2u.ie – making your day extra special
Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. What is the Holy Trinity? It is the Christian way of saying that God is experienced in three ways but still one God. It is not three separate Gods as that would be most confusing. It is celebrating three unique ways people can experience the one Divine presence.
But you would have to say it all sounds abstract, mathematical and doesn’t really connect with people’s lives. Even theologians and saints have called it all a mystery. But in simpler language the Trinity is an honest attempt to describe an experience of God. God reaches out to us in many different ways.
God connects with us in our own story and often through the love and kindness of others. God connects with us through the support of a community, the compassion of caring teams, the smile of a loved one, the hug of a friend, the beauty of nature or even a simple text from someone asking ‘How are you?’ All of these and so much more are signs of God’s presence with us. God isn’t just confined to churches or cathedrals. God’s presence is simply everywhere.
I came across a beautiful Holy Trinity prayer: Like a rock, God is our foundation. Like the horizon, God is beyond us. Like water in a jug, God is within us and in the pouring out of us. Like a pebble in the sea, we are in God. May God hold each of us in love today. Amen
Today the relics of our newest Saint, Carlo Acutis will be in St Peter and Paul’s Church all day Sunday from 7am and back in the North Cathedral on tomorrow Monday from 9am with a closing Mass of thanksgiving at 5pm. Anyone is welcome to drop in for a quiet prayer or moment of reflection. It is all part of the build-up to the 100th anniversary of the Cork City Eucharistic procession which takes place on Sunday June 7th at 3pm
: “The shaded path often becomes the most restful journey.”
: God of gentle places, let my soul rest awhile in the shade. AmenSpiritual Thought For The Week
Last weekend we celebrated Pentecost Sunday. It is a beautiful feast day celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives and world. The Spirit of God has always been present, even before Pentecost Sunday came to be. It was present in creation, in wisdom, in love, in courage, in compassion and in lots of other beautiful ways for many thousands of years. Many of the scripture stories are simply stories about the Spirit of God working quietly in people’s lives.
Most importantly this week we celebrate the Spirit of God present in the here and now. We celebrate the Holy Spirit working in our lives and also guiding us through sometimes difficult and challenging times.
But for the early followers of Jesus, Pentecost was a whole new beginning. They were gripped with fear and locked away but they were given courage to start again. They were scattered and isolated but they became a community. They found renewed hope and energy to work together and they let God’s spirit guide them in new beginnings.
In our Celtic tradition, the Holy Spirit is not represented as a peaceful dove but as a wild goose. The wild goose reveals the Holy Spirit as passionate, protective, full of courage and determination. What a beautiful collection of different images to describe the Holy Spirit. If you were to narrow it all down, it means that the Holy Spirit works in many different ways through each of us. It also means that the Holy Spirit is especially with us in the very ordinary moments of our everyday lives.
As we celebrate Pentecost, we pray for an outpouring of God’s energy and God’s spirit into our lives. We pray for courage, hope, resilience, light, determination, protection, healing, peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and so much more.
The Thought For The Week is updated each Monday
