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THE MYSTERY OF THE NATURE OF GOD: THE TRINITY · Padre Alberto (Father Albert)

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  Did you realize listen to this, The universe has around 100 to
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  1000 billion galaxies, 100 to 1000 billion galaxies.
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  Our Galaxy is called the Milky Way, and the Milky Way contains
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  100 to 400 billion stars and planets, including the sun and
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  our own planet, the Earth. And our entire planet seems so
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  big to us. But did you know that the Earth
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  is just a little little little little tiny thing in the middle
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  of that huge, huge thing God has created?
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  Imagine all those galaxies and stars and planets.
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  Wow. You know, our sun that we depend
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  on so much is just one star among hundreds of billions of
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  stars in our Milky Way. Did you know that?
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  The diameter of what we can see, in other words what they call
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  the observable universe, is about 93 billion light years.
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  That's what we can see. And a light year is a unit of
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  length equal to 6 trillion miles.
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  Is that big? The number and size of galaxies
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  in the universe just remain mind baffling.
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  In spite of all that we know, all the latest discoveries, all
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  the latest technology, all the studies, we have been able to
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  send astronomers only to our L Earth's single moon.
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  So it's no wonder when we think about this amazing, amazing
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  mystery of Godfather, Son, and Holy Spirit, it's amazing how we
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  can even begin to grasp God. Because God is bigger than all
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  of that I just mentioned. God made all of it.
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  God is eternal, no limits. So when you think about this
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  amazing, amazing, amazing world that God created the scene and
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  the unseen, imagine trying to figure out the mystery of God
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  and Jesus says in the beginning of the gospel today, Renee, let
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  me your bulletin because I want to use the exact language.
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  So listen to what Jesus says in today's gospel.
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  I have many things to tell you all, but you cannot bear them.
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  Now I have something to say to you, Lord Jesus.
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  We still can't bear them. We still don't get it right.
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  Here we are 2025. But the great thing about God is
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  that in the greatness of the mystery, in the greatness of the
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  Trinity, it can be so simple too.
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  God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a perfect union of
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  persons. And the bumper sticker says it.
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  God is love. So that huge mystery of God,
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  that huge magnificent mystery of the Trinity can be summarized
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  just by saying God is love. And if we get that, we get the
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  mystery of God. And that is why, my friends,
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  faith cannot be reduced to a list of doctrines, things that
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  you learn and memorize, and Bible verses that you memorize.
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  I mean, that's all great. If you do great.
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  But I just want you to know, let's not limit God because God
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  is limitless. Anytime we try to kind of read
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  the mind of God and have it all figured out or think that we
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  know the right way to understand Scripture and only we know only
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  our way is the right way, immediately something inside
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  tells me God's bigger than that. And so today we have to really
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  think about why the church invites us every time this year
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  to contemplate this Trinity Sunday and to think about what
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  it means when we are trying to figure out the nature of God and
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  how that impacts the way we live our lives as Christian people in
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  the world. It's interesting that today we
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  celebrate Father's Day and we call Godfather Jesus called
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  Godfather. I love it.
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  How all you know, modern liberal theologians and progressive
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  people have tried to change the name of Father to 10,000 things
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  that sound tacky. Once I went to church and
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  someone said God our parents. I'm like, no, doesn't sound
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  right. I'm very happy with God the
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  Father. I can deal with that just
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  because that's what Jesus called him.
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  It's limited, by the way, because God is father and
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  mother. God can be a lot of things.
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  God is bigger than all that, but it was Jesus way of referring to
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  himself. He said ABBA, a word that can be
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  best translated into Daddy ABBA. And today we celebrate Father's
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  Day and think about it. The Father, creator of all, the
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  Son, the Redeemer of the world, the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier,
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  the one who came to comfort us. We are baptized.
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  All of us are baptized in the name of the Father and of the
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  Son and of the Holy Spirit. Guess what?
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  This old guy. Today is my 56th anniversary of
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  my baptism. Today, June the 15th, 1969.
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  It's a long time ago, Renee. That's right, I was baptized on
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  this day and we were all baptized in the name of the
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  Trinitarian God. And the only valid Sacramento
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  baptism in God's church, it's when it's done with water and in
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  the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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  That's what the church received. That's what the church has
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  passed on, and that's what we continue to do.
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  Father Bob last evening had four baptisms here in our 6:00 PM
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  service. 4 In our church, we always have baptisms.
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  We're one of those churches. We have a lot more baptisms than
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  we have for you. I love that.
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  But remember this when you begin to try to figure out the mind of
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  God. Just remember how tiny we are
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  and everything we say about God is very limited human language.
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  God has revealed the essence of God in scripture.
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  The church has affirmed it through the creeds.
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  And so we use lofty words to describe the mystery of God.
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  But ultimately, we do best when we realize God is love, and that
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  when we live in God's love, we're beginning to get God
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  figured out. In the name of the Father, and
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  of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.