Dear Friends,
Welcome back to Ordinary Time! While our liturgical environment and vestments reveal the beauty of spring green, the church celebrates several “theme” Sundays such as we find in today’s Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
Who can fathom the profound mystery of the Holy Trinity? In Catholic grade school I remember our teachers using images such as a shamrock or a triangle. There is a legend about St. Augustine, doctor of the Church, who was trying to understand this most basic tenet of our faith. He was walking along the beach and saw a boy in front of him who had dug a hole in the sand and was going out to the sea again and again and bringing some water to pour into the hole. St. Augustine asked him, “What are you doing?” “I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.” “That is impossible, the whole ocean will not fit in the hole you have made,” said St. Augustine. The boy replied, “And you cannot fit the Trinity in your tiny little brain.” The story concludes by saying that the boy vanished because St. Augustine had been talking to an angel.
The Holy Trinity is a relationship of give-and-take. The Father sends His Son Jesus to invite us into an intimate union with Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because our God is a Trinity of persons yet one God, we are called into communion with Him and with each other. The eternal life that we have just celebrated this past Easter season is our gift and responsibility as we go forth as missionary disciples. We are sent to invite seekers to become disciples.
This weekend we celebrate many rites of passage, including the sacrament of Holy Matrimony and graduations. On Saturday May 21st, Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki ordained three young men to the priesthood: Fr. Patrick Behling, Fr. Andrew Linn and Fr. Michael Wolfe from the Community of St. Paul. Please pray that God will shower his blessings in abundance on the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
We congratulate Fr. Tim Kitzke on his anniversary of ordination on May 20th and Fr. Mike Hammer on his ordination anniversary on May 25th. Next Monday May 30th I will celebrate my 40th anniversary of ordination. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.
In grateful thanksgiving,
Fr. Mike Michalski
