Feast of the Holy Trinity June 7, 2020 Dear Friends in Christ: During the last week I have completed the next step in building our new parish of Saint André Bessette, the formation of the Parish Leadership Team. The team is as follows, including myself: Deacon Dan Bowden Phil Francis Shannon McDonald Elaine Morrow The guidelines for this team are attached. I want to thank the Transition Team members for their generous service in helping to bring our new parish to this point on its journey of faith. As I mentioned in previous notes, we are working on three main projects: updating the parish website, broadcasting a Lord’s Day mass; and telephone connection with senior and vulnerable parishioners. Progress has been made on all three items. We have engaged Simon Doucet to update and maintain the website and he has made the first updates to our new parish website. We now have links to my weekly (COVID19) email and to the streamed mass. I invite you to keep checking the website as we continue to make the needed changes for our new parish. Last week we recorded and later broadcast the Sunday mass from Saint Rose of Lima Day Chapel. This was our first effort to provide an online mass and there were over 550 views. We have learned from this experience and will make improvements as we continue forward. We are looking for people to serve as musicians and readers at the weekly mass. If you are able to help with music please contact Elaine Morrow at elmorrow@shaw.ca. If you would like to be on the readers list, contact Claire Guyette at stbernardsenfield@gmail.com. To find the broadcast mass look on Facebook for St. André Bessette Parish or to our parish website strosefallriver.com and click on the live mass link/box. The mass may be watched anytime after 10:00 am Sunday morning. The telephoning of senior and shut-in parishioners has been taking place informally we are trying to organize the process. We have been compiling a list of names of people to be called. If you would like to receive a call or know someone you think should receive a call please contact either our Enfield or Fall River parish office and leave the necessary contact information. Financial news: Across the Archdiocese collections were down 55% in April. With the Wage Subsidy from the Government that number moves to 40%. Use of regular systems of donating, such as the Pre-Authorized Debit/Remittance, are highly encouraged. Class Action Lawsuit: As was mentioned some time ago, a civil lawsuit is being launched against the Archdiocese of Halifax, the Diocese of Yarmouth and the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth. By June 12 our website will contain the information we are required by law to publish as a result of this legal action. Let us pray that those who have been abused may find healing and peace through this process. Following my note you will find my homily from the online mass for the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Let us pray for one another, care for one another as best we can in these circumstances and keep well. Yours in Christ, Fr. Michael J. P. Walsh, Pastor ​ Homily - Trinity Sunday June 7, 2020 There are many events occurring in our world that disturb us. We can think of the COVID pandemic that is now all over the world. Closer to home we remember the recent mass shootings. We can think of the unrest in United States due to centuries of racism. We could think of the many painful events near and far in the world. Now try to imagine the opposite to all of that. Try to imagine the biggest amount of love that you can. Try to imagine the most beautiful relationship that you can. That love and beautiful relationship exists and is a reality. It is the love and relationship among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It’s often joked that Trinity Sunday is “the preacher’s nightmare.” In some churches it is a time when the pastor turns to the deacon or assistant priest and says: “Your turn to preach.” But while the Trinity can be viewed as an inaccessible Christian doctrine, perhaps even head over heart, it is also the most ordinary and obvious. Think about it. Every Catholic invokes the Trinity whenever they cross themselves in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. At baptism we were sealed by the Trinity, brought within its life, and sent out on mission. As the baptized, each of us is called to reflect that love and relationship in the world. Since our baptism we share in the love and relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in a very special way. We were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We were adopted by God as his beloved sons and daughters on the day we were baptized. So we are caught up in the love among the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Since our baptism we have a new family. Since baptism we have a new Father, our Father in heaven. We each have a new brother since baptism, Jesus is a brother to each of us. Since baptism we have the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen us. One of my favourite saints is St Patrick, the missionary patron saint of Ireland. One story about him goes that one day his friends asked Patrick to explain the mystery of the Trinity. He looked at the ground and saw shamrocks growing amongst the grass at his feet. He picked one up and showed it to his friends, saying “Look at this beautiful little shamrock. Do you think it has one leaf or three?" Patrick's friends couldn't answer--the shamrock looked like one leaf but it clearly had three parts. Patrick reassured them, "The mystery of this shamrock is like the mystery of the Trinity; there are three parts but they are all part of one." Christians around the world continue to puzzle about the mystery of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - one God in Three Divine Persons.” God has a most wonderful plan for each of us, that we reflect the love within the Trinity to the world, that we be the image of God in the world. To draw us into that beautiful relationship of love in the Trinity the Father gave his Son Jesus for us. As we heard in our Gospel, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son...” In our first reading God described himself as “a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness.” God does not want anyone of us to be lost. God created us to have life and have it to the full. That is why in the Gospel today Jesus says he was sent, “so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost.” As we reflect today on the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, I would like you to think of God’s plan for you. You were created in the image of God and since baptism you share in the love and life at the heart of the Trinity. How blessed we are! On television and the internet we often see the place of honour given to the royal family in Britain. Yet their dignity as royals is nothing compared to the dignity of each of us called to share in the life and love of the Trinity. When we reflect on the fact that we so often forget who we really are in the eyes of God perhaps we should be ashamed of ourselves. It really is a scandal that we forget and do not acknowledge often enough who each of us really is. I wonder if part of the difficulty we have with understanding the Trinity lies not in understanding how One God is three Persons, but rather because we have difficulty truly believing that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love each of us as we are at every moment of our lives. When I experience myself as completely unlovable, God loves me. Do we, in the depths of our hearts, know ourselves to be loved this way? Do we see ourselves as worthy of love but others as unworthy of it? Do we see others as God sees them, as beloved sons and daughters? Do personal characteristics such as race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, residency, marital status or citizenship impede us from knowing this truth of God’s love for all. This list is from the Equality section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.) Knowing the truth of who we are in God’s sight does not diminish the reality of sin in the world, rather it affirms the reality of God’s everlasting love. So many need to know themselves and others as the beloved of God. So much that has happened in the world recently tells us that this Good News needs to be experienced in the lives of so so many. Our dignity as sons and daughters of God is far more than a royal title. We have been claimed by God. We belong to Him and He belongs to us. Today we are reminded both of who God is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one eternal love, and who we are, God’s beloved and chosen children. May we always experience one another and our God in these ways. May we learn to live with each other recognizing each person as God’s beloved. I want to conclude with a prayer to the Holy Trinity: ​ Prayer to the Holy Trinity Glory be to the Father, Who by His almighty power and love created me, making me in the image and likeness of God. Glory be to the Son, Who by His Precious Blood delivered me from hell, and opened for me the gates of heaven. Glory be to the Holy Spirit, Who has sanctified me in the Sacrament of Baptism, and continues to sanctify me by the graces I receive daily from His bounty. Glory be to the Three adorable Persons of the Holy Trinity, now and forever. Amen.