Trinity Sunday 2004. June 7, 2004. 7:30, 11:30, 6PM. Proverbs 8:22-31, Romans 5: 1-5. John 16: 12-15.
A young man was coming home from active duty in the Middle East. He was one of the lucky ones. He was coming home. When he arrived in Europe on the first leg of his return trip he called home to tell his parents that he would soon join them. His parents had not heard from him for a long time, so they were very happy to hear his voice on the phone. He said, “Mom and Dad, I am coming home, but I have a very special favor to ask of you. I have a friend whom I would like to bring home with me.” His mother and father said, “That would be great son, we would love to meet him.” The young soldier continued, “There is something that you should know. My friend was pretty badly hurt in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has no where else to go so I would like to bring him home with me.” The young man’s dad said, “I am sorry to hear that son, maybe we can find him somewhere to live.” The young soldier said, “No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.” His mother said, “Son, you do not know what you are asking. Someone with such a severe handicap would be a terrible burden to our family, and we can’t let something like that interfere with our lives. We think that you should just come home and forget about his guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own”. At this point the young soldier hung up the phone and his parents heard nothing more.
A few days later the parents received a call from the military police. There son had fallen from a military building. They believed that he had taken his own life. The grief stricken parents flew to the city where their son’s body was being kept at the morgue. When they went to identify him they noticed, to their horror, that their son had only one arm and one leg. Their lack of love and generosity for a person that they thought was someone else’s child had led to the despair and the death of their own son.
God is love. God’s love gave birth to the entire universe. God loves every human being equally and completely. The Trinity is the great furnace of love that brought us all to birth. The grace that we share is the divine life and love of the God who is Three in One. To live in God’s grace means that we live out the love that God has for the whole world. The world wide Catholic Church is an image of the Trinity. The Church we call our home is a divine community of love that embraces every human being with the love of God, believer and unbeliever, saint and sinner; all are loved by God and all are to be loved by us who live in God’s grace and God’s love
Care for the well being of our human brothers and sisters, whether near or far away, is one of the prominent aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ and one of the key ingredients of the official social teaching of the Catholic Church. When we care for the common good we build a world where we can all live in justice and peace. When we think only of our own well-being we may well end up doing harm to those we love most, as the parents of the disabled soldier found out. The person in need may one day be our own.
A few weeks ago the Edina community had a meeting on affordable housing. About 150 people came from many parts of our community. At first glance you may think that a meeting of this kind is about politics. My sense is that it is about loving our neighbor and helping our neighbor find a place to live. Your first thought may be that affordable housing is about poor people, welfare people, and even irresponsible people. That is not what I heard at the meeting.
I heard the superintendent of the Edina public schools say that most teachers can not afford to live in the Edina community, and that this situation is not good for the relationship between our teachers and the students and families they teach.
I heard the Edina city manager say that most Edina City employees, among them those who work for the police and fire departments, can not afford to live in Edina, and that this situation is not good for the relationship of these public servants to our community.
I have heard others say that when their college educated sons and daughter come home and wish to live close to their parents, but not with them, they can not find a place to live in this community.
I have heard others say that when their aged parents want to live close to them, but not with them, they can not afford to live in our community.
Of course, then there are the poor. But we don’t have to think of the poor first of all when we look at affordable housing. If we thoughtfully care for our own we will be caring for many of the poor as well.
I would like to suggest that the stance we take on issues may end up backfiring and hurting those we love most. The city leadership in Edina has been very open to helping us express our love for our neighbor by active concern about housing. Is the issue of housing a human issue and a moral issue that we should be involved in as people of faith? Perhaps some of the material available in the commons after Mass will help us think about this community issue.
The grace of the Trinity is as practical and life giving as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Divine grace calls us to prayer and to action. For the wisdom to do what has to be done to make the love of God a deeper reality in our community we give God thanks and praise.