St Peter's June 6, 2004

Fr Luke Geoghegan

One of my more unlikely friends is Albert. Unlikely because he is a fan of the ‘entertainer’ Max Bygraves. I am not. He was an early and continuing fan of the boxer Henry Cooper. I think its a miracle when boxers survive brain damage. Probably relevant to these differing tastes is that Albert is in his early eighties. During D-Day he piloted a large glider that landed troops behind enemy lines. This week he will remembering close friends lost during the war.

What makes life worth living are the relationships we have. The word relationship is often a euphemism for something physical - I use the word in the wider sense to mean relationships with daughters and sons, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers as well as colleagues in work, the profession and in Albert’s case the regiment.

The foundations of life; enough food, clothing, a house are only that: foundations. They are necessary; but are far from sufficient. That is why that when relationships are threatened or torn apart whether through illness, death or divorce we really suffer.

At the heart of the God who made us are three persons in relationship; an enduring relationship of Father, Son and Spirit. They are intensely in love. And unlike our love which is narcissistic, limited, self interested and blinkered their love continually overflows and drives the engine which is creation and redemption. They want us to share in that love. An example.

All too often we think that the Sonship of Christ and the Fatherhood of God reflects us.

(Freud said this first and perhaps most explicitly. But actually he merely confirmed our prejudices - just as the world revolves around us God’s fathership and Christ’s sonship is made in our image and likeness).

Actually, it’s the other way around....You need to think on that one...that fact that we are sons and daughters of our parents reflects that fact that Christ is the Son of God. And we are created in God’s image not theirs in ours. Christ’s sonship is not a metaphor. (And if you are a feminist there’s lots there for the feminine of the Spirit as we heard in the first reading)

And the fact that we are often failed mothers and fathers and far from perfect sons and daughters does not detract from this.

 So the good things that come out of our relationships; whether through teamwork, or the regiment, or parenting like ....solidarity, persistence, sacrifice, energy, creativity, joy, fun, being together ....reflect in a very faint way the powers that come from the dynamic relationship of the three persons in the one God.     

 And so in a small way I see the Trinity reflected in my friend Albert and want to share a little more in that dynamic of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

LG 5 June, 2004.