The Trinity-A Mystery to Embrace

A Production of the Ultimate Christian Podcast Network.

Thoughts from St. Hildegard

“But the Father is revealed through the Son, the Son through the beginning of created things, and the Holy Spirit through the incarnate Son. How is this? It is the Father who before time engendered the Son; it is the Son through whom all things were created by the Father at the beginning of creation; and it is the Holy Spirit who appeared in the form of a dove at the baptism of the Son of God towards the end of all time.”

A Mystery, but we can still think about it

We look at the Trinity through the lens of our faith. Do we fully understand it? Most likely not, but through the eyes of faith, we can embrace it and grow in our understanding as we grow in our faith.

In John 16: 12-15, we see the line of God the Father to the Son to the Holy Spirit.

Pray the Glory Be this week to ask for the intercession of the Trinity:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

God the Holy Spirit

A Production of the Ultimate Christian Podcast Network.

The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity.  He is made known to us from the beginning of the Old Testament, in Genesis 1:2, “and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters” that wind is the Holy Spirit. Then we see again, in Exodus, God is with the Israelites as they flee from Egypt, “The LORD preceded them, in the daytime by means of a column of cloud to show them the way, and at night by means of a column of fire to give them light. Thus they could travel both day and night. Neither the column of cloud by day nor the column of fire by night ever left its place in front of the people (Ex: 13:21-22). God was with them and he is with us as well.

In the New Testament, we see the action of the Holy Spirit when Mary conceives Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) and again, when Jesus is baptized, the Spirit, in the form of a dove rests above Jesus as he comes up out of the water (Luke 3:22).

The Holy Spirit completes the Father’s plan; he sent Jesus to save us and Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will come and be with us always. The Holy Spirit was poured out onto the apostles at Pentecost and enabled them to go out and preach the Good News. The Spirit guides,  protects and sanctifies (makes holy) the Church.

He calls all people to Christ and completes his saving mission. The Holy Spirit is with us always, drawing us closer to Christ, both consoling and convicting us of our sin. He is the source of our hope.

In Baptism we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord (Is 11:1-2). They are sealed in us at Confirmation. As we live and grow as Christians, we grow in the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (Gal 5: 22-23).

The Holy Spirit as many titles, which give an idea of how he acts in our lives: consoler, creator spirit, giver of life, paraclete, source of goodness, and spirit of truth.

The Holy Spirit is the fullness of love between the Father and the Son, reminding us that something always comes from love.

the not lukewarm challenge

 

This week, pray St. Augustine’s Prayer to the Holy Spirit and see what happens when you invite him into your life.

You can right-click on the image of the prayer to “save image as” and then print it if you’d like.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

 

 

Jesus, the Son of God

A Production of the Ultimate Christian Podcast Network.

Do you ever wonder where we would be without Jesus? I know I would not be a tenth of the person I am today without him and my faith in him So who is Jesus, well, he is the second person of the Trinity, God the Son. He is incarnate, which means he took on human flesh, became a person like us in all things but sin and came to this world to save us.

The incarnation is JJesus, Second person of the Trinityesus taking on our humanity. But the Incarnation also gives us a share in his divinity. Jesus’ birth and death gives us a renewed hope and belief that we too, will one day be in heaven. The Incarnation is a foundational belief.  It is the basis for believing and understanding Jesus’ mission, which is to save us, the purpose of his church and his eventual second coming.

For thousands of years, God called his people to himself, but they often turned away. So, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption” (Gal 4:4-5).

Jesus is our redeemer.  He took on our sins, all the consequences of them and paid our debt to the Father. His Passion and Death, his ultimate sacrifice – saved us from our sins, reconciled us to the Father and opened the gates of heaven

One way in which Jesus was different than us is that He lived a life of total and complete obedience to his Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane when he knew his death was imminent, he prayed for God’s will to be done, not his. His suffering on the cross was real and true and painful. He suffered in his humanity; that suffering was possible because of his divinity.

Jesus rose from the dead and bodily ascended into heaven. He promised his Father would send the Holy Spirit to us to help us, guide us, and empower us. The Spirit forms us in the likeness of Jesus. We live in continual conversion toward God and away from sin.

Jesus reveals the Father to us, for he is visible. His desire is for us to enter into a relationship with him based on our free love for him. Just as God the Father does not force us to love him, neither does Jesus.

Jesus intends for us to become holy and partake of his divine nature. The more we go to Him in prayer and ask for what we need, the more we will receive. We can look at his life as an example, he shows us the way to holiness.

the not lukewarm challenge This our challenge is to pray the Jesus prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

For more information about the Jesus prayer, take a look here. 

 

 

The Origin of All: God the Father

A Production of the Ultimate Christian Podcast Network.

Origin of AllGod the Father is the first person of the Most Holy Trinity. God the Son, Jesus and God the Holy Spirit are the second and third persons of the Trinity. He is the origin of all life. Life begins with the Father. He created us out of and because of love.

God loves us so much that he reveals himself to us in all of creation, in scripture, and of course, in his Son, Jesus. St. Augustine says, “You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” We all long for God and a way to express our love to him for all that he has given us.

God the Father is almighty, all-powerful, all-loving and merciful. He desires us to be in relationship with him. He has given us faith and if we think we are lacking or desire more, we can ask him. God wants our good because we are his adopted sons and daughters. He wants us to participate in his life and will never leave us

However, we have free will. This means that what we return to God, to be authentic, must be freely given. We can choose to turn to him or away from him. Sometimes, we do what we are told out of a sense of obligation or fear, that is not what God wants from us. He wants us to love him as freely as he loves us.

I think of God the Father as my father. He is always ready to listen to me, he is patient, forgiving and present. I picture myself crawling up into his lap, head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

Some scripture verses to ponder:

Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27

Thus says the LORD who made the earth, giving it shape and stability, LORD is his name: Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you great things beyond the reach of your knowledge. Jeremiah 33:2-3

Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.” John 17:25-26

the not lukewarm challenge

 End each day thanking God for all that he has done for you today.