Well, I didn't plan to have it up on Friday but Happy Lunar New Year các em. :)
I'm not sure if we'll have church on Sunday but if we do, the school will have lucky money to give out if you can come and attend the second mass at 11am. We won't have class on this coming Sunday though so... get yourself a break from thầy Trung. ;)
But, before you go, click on your name below and enter the last 4-digit of your parent's phone number as password to receive your digital... lì xì. :)
So, if I have to say one thing to God right now, I would thank him for the opportunity to know all of you, for he is the only reason that we can be in this class together. A little cheesy there, but who is really this God that we've been trying to find our whole life? First of all, God is a trinity of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Chapter 5 gives us a closer look on the first person of the Trinity who is our Father and/or our Creator. And what does a creator and a father do? He created us and he loves us more than we love ourselves.
From the Bible, Jesus used many parables which may be viewed as fictional (not real) short stories to teach us more about God. These parables are constructed in a way that the characters or images in them mirror characters in real life (for example, the parables of the Sower, the Prodigal Son, or the Good Shepherd). God's plan is to love us and it began with creation or the universe. And though we cannot see the universe's creator, we can all get a clue of his glory and greatness just by looking at its order and beauty.
However, reasoning from qualities in the universe to qualities in its creator can only give us a general idea of God. In other words, reason can't paint a detailed portrait of God. Only Scripture can do that. "If reason enabled me to know everything about God, he would not have to reveal himself" (Dr. Mortimer Adler).
From the Old Testament when people lived close to nature, the Scripture uses many images from nature to speak about God.
God is a mother eagle. She nourishes her young and teaches them how to fly. ~ Deuteronomy 32:11
God is a shepherd. He protects his flock for wild animals, cares for the sick, and goes in search of the stray. ~ Ezekiel 34:16
God is the creator. He "set the earth firmly on its foundations" and decorated it with seas, and mountains. ~ Psalm 104:5-8
Similarly, in the New Testament, Jesus also speaks of God in a variety of images.
God is a loving Father. He knows our needs and takes care of them without our asking. ~ Luke 12:30
God is a forgiving Father. He runs out to meet his repentant son and smothers (covers) him with hugs and kisses. ~ Luke 15:20
God is a mystery of Unity and Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ~ John 14:10, 15:26
As you can see, Scripture gives us many images of God. Three, however, stand out above all the others which are: Creator, Father, and Trinity. Now I've mentioned Creator and Father in the first paragraph because it is easier to understand. Trinity, however, is an unusual concept (or the most incredible image of God) that's quite impossible for our human mind to grasp (not without God's revelation).
So, what is Trinity? It's the mystery of one loving God in whom there are three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Well, that's very helpful thầy Trung. I know right!? Fortunately, there are a few different images which can help us better understand this. For those who play an instrument, Trinity is like a chord (audial image of 3 notes in 1 sound, from St. Ignatius). Or these you might have heard, Trinity is like a visual image of 3 petals in 1 leaf (from St. Patrick), or the functional image of 3 totally different forms of water in which it can be seen as solid, gas or liquid.
Want something more personal and closer? It's the 3 or many more different roles that we're as one person is playing in our life. Take ME as an example, in this class well technically I am and I am not a teacher so you can call me however you like, but in school I am a student, outside I am a friend or a coworker, and at home I am a son, a brother, or an uncle!
To sum up the image of the Trinity, the Father is our Creator, the Son is our Redeemer, and the Spirit is our Sanctifier. ~ Denis Hayes
The question I guess, is where the Trinity or God has been in our life? Well, he's here inside his Church, the Eucharist, and in each and every one of us. God can also be found in the Bible and, he is Jesus himself. And even though that we're told reason or study the universe alone cannot paint us a portrait of God, I still think it's one of the simplest ways a person can use to find God, which is in his creation. It's like when you're in any kind of relationship with someone, the other can feel your presence just by listening to your voice on the phone, reading your email or your texts, or receiving a gift from you, all without you being physically next to them.
"God is always with us; it's just that we're not always with God."
In 1968, 4 days before Christmas, Apollo 8 lifted off with astronauts Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and Jim Lovell aboard. As they rounded the moon on Christmas Eve, they sent greetings to earth, taking turns reading the story of creation from the Bible. The story portrays God creating the universe over a six-clay period, much as an artisan works. The point of this quaint (unusual) imagery is to teach us that creation did not occur by chance or accident. It came into being by the creative act of a loving God. That act or plan was created out of love and that love is from God so 2 things to take away: We exist because of love, and; the purpose of our lives is, to love.
But God's love is infinitely different and greater than human love. Peter van Breeman explains the difference this way:
We are divided in our love. We like a person very much (90%) or in an ordinary way (50%)... God does not measure love. If we think God is a person who can divide love, then we are thinking not of God but ourselves... We have love, but God is love (As Bread That Is Broken).
To put it another way, human love is finite (limited) and it gets divided easily so... to be able to be in that state where we can love anyone at anytime and anywhere (and wholly and heartfully), we have to rely on the infinite or unlimited source of love which is God himself so... next time you "run out" of love on someone or for someone lớp 8, I hope you know where to get your heart "refilled". :)
God's love is often mediated through (brought via) the people in our life. This is especially true in the case of children, whose concept of God is derived (originated) from their parents. John Drescher makes this point in his book If I Were Starting My Family Again. He tells this delightful story:
I remember a little fellow, frightened by lightning and thunder, who called out in the dark, “Daddy, come. I’m scared.” “Son,” the father said, “God loves you, and he’ll take care of you.” “I know God loves me,” the boy replied, “but right now I want somebody who has skin on.”
Like a human parent, God will help us when we ask for help, but often in a way that will make us more mature and more real, not in a way that will diminish us or stop us from growing. For instance, a child may feel pain and cry when s/he falls but her/his parent may choose not to intervene (step in) to let them learn how to stand up on their own. As human, we sometimes get confused by this but it is indeed helping without actual help (much like presence without physically being there).
If you pray and do what you can do, God will hear you and help you do what you can't do alone. ~ St. Augustine
The word for "Father" that Jesus used in his own prayer was Abba (Mark 14:36) and it literally means "Daddy". Early Christians imitated (copied/followed) Jesus and used the word Abba, also, in praying to God (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). This means they addressed the infinite and all-powerful creator of the universe with the tender love and trust of a child, addressing a parent as "Mommy" or "Daddy".
Fun fact: Palestinian children still use the word Abba to address their father.
Even more interesting, Jesus' first and last words in the Scripture both refer to the Father: Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house? Luke 2:49, and before dying on the cross, he prayed, "Father, in your hands I place my spirit" Luke 23:46. Jesus used this image "Father" of God over 170 times!
A quick recap of the whole scripture, the Father (focus of the Old Testament) sent the Son (focus of the New Testament, specifically the Gospel). The Father and the Son then sent the Spirit (focus of the rest of the New Testament books). God as Trinity is the central mystery of our Catholic faith. In the one, true God, there are three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (CCC 266). Had God not revealed this mystery to us in Scripture, we could never have dreamed it (CCC 237).
The best-known reference to the Trinity is found in Matthew's Gospel. There Jesus tells his disciples: "Go, then, to all people everywhere, and make them my disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). The most graphic reference occurs in Luke's Gospel, as we saw at the baptism of Jesus when he (the Son) stands in the water, a dove (the Holy Spirit) hovers over Jesus, and a voice (the Father) says "My Son".
St. Augustine was walking along a beach and meditating on the Trinity. "How can God be three and one at the same time?" he kept saying over and over to himself. Suddenly, his attention was drawn to a little girl carrying a small container of water from the sea to a hole she had dug on the beach. "What are you doing?" he asked her. With childlike simplicity, she replied: I'm emptying the sea into this hole." St. Augustine stopped dead in his tracks and thought: "I am trying to do what that little girl is doing. I'm trying to crowd the infinite God into the finite structure of my mind."
Some people ask, "How can we reconcile the statement 'God is love' 1 John 4:16 with Jesus' statement that God is to be 'feared' Luke 12:5?" Poet Rod McKuen reconciled the paradox (contradiction) of love and fear with this analogy: "I love the sea, but that doesn't make me less afraid of it." In other words, the sea's beauty attracts him; but, at the same time, its awesome power makes him afraid of it.
Thomas Browne observes that fear and being afraid are not always synonymous in the Bible. Fear arises out of an awareness that I am at another's mercy. He ends by saying, "I fear God, but I'm not afraid." In other words, even if I am at God's mercy, I am not afraid, because "God is love."
Prayer is also "listening" to God, not with the ears of our body, but with the "ears of the soul."
We also often hear the expression "give glory to God" in our daily prayers. It means when we use our time, talent, and treasure freely, fully, and joyfully for the greater honor and glory of God; we're giving glory to God, we're also thanking him and making him known to others. This is very important because religious nuts "talk the talk" only, while bearers of spiritual fruit "walk the walk".
Tom Schuman was a successful general counsel for a Fortune 500 company in Chicago. He had a six-figure salary and all the perks that go with such a job. One Sunday morning at Mass his pastor said that unless a volunteer director could be found, they might have to close their homeless shelter. After praying over it, Tom retired from his job and volunteered. He says that in the first year alone, he learned more about life than in all the previous years put together. Before volunteering, he was barely aware of the homeless problem. When he did see a homeless person, he was critical of why someone would choose to live in such a humiliating fashion. Tom soon learned they did not choose to live that way. It's often the result of mental illness or substance abuse, which render them virtually unemployable.
To conclude, let's take a look again on this video to see the great history of our first steps in going to the moon, and also to learn from the humility of the people back then when they first experienced the presence of God and his creation in the universe. And with all the things that we might get to see later on as we journey through our lives, “if God (still) seems far away, guess who moved?" :)