As Catholics, every time that we pray, we begin by invoking the names of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, whose feast we celebrate this Sunday. This custom can be so habitual that at times we may do it without realizing how profound the words are that we are saying. Each time we name the three person of the Holy Trinity, we are articulating a great mystery about God and his proximity to us that has been revealed to us by God Himself. The only way that we know about the Trinity and the names of the persons contained within God is because Jesus Himself has told us about Them. As the Son of God sent from the Father, Jesus has told us to call God “our Father” and has repeatedly spoken to us about the Father. During His life Jesus promised His disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit after He had returned to the Father. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church by Jesus and His Father in Heaven. That the three cannot be separated is witnessed to in the passage from the end of the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 28), as Jesus commissions His disciples to baptize all people “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Everything that we know about God as the Trinity has been revealed to us by the Trinity Himself. We can learn so much about God’s love for us in reflecting upon this great mystery of our faith. Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, I was reading the Toronto Star and came across a headline which read: “Compassion drives judge to join army veteran in jail cell.” Now since it is not very often that we can find a good news story in the newspapers, this story grabbed my attention. The article was about a former special service soldier who had fought four tours of duty in the Green Barets of the United States Army in Afghanistan. While away fighting, he had escaped death three times. The name of the retired soldier was Sergeant Joseph Serna. His bravery and efforts while he was away fighting had won him three purple heart medals— a medal given to those who are injured while fighting bravely. Unfortunately, since the time that Sergeant Serna had returned from battle, his efforts to return to civilian life had been very difficult. He had struggled with post-traumatic stress and drug and alcohol addiction. He was left with a great deal of fear after all of the very stressful experiences that he had while away at war. As a result of his many run-ins with the law, a judge had been assigned to Sergeant Serna’s case and he had the responsibility of reporting into this judge about his progress. The name of the judge in the story was Judge Lou Olivera. The story reported how recently, when Sergeant Serna had to admit that he had failed to remain sober and had retuned to using alcohol, against his probation order, it was necessary for Judge Olivera to sentence Sergeant Serna to one night in jail. However, what makes the story amazing, is that Judge Olivera knew that because of all his past traumatic experiences, Sergeant Serna would be afraid to spend the night alone in jail. In order that he might have the courage to face the situation, Judge Olivera drove Sergeant Serna from the courthouse  in his own car to the jail and then spent the entire evening in the jail cell with him. Judge Olivera stayed with Sergeant Serna the whole evening, spoke with him about how he might handle his problems and gave him reason to hope that he could return to take his proper place in society, despite all of his difficulties and problems. By staying the evening with him, Judge Olivera showed this broken soldier that he believed in him, that he had dignity and that he was worth saving. Continue reading →