BY FR. BRIAN ZUMBRUM, OSFS

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity | June 16, 2019

See today’s readings here. This homily focuses on the second reading. The archive of all of Fr. Brian’s homilies can be found here: Salesian Sermons

This past week, I had the opportunity to return to Camp DeSales in Brooklyn, Michigan for our annual Salesian Leadership Camp.

Now, I believe many of us have these sacred spaces in our life, places where it is just easier to experience God’s presence.

Camp DeSales is one of those places for me.

It is beautiful.

A gorgeous lake that gently embraces a wooded landscape. The only sound, the calls of birds playing in the trees. The only light, cascading stars radiating through the darkness or a spectacular sunset shimmering over the water.

And as I sit in the stillness of the morning, it is not hard to imagine the scene described in our first reading. God dancing upon the earth, delighting in creation.

Long before we humans evolved onto the scene.

I can just imagine the divine spirit basking in the beauty of virgin forests never timbered and majestic mountains unscathed by mines. Of springs flowing with pure water and oceans clear of human debris. Of an array of creatures intimately intertwined in the cycle of life.

But then I get to the last line and I take pause. “And I found delight in the human race”.

God delights in us.

It doesn’t make sense.

This God who brought the heavens and the earth into being.

This God who became flesh and offered his life to save humanity.

This God whose Spirit continues to bring forth life every day.

This God delights in US!

Why?

Why would God choose to delight in us?

Doesn’t God know us?

Doesn’t he know our past. Our histories. Our scandals and sins.

Doesn’t he know that we’re not perfect. That we’re broken, flawed, a mess.

Doesn’t God see what we are capable of?

Doesn’t he see our cruelty and vindictiveness. Our addiction to violence and our lust for power. Our judgmental attitudes and our outright prejudice that we cloak in Christian virtue. Our hatred and fear of the other. Our selfishness and greed.

Doesn’t God observe us at work?

Doesn’t he read the comment boards that we fill with our vitriol. Doesn’t he see the doors that we slam in the face of the other. The wars we wage, the laborers we exploit. Doesn’t he watch as we destroy this planet in our endless cycles of consumption.

How could God possibly delight in us? How could God delight in me?

But that’s just it, my friends.

God does know us.

God knows who we truly are. Beloved children of God. Heirs to the promise. Co-workers in the great process of creation. Gifted. Chosen. Forgiven.

God sees what we are capable of. Kindness and generosity. Our capacity to forgive, to reconcile, to mend and heal. Our ability to dream and build, to create and inspire. Our resilience. Our belief in one another, in ourselves. Our hope in a better tomorrow.

God does observe us at work. Building the kingdom. Befriending the outcast and standing up for the rights of the voiceless. Feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless, welcoming the stranger in our midst. Comforting the sorrowing, embracing the wounded, beginning again when all has been laid to waste. Gently caring for our wounded planet, nursing her back to life.

Today my friends, on Trinity Sunday, we are reminded of the great truth of Christianity. Which is that this God that we worship and believe it, delights in us.

So may we go forth and delight in one another.

In the newborn babe and the homeless veteran sleeping under the bridges of 95

In the newlyweds and the recently divorced

In the young man marching in the PRIDE parade and his parents still struggling with what this all means.

In fathers who raised us, the ones who didn’t or couldn’t and the men who stepped up into that father role

In the Class of 2019 here in our midst and in the young men who sit on our street corners and never walked that stage.

In the working professional, the unemployed laborer and the retired widower.

Delight in one another as I have delighted in you. May God be Praised.