.
In Genesis 1, we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – right from the very beginning. It isn’t something new. It is that which comes from the beginning. When God created man, He said, “Let Us create him in Our image.” Plural, not singular. The indwelling of the Spirit assures us of the Triune God working within us, working through us. The Father’s love; the Son’s mission; and the Spirit’s truth.
The life poured into our hearts empowers us in the glory of God. Because of the Trinity’s divine life within us, even our afflictions become a gift, strengthening us for the mission entrusted to us. It is a mystery enabling us to continue Christ’s ministry.
Such bold statements that the Scriptures unveils to us. The Spirit guides us to all truth. The Holy Spirit is the life. Scriptures also tell us what we find difficult to comprehend is of everything that the Father has given to us. We lack in nothing. We spend our whole life growing into what God has given to us - changing from glory to glory into the image of Christ. It is a progression, a journey that we are on.
I would trust that we would begin to see the commitment of God and the love of God to man. God is so committed to us that He holds back nothing that would help us.
I wrote down some thoughts. I don’t normally read, but I want to read these because I felt that they did not come from my thoughts, but they were inspired. I will interrupt them occasionally with my own thoughts to enhance it or to broaden it. It speaks of so much hope into our lives.
“Man is the glory of God. He was the center of the purpose of all creation.” Everything was created for man. “God made man in His image and in His likeness. Nothing that was created had the same place of honor as man. When God finished His creation, He realized He had done everything. It was complete so that He evaluated His work. It was very good. Perhaps, one might equate this evaluation with a sense of fulfilment.”
In our fleshly life, we would say it is pride in what was accomplished. So secure was God in what He had done, so confident that it was complete that He rested and He did not do more. He rested in what He had done. It was called Sabbath. No longer trying to do things for He had accomplished what was needed to be done.
“He had given man the ability to promote advancement. Blessing Him to be fruitful and multiply.” No poverty involved in that at all. “Also, He gave man dominion over all things. He said, ‘Subdue.’” Anything that was evil, He had the ability to put it down that it could not prosper.
“God had breathed His breath into man.” He said to man, “You shall rule over all things on earth. You shall reign.” “God gave man the likeness of His own ability. He put him in the Garden to cultivate and to keep.”
See the implication. God was so confident in what He had given man, in His creation of man and in the fullness of man that He gave him the responsibility to maintain the earth – to cultivate and to keep. What assurance He had in His creation. In all that He had empowered man to be, He did not believe it would fail. He knew that there was enough there to survive and to conquer.
“You can imagine the disappointment or the pain God felt when man failed, when man disobeyed Him in the Garden. God had given Him the honor of walking in the cool of the evening with Him.” No one else had this honor. Man was one given such privilege, but disobedience broke that relationship. He did not obey. He listened to another voice rather than the voice of God.
“But God, not being overcome with anger, eventually restores man. He sets him free from the results of man’s disobedience. He sends the Messiah, Christ Jesus. He redeems man. Remember, man was the glory of God. Scriptures says, God speaks, ‘I will not share My glory with another.’” He was not going to allow the evil to take over His glory. He said very distinctly, “I will not share My glory with another.”
“He sends His Son to become man establishing again God’s possession of the flesh. He created the flesh. Christ lived out life in the flesh as it was intended to be. Christ then redeems all mankind by offering His flesh as the sacrifice for all. 2Corinthians 5:21, ‘He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God, in Him.’”
“Then after resurrection wherein He demonstrates His dominion over death, hell, and the grave, He ascends on high to the Father to reunite man with God once again.” His mission completed; He destroyed the power of the evil; He restored man to His righteousness. Now, He restores the relationship with the Father.
“God then sends the Holy Spirit to man, to dwell in him, to empower him to be able to fulfill the purpose of His creation. In sending the Holy Spirit, God gives to man a potential of fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives.” In Matthew 12:43-45, it tells us that when an evil spirit leaves a house and he wanders around looking for a place, there are times that he would try to go back to the house; and if he finds it empty, he may go back in and possibly with more evil spirits.
Perhaps, God was speaking to us and telling us why He sent the Holy Spirit to fill us. Having delivered us from evil, through the work of Christ on the cross, He left us with emptiness as far as evil is concerned. He cleansed us. The cleansing for Him was not enough. So He sends the Holy Spirit to fill that void so that the forces of evil cannot overcome again, take over, and rule and reign over man.
Several years ago, one of our leaders made this statement saying that in prayer, they felt God had said He had given the Holy Spirit because He was not going to allow man once again to escape from His kingdom. I do not find that in Scriptures, but it was a witness to some of our leaders. Looking at Matthew 12, that is a very strong possibility. Why does He send the Holy Spirit to us? He is not going to allow the enemy to take us again.
“The Godhead being Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Three being one, it says to us He has given to us the fullness of God. Ephesians 1:23, ‘He who fills all in all.’” He doesn’t just give us Christ. He didn’t just give us the Holy Spirit. He gave us the Trinity – the fullness of God.
The hanging cloths above the Sanctuary represents the Three in one. If you have the Father, you have the Son, and you have the Holy Spirit. If you have the Son, you have the Father, and you have the Holy Spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit, you have the Father and you have the Son because They are one. You cannot separate them. They work together in a unity that allows power to rise to its potential. There is no division because division destroys power. Division brings destruction. In the Godhead, there is no division. There is a unity that we do not understand because it shows us They operate as one even though They have different personalities, different responsibilities. They function as one.
“It opens our eyes to see His commitment to man, to the success of man by giving the fullness of Him who filleth all in all.” Hard for us to accept, hard for us to believe that God would give so much to us. We are flesh; we are only human but we are the glory of God. His creative power created us in His image and likeness, and He does not want His image and likeness to fail. So He provides for us all that we need to be able to fulfill His will.
Even though He has given all of these and He now rests from his labor, He knows that eventually, we will begin to walk in what He has given to us.
In the Psalm, it questions, “Why are you so favourable toward man? Why do you honor man with such greatness? “Hebrews 2:8 tells us that He has put all things under the feet of Christ.” All authority, all dominion. You also find this in Matthew and in the other gospels where Jesus Himself confesses, “All authority in heaven and in earth has been given unto Me.” In another Scripture, He tells about authority in heaven and under the earth and through all areas.
Hebrews 2:8 continues, “But now we do not yet see all things subject to Him.” The fact that we are the Body of Christ, and if we are the Body of Christ and all of these things are under His feet, it also shows us that all of that authority also belongs to us. Even though we are not yet fulfilling, even though we are not yet living it out, it has been accomplished. It has been given. The day will come when it will prove itself because we find ourselves growing, changing from glory to glory into the image of Christ as we sense more and more of Christ’s presence with us in the gifts of God that He has given to us.
Last week, God showed His Spirit and what has been made available to help us – a Helper; the Paraclete; the Spirit of the Lord; the Wisdom; Understanding; Counsel; Strength; Knowledge; and the Fear of the Lord. All of these things He has given to us, through the Spirit, show that we are not alone. Jesus said, “I will not leave you. I will never forsake you. I will send you a Helper. One who can teach you the truth; One who can unveil to you great things of God.”
Acts1:8 tell us why He has given all of these to us. It says, “When you have received the Holy Spirit, you will receive power to be My witnesses.” All of these that God has given us is to equip us to fullfill the ministry or continue the ministry of Christ. To bring to the world around us the understanding of the work of Christ; to unveil to the blinded eyes the love of God so that they understand the forgiveness, the restoration, the power that belongs to us. The fact that we need not fear the forces of evil if our faith, our trust, and our confidence is in God. He will not fail to bring it to fullness.
We come to the Table of the Lord. It reveals and unveils to us the gift of God, through Christ. He that took our sin upon Himself; how it broke Him; how it took Him to the cross and to shame, to death, to hell. And yet, He overcame. He was not guilty of sin; He was innocent, but yet He gave His life for us.
When we lift the bread, the body of Christ, Jesus, in speaking to His disciples said, “This is My body, broken for you.” In the Eucharist, as we go through the procedure that has been given to us, as the bread is held and is proclaimed to be the body of Christ, it then is said to us, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
It is very possible that there is a dual meaning here. It is not just telling us to celebrate the Eucharist, but it is telling us that because of what Christ has done for us, all that He has empowered us with, we are to finish the ministry of Christ. It would mean that at times, we also have to be broken for the sake of others. It is the setting aside of our pride, our self-centeredness causing others to be more important than ourselves. Taking that away from our own hearts as defence or bitterness saying, “No, I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to see you fail. God has redeemed me. I want to redeem you.”
We cannot redeem the same way Christ did, but we can bring forgiveness. We can bring restoration. Jesus said, “If I forgive you, you shall be responsible to forgive.” I use this as an example, in a home, in a family, that perhaps a young lady becomes impregnated outside of marriage. It brings shame to the family, hurt to the parents, and yet the parents will not, in love, cast her out. They will embrace her with forgiveness and embrace her with love and live through with the event with her to bring it to a victory and a conquering ability rather than destruction.
This is breaking our bread. This is taking the brunt of the shame perhaps, and instead reaching out to lift up and to restore and to give life.
Matthew 18 says, “If your brother sins go to him and help him return to the right path rather than gossiping behind his back about the problem.” Scripture says of the two men in the road to Emmaus where Jesus was ministering to them. He was bringing back to them life. He was bringing back to them hope. He was bringing back to them faith.
When did they understand who He was? It was when He broke the bread. He had taken time and effort, rather than condemning them for losing their faith, to explain all that had happened so that they would not fail. He broke the bread and they recognize who He was. They went back to Jerusalem and joined the apostles. They became a part of the Church.
All these say that God has given to us tremendous power and ability. We are not weak; we are strong. We are strong so that we can lift up others; so that we can be a source of strength, a source of hope, a source of help. Yes, it might cause us something – our own pride.
Whatever it may be, we should be willing to be broken to redeem, to restore, and to bring others to the kingdom of God. Taking time to minister the truth in the office, in school, in the business. Where there is failure, where there is wrong, where there is corruption, we come in not with condemnation, not with judgment, but with compassion, with understanding to minister that they may be set free and that they may have new life.
God empowers us that we may be able to fulfill, to complete the mission that God has given to us. Divine life, the life in the Trinity within us, a gift for the mission entrusted to us. It is a mystery enabling us to continue the ministry of Christ. It is a gift that God empowers the Church to be. We are His representatives upon the earth. We are His witnesses.
May we recognize that He has empowered us. It is not just for us. How selfish we are to think that it is just given to us. 2 Corinthians tells us these gifts are for the benefit of all. Our lives should be to reach out to touch the lives of others and to be a witness to the greatness of God.
This is why we have the Holy Spirit. This is why we have the Trinity – right at the end of Easter. It is not just forgiveness that God has given to us. He has empowered us, now, to take out to others what He had given to help win the world.
Christ says, “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.” He empowers us to be such. May we rise to be that which He has given us the ability to be. May we fulfill our character – who He made us to be. Not following the ways of the world, not thinking only of ourselves, but thinking of what God has given us and wanting others to have the same joy and peace that we have.
Trinity – the fullness of God. He who filleth all in all. Here is the privilege we have. Hard to believe, possibly, but we need to open our hearts and let God reveal Himself, His power and His ability to each of us.
LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION
WITH
CARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND
VENERABLE PRIMATE
OF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
“God's People in the Relationship with the Trinity”
May 26, 2013
THE CHRISTIAN FEAST OF יהוה אֱלֹהִ֔ים-YHWH ELOHIM
Isaiah 6: 1 – 8/Psalm 29/Revelation 4: 1 – 11/John 16: 5 - 15
The Season of Easter has come and has gone. For some, the understanding of what God has done for us ends at the end of Easter. We recognize and we are thankful for the fact that God has sent His Son that He has taken away our sin and our iniquity and He has given to us new life. But God has more things in store for us.
The early Fathers laid it out step by step for us so that we will not miss out on all that God has given to us. In Pentecost, God sent His Spirit to dwell within us. The purpose of that dwelling is that it will provide for us the help that we need. He said, “I will send you a Comforter, One that will come to your aid; One that will by your side to help you, to guide you. He is the Paraclete; a Lawyer that will give you counsel, wisdom, knowledge and understanding.” God says, “Just ask and I will bring this out to you.”
In many of our lives, we hear the things that God has done for us. We find it very difficult to believe. We find it hard to comprehend that God would have so much concern for us and commitment to us that He would do all that He said He would do.
We live in a world wherein we take the words of people with great doubt and great question. We have heard many make promises and they do not fulfill them. So when it comes to hearing God speak to us, we also find ourselves questioning, “Can this be true? Can this be that which He intends of me? Would He give this much to me? I am just flesh! I am just a human. What are all of these things to me?”
In the world system today, there are many who are looking for hope and help. They realize that there is something missing in their lives. Sometimes, they find themselves in courses that man has put together trying to help them like Transcendental Meditation, Yoga to calm the body, the mind, the being. They listen to another spirit of some kind where they don’t know exactly where it comes from and what it is all about. They recognize that there is something more that can bring into their lives hope and peace.
As Christians, many times, having been given so much by God, we don’t really accept it as real or ours. We are taught to accept only those things that we can understand and those things we can touch, feel, and see. Yet, everything around us is built on the unknown, the invisible. We can’t understand much of it and yet we depend upon it.
When we hear the promises and the direction of God, we find ourselves pulling back, not saying, “I don’t believe,” but yet at the same time not giving a whole commitment to what God has given to us. We wonder, “Where is God? Where is that peace that He said He would give to us? Where is that joy? Where is that wisdom? Where is that counsel that I need in the midst of my problem?” Do we really stop and let Him speak to us? Do we set aside other things or are we busy with our thinking and our own mind that we don’t give God a chance to speak to us?
Today, the Scriptures reveal to us the fullness of God‘s gifts to us. And again the questions: Is it real? Could this be true? The Trinity is a lofty mystery. It probably cannot be explained to anyone’s satisfaction, and yet this is what God shows us in Scriptures. It reveals to us that there is more than one personality in the Godhead.
In Genesis 1, we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – right from the very beginning. It isn’t something new. It is that which comes from the beginning. When God created man, He said, “Let Us create him in Our image.” Plural, not singular. The indwelling of the Spirit assures us of the Triune God working within us, working through us. The Father’s love; the Son’s mission; and the Spirit’s truth.
The life poured into our hearts empowers us in the glory of God. Because of the Trinity’s divine life within us, even our afflictions become a gift, strengthening us for the mission entrusted to us. It is a mystery enabling us to continue Christ’s ministry.
Such bold statements that the Scriptures unveils to us. The Spirit guides us to all truth. The Holy Spirit is the life. Scriptures also tell us what we find difficult to comprehend is of everything that the Father has given to us. We lack in nothing. We spend our whole life growing into what God has given to us - changing from glory to glory into the image of Christ. It is a progression, a journey that we are on.
I would trust that we would begin to see the commitment of God and the love of God to man. God is so committed to us that He holds back nothing that would help us.
I wrote down some thoughts. I don’t normally read, but I want to read these because I felt that they did not come from my thoughts, but they were inspired. I will interrupt them occasionally with my own thoughts to enhance it or to broaden it. It speaks of so much hope into our lives.
“Man is the glory of God. He was the center of the purpose of all creation.” Everything was created for man. “God made man in His image and in His likeness. Nothing that was created had the same place of honor as man. When God finished His creation, He realized He had done everything. It was complete so that He evaluated His work. It was very good. Perhaps, one might equate this evaluation with a sense of fulfilment.”
In our fleshly life, we would say it is pride in what was accomplished. So secure was God in what He had done, so confident that it was complete that He rested and He did not do more. He rested in what He had done. It was called Sabbath. No longer trying to do things for He had accomplished what was needed to be done.
“He had given man the ability to promote advancement. Blessing Him to be fruitful and multiply.” No poverty involved in that at all. “Also, He gave man dominion over all things. He said, ‘Subdue.’” Anything that was evil, He had the ability to put it down that it could not prosper.
“God had breathed His breath into man.” He said to man, “You shall rule over all things on earth. You shall reign.” “God gave man the likeness of His own ability. He put him in the Garden to cultivate and to keep.”
See the implication. God was so confident in what He had given man, in His creation of man and in the fullness of man that He gave him the responsibility to maintain the earth – to cultivate and to keep. What assurance He had in His creation. In all that He had empowered man to be, He did not believe it would fail. He knew that there was enough there to survive and to conquer.
“You can imagine the disappointment or the pain God felt when man failed, when man disobeyed Him in the Garden. God had given Him the honor of walking in the cool of the evening with Him.” No one else had this honor. Man was one given such privilege, but disobedience broke that relationship. He did not obey. He listened to another voice rather than the voice of God.
“But God, not being overcome with anger, eventually restores man. He sets him free from the results of man’s disobedience. He sends the Messiah, Christ Jesus. He redeems man. Remember, man was the glory of God. Scriptures says, God speaks, ‘I will not share My glory with another.’” He was not going to allow the evil to take over His glory. He said very distinctly, “I will not share My glory with another.”
“He sends His Son to become man establishing again God’s possession of the flesh. He created the flesh. Christ lived out life in the flesh as it was intended to be. Christ then redeems all mankind by offering His flesh as the sacrifice for all. 2Corinthians 5:21, ‘He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God, in Him.’”
“Then after resurrection wherein He demonstrates His dominion over death, hell, and the grave, He ascends on high to the Father to reunite man with God once again.” His mission completed; He destroyed the power of the evil; He restored man to His righteousness. Now, He restores the relationship with the Father.
“God then sends the Holy Spirit to man, to dwell in him, to empower him to be able to fulfill the purpose of His creation. In sending the Holy Spirit, God gives to man a potential of fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives.” In Matthew 12:43-45, it tells us that when an evil spirit leaves a house and he wanders around looking for a place, there are times that he would try to go back to the house; and if he finds it empty, he may go back in and possibly with more evil spirits.
Perhaps, God was speaking to us and telling us why He sent the Holy Spirit to fill us. Having delivered us from evil, through the work of Christ on the cross, He left us with emptiness as far as evil is concerned. He cleansed us. The cleansing for Him was not enough. So He sends the Holy Spirit to fill that void so that the forces of evil cannot overcome again, take over, and rule and reign over man.
Several years ago, one of our leaders made this statement saying that in prayer, they felt God had said He had given the Holy Spirit because He was not going to allow man once again to escape from His kingdom. I do not find that in Scriptures, but it was a witness to some of our leaders. Looking at Matthew 12, that is a very strong possibility. Why does He send the Holy Spirit to us? He is not going to allow the enemy to take us again.
“The Godhead being Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Three being one, it says to us He has given to us the fullness of God. Ephesians 1:23, ‘He who fills all in all.’” He doesn’t just give us Christ. He didn’t just give us the Holy Spirit. He gave us the Trinity – the fullness of God.
The hanging cloths above the Sanctuary represents the Three in one. If you have the Father, you have the Son, and you have the Holy Spirit. If you have the Son, you have the Father, and you have the Holy Spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit, you have the Father and you have the Son because They are one. You cannot separate them. They work together in a unity that allows power to rise to its potential. There is no division because division destroys power. Division brings destruction. In the Godhead, there is no division. There is a unity that we do not understand because it shows us They operate as one even though They have different personalities, different responsibilities. They function as one.
“It opens our eyes to see His commitment to man, to the success of man by giving the fullness of Him who filleth all in all.” Hard for us to accept, hard for us to believe that God would give so much to us. We are flesh; we are only human but we are the glory of God. His creative power created us in His image and likeness, and He does not want His image and likeness to fail. So He provides for us all that we need to be able to fulfill His will.
Even though He has given all of these and He now rests from his labor, He knows that eventually, we will begin to walk in what He has given to us.
In the Psalm, it questions, “Why are you so favourable toward man? Why do you honor man with such greatness? “Hebrews 2:8 tells us that He has put all things under the feet of Christ.” All authority, all dominion. You also find this in Matthew and in the other gospels where Jesus Himself confesses, “All authority in heaven and in earth has been given unto Me.” In another Scripture, He tells about authority in heaven and under the earth and through all areas.
Hebrews 2:8 continues, “But now we do not yet see all things subject to Him.” The fact that we are the Body of Christ, and if we are the Body of Christ and all of these things are under His feet, it also shows us that all of that authority also belongs to us. Even though we are not yet fulfilling, even though we are not yet living it out, it has been accomplished. It has been given. The day will come when it will prove itself because we find ourselves growing, changing from glory to glory into the image of Christ as we sense more and more of Christ’s presence with us in the gifts of God that He has given to us.
Last week, God showed His Spirit and what has been made available to help us – a Helper; the Paraclete; the Spirit of the Lord; the Wisdom; Understanding; Counsel; Strength; Knowledge; and the Fear of the Lord. All of these things He has given to us, through the Spirit, show that we are not alone. Jesus said, “I will not leave you. I will never forsake you. I will send you a Helper. One who can teach you the truth; One who can unveil to you great things of God.”
Acts1:8 tell us why He has given all of these to us. It says, “When you have received the Holy Spirit, you will receive power to be My witnesses.” All of these that God has given us is to equip us to fullfill the ministry or continue the ministry of Christ. To bring to the world around us the understanding of the work of Christ; to unveil to the blinded eyes the love of God so that they understand the forgiveness, the restoration, the power that belongs to us. The fact that we need not fear the forces of evil if our faith, our trust, and our confidence is in God. He will not fail to bring it to fullness.
We come to the Table of the Lord. It reveals and unveils to us the gift of God, through Christ. He that took our sin upon Himself; how it broke Him; how it took Him to the cross and to shame, to death, to hell. And yet, He overcame. He was not guilty of sin; He was innocent, but yet He gave His life for us.
When we lift the bread, the body of Christ, Jesus, in speaking to His disciples said, “This is My body, broken for you.” In the Eucharist, as we go through the procedure that has been given to us, as the bread is held and is proclaimed to be the body of Christ, it then is said to us, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
It is very possible that there is a dual meaning here. It is not just telling us to celebrate the Eucharist, but it is telling us that because of what Christ has done for us, all that He has empowered us with, we are to finish the ministry of Christ. It would mean that at times, we also have to be broken for the sake of others. It is the setting aside of our pride, our self-centeredness causing others to be more important than ourselves. Taking that away from our own hearts as defence or bitterness saying, “No, I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to see you fail. God has redeemed me. I want to redeem you.”
We cannot redeem the same way Christ did, but we can bring forgiveness. We can bring restoration. Jesus said, “If I forgive you, you shall be responsible to forgive.” I use this as an example, in a home, in a family, that perhaps a young lady becomes impregnated outside of marriage. It brings shame to the family, hurt to the parents, and yet the parents will not, in love, cast her out. They will embrace her with forgiveness and embrace her with love and live through with the event with her to bring it to a victory and a conquering ability rather than destruction.
This is breaking our bread. This is taking the brunt of the shame perhaps, and instead reaching out to lift up and to restore and to give life.
Matthew 18 says, “If your brother sins go to him and help him return to the right path rather than gossiping behind his back about the problem.” Scripture says of the two men in the road to Emmaus where Jesus was ministering to them. He was bringing back to them life. He was bringing back to them hope. He was bringing back to them faith.
When did they understand who He was? It was when He broke the bread. He had taken time and effort, rather than condemning them for losing their faith, to explain all that had happened so that they would not fail. He broke the bread and they recognize who He was. They went back to Jerusalem and joined the apostles. They became a part of the Church.
All these say that God has given to us tremendous power and ability. We are not weak; we are strong. We are strong so that we can lift up others; so that we can be a source of strength, a source of hope, a source of help. Yes, it might cause us something – our own pride.
Whatever it may be, we should be willing to be broken to redeem, to restore, and to bring others to the kingdom of God. Taking time to minister the truth in the office, in school, in the business. Where there is failure, where there is wrong, where there is corruption, we come in not with condemnation, not with judgment, but with compassion, with understanding to minister that they may be set free and that they may have new life.
God empowers us that we may be able to fulfill, to complete the mission that God has given to us. Divine life, the life in the Trinity within us, a gift for the mission entrusted to us. It is a mystery enabling us to continue the ministry of Christ. It is a gift that God empowers the Church to be. We are His representatives upon the earth. We are His witnesses.
May we recognize that He has empowered us. It is not just for us. How selfish we are to think that it is just given to us. 2 Corinthians tells us these gifts are for the benefit of all. Our lives should be to reach out to touch the lives of others and to be a witness to the greatness of God.
This is why we have the Holy Spirit. This is why we have the Trinity – right at the end of Easter. It is not just forgiveness that God has given to us. He has empowered us, now, to take out to others what He had given to help win the world.
Christ says, “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.” He empowers us to be such. May we rise to be that which He has given us the ability to be. May we fulfill our character – who He made us to be. Not following the ways of the world, not thinking only of ourselves, but thinking of what God has given us and wanting others to have the same joy and peace that we have.
Trinity – the fullness of God. He who filleth all in all. Here is the privilege we have. Hard to believe, possibly, but we need to open our hearts and let God reveal Himself, His power and His ability to each of us.
LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION
WITH
CARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND
VENERABLE PRIMATE
OF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
THROUGH
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