EX 34:4B-6, 8-9; DN 3:52-56; 2 COR 13:11-13; JN 3:16-18
St. John Paul II described the Holy Trinity as a “Divine Family,” a community of Persons Who give themselves completely to each other and Who wishes to share Itself, Its life, with us. These concepts are at the very heart of the stewardship way of life. As stewards, we too are called to share ourselves and our lives with others. As a stewardship parish, we are called to invite others into our community through the gift of hospitality.
These characteristics of our Triune God — offering Himself to us through intimacy with Him in His Divine life — are made manifest from the earliest passages of Scripture as we see in today's first reading, from the Book of Exodus. Earlier in Exodus, God had already developed a close relationship with Moses. Today we read that “Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with Moses there and proclaimed his name, ‘Lord.’” He even goes on to describe Himself as “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” The God of the universe “comes down” to His people, He tells them His name and He tells them some (wonderful) things about Himself. The Father wants to be known and to give Himself to His people!
Our second reading, from 2 Corinthians, carries this theme even further, as St. Paul prays that, “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” will be with all of us. In other words, we are invited into an ever-deepening intimacy with this Divine Family, this community of Persons. We are reminded that this Triune God already dwells within us through our Baptism. This divine intimacy we are offered should motivate us to do as St. Paul instructs at the beginning of this passage, to “mend [our] ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace.”
Finally, our Gospel passage from John reminds us that the stewardship way of life is nothing more and nothing less than the imitation of our Most Holy Trinity. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes might not perish but might have eternal life.” He gave Himself, in the Person of His Son, for love of us. We must love this God back now by giving ourselves, our lives, to Him.
Amazingly, the more we give of ourselves to God in love, the more we will find the “grace of the Lord, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit within us.” The God of the universe — this mysterious, Triune God — invites us to an ever-deepening intimacy with Him when we make our lives a loving gift to Him and to others through the stewardship way of life.
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