Sharing His Life

Trinity Sunday. Most Rev Malcolm McMahon places the Church’s need for priests into the context of the life of the Triune God.

The political campaigns for the General Election have reminded us how hard it is to get across any sort of message. Whether it is good news or something disagreeable makes little difference to the impact it has on the general public. Even the happiest or the most shocking of events remain in our memories for a very short time. When we are involved personally, however, events can change us. Such happenings are not like the television news that appears on a screen but often we are changed by the course of events in our lives. That is the way it is with the Christian message, the Good News. It is news that involves every one of us in a personal way.

The mystery of the Holy Trinity that we celebrate today is not only a great feast of the Christian year but one of the most exciting as well. It is great because it glorifies God in his three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is exciting for us, God’s people, because the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity reveals to us the extent of God’s involvement with his creation. What we learn is that God wishes to share his life with us and has sent his Son, God’s love made visible for us, so that we may have access to the Father. But God did not leave us entirely to our own devices; Jesus as a special gift to the church has given that Spirit that has inhabited the world since it first moved over the waters at creation. It is that same Spirit that lives in each of us who have accepted that gift at Baptism and Confirmation. It is that same Spirit that prays in us through the Son to the Father.

So, when we glorify God in the Blessed Trinity we are thanking him for drawing us into his life. Our God enfolds us in his love and draws us into eternal relationship with him. This feast of the Blessed Trinity is not, therefore, simply about God and his internal life. If it were it would probably make little difference to us. When we celebrate three Persons in one God we are rejoicing in the fact that God freely chose to reach down to his creatures to redeem us, to show his love for us and to offer us eternal life.

Just think for a moment what a different place the world would be if all people were able to accept the Good News contained in the teaching of Jesus. Even allowing for the fact that our redemption has yet to reach fulfilment we would be well on the way to overcoming the divisions that cause each of us so much pain and despair.

Every one of us is called by God to share in his life, the life of the Blessed Trinity. We are also called to share this with others who do not know God. Some are called to a particular way of life such as marriage or religious life. Others are called to a particular work that witnesses to the love of Jesus in the world. Teachers, doctors, artists, businessmen, and factory workers, for example, who make Christ alive in their own lives, carry the brunt of bringing the Good News to the world.

One special calling is that of the priest. The function of the priest in offering the Sacrifice of the Mass, reconciling those who have drifted away from God, and preaching the Good news is indispensable for our church. Whatever direction ministry takes in the church, we will always need priests.

Altogether, there are fourteen men from my diocese preparing for priesthood. Three of them are being ordained priests this summer, and in September a further three are entering seminaries. There is no doubt that we are very blessed by our Lord to have so many men offering themselves for service as priests.

So my appeal is to any single men who may read this. Consider whether you are being called to serve God as a priest. And to everyone I ask, please pray all priests every day that they will serve God faithfully in drawing God’s people more closely into the life of the Trinity.