Twenty young lads for First Communion and Confirmation at the Stella Maris Parish after two years of preparation brought joy to the thousands of worshippers at the Holy Family Church over the weekend. The practice is common among Catholics around this time especially after Pentecost when they expect the gifts of the Holy Spirit to spread like bush fire as it happened on the Pentecost Day itself. Jesus had promised to send the Apostles the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit that finally took place on Pentecost Day. These gifts were meant to help the early Christians, which gift has continued since then. Bishop Robert Ellison CSSp administered the Sacrament of Confirmation and gave the young lads their First Holy Communion.
Many Catholics and well wishers were at the Holy Family Catholic Church to witness the ceremony and rejoice later. The children were seen in an exuberance mode, a feeling that gripped the whole Church. The atmosphere was full of over excitement that reflected on the people and children, the centre of the programme. Many people were set to visit homes to further celebrate with joy and eat and drink at ease.
Bishop Ellison CSSp talked on the occasion and reminded the congregation of how the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles. "These gifts are received by these young lads today and they are to behave in line with that. You are therefore asked to join one of the groups of the Church and make it part of you. Be involved in the life of the Church, as you are now soldiers in Christ to live the life He demands of you," Bishop said.
Christians celebrated the Feast of the Trinity or Trinity Sunday. Christians believe that there are three persons in one God. That is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He sent God the Son to come and show us the way and He himself said He is the Way the Truth and the Light and that if anyone believes in Him will have eternal life. He had also sent the Holy Spirit with enormous powers thus those who receive it work wonders in a lot of ways. This was what He promised and it descended on them in the Upper Room, falling on them like tongues of fire. From there they spoke in different languages leaving their admirers wondering. They started their journey from that point and they build the Church on one strong foundation, when Jesus gave the Key to Peter the Rock and said, "You are Peter, the Rock and on this Rock I build my Church." The Church has since received the strength to stand firm.
The mystery of God is beyond human understanding. The more we discover God, the greater becomes the mystery of His presence and love. The considerable knowledge of the Church can never dispel the mystery of ages. Mystery means that we can never say the final word about God; there is always more to discover there is always more to share, there is always more to experience. In that sense the mystery of God invites us never to abandon the endless task of growing to understand the power behind the word we live in. And each year, the Trinity Sunday calls us to reflect on the life of God.
Christians' principal entrance into the mystery of God is the person Jesus. He is the Way the Truth and the Life. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the Word made flesh among us. As Jesus said to the Apostle Philip: "He who has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus is God's adventure among us. To make our journey to God we begin with Him. And the Good News on Trinity Sunday tells us that Jesus has promised to accompany us until the journey to God is completed: "Know that I am with you always, to the end of time."
In the person of Jesus the mystery of God has a face, a voice, a language, a love, a life. Jesus meets His friends and enemies, His enthusiasms and dislike in the pages of the Gospel; we are caught up in His struggle for what is right; we are challenged to keep alive the value He cherished. In the three years of His public ministry the light from light shone among men. In Jesus we are still able to taste and see the goodness of God. God's particulars are revealed in Him. We cannot understand the truth of God unless we are gifted with the power of the Spirit. The Apostles could not recognise the full truth about the Jesus they knew and loved without the gift of the Spirit. To understand the truth of God unless we are gifted with the power of the Spirit. To reach the Father we need to go via the Son. So it is the mystery of the Trinity that is at the heart of the Christian life of faith. That is why we begin and end everything in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Our love for people prompts us to know them better and it helps us to deepen our understanding of them. Journeying through the right road in love and respect assures us of our destination that is the Gospel.
