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Bishop's Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

June 4, 2023

[Holy Cross Church, Kalaheo (Confirmation & First Holy Communion); Immaculate Conception Church, Lihue (Confirmation & First Holy Communion); St. Catherine Church, Kapaa (Confirmation & First Holy Communion)]

There are billions of stars and galaxies in the universe, and they move in incredible harmony.  There are millions of species on the face of the earth, a mind-boggling diversity of creatures.  Every body is composed of billions of cells, and each works together in amazing harmony to contribute to the welfare of the organism they compose.  The God who designed and made all these wonders and who sustains them in such elegant order knows you by your first name, and loves you very much -- so much that we call him our Father.

For us that might have been sufficient, but not for God.  He loved the world so much that he sent his only Son to save us from our sins.  This beloved Son taught us the way to live life fully, he stood up for the truth, he healed our sins and woundedness, and he freed us from our greatest enemy, death, by his own death and resurrection.  That might have been sufficient for us, but not for God.  Jesus promised to be with us always, and he fulfills that promise as we listen to his voice in the Scriptures that are proclaimed, and as he nourishes us with his own Body and Blood.  Such love is an awesome thing, but for God even that was still not enough.

He loved the world so much that he sent the Holy Spirit to transform our lives, so that we could know and feel his love, and be on fire with his love.  With that love the Holy Spirit enables us to go out with the power of God to change the world and to share with it the amazing love of God.  When we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the God who is love takes each one of us, with our own gifts and talents, so that through us, he can be present in the world and change it into a place that is full of healing, mercy, and love.

What a great blessing it is to celebrate this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on the day you are going to receive the incredible gifts of God’s love in these sacraments.  At the beginning of Mass, when we were sprinkled with water, we recalled the day on which we were soaked in the very name of God when we were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  In a few moments, you will receive the sacrament of Confirmation, in which the Holy Spirit marks you, seals you, brands you, if you will, as his very own, so that his holy anointing can ooze down into your very souls to make your instruments of God’s love.  He will empower you to do amazing things, not by your own abilities, but by God’s power working in you.

Then that same Holy Spirit will work a miracle right before our eyes.  As we praise the Father in thanksgiving for all he has done, we call down the Holy Spirit upon simple bread and wine to transform them into the Body and Blood of Christ himself.  The same Jesus who walked the earth 2000 years ago will be physically present to us on that altar in a few moments, and it is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes of faith to see this reality.  But for God, that is not enough.  Jesus does not want to simply stay on the altar, but he wants to enter us, allowing us to take him into our bodies and souls in the most intimate and holy Communion.  This God who is so wonderful wants to live and work in you!  And just as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, God makes us, who are so many and so diverse, one body, one spirit in Christ, so that the work of Jesus will no longer be something that only happened in the past, but something that happens today through all of us.

How easy it is for us to see the wonders of the universe or the beauty of our own bodies and to not realize these are tokens of God’s great love for us.  How easy it is to come to Mass Sunday after Sunday and miss the incredible miracle that Jesus himself wants to live in us.  How easy it is to not realize the power God gives us to transform the world through the Holy Spirit.

We pray that you who are receiving these special sacraments today may never forget that God’s love is so profound that it is one love, one being in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We pray that we may all grow in such incredible love every day of our lives.