Devotion
A Community of Love
Frances Taylor
Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity. This is one of the great mysteries of Christianity and one that is a stumbling block to many. How can we even try to understand its meaning? Maybe it's not important to try and understand, but to reflect on its importance in our lives. God is Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a community of love. When I was young, I was taught that the work of the Father was creation, the Son, salvation and the Holy Spirit, sanctification. So, within the Trinity there are distinctions and yet unity. We are called by our baptism to be a community of love. There are distinct roles that each of us plays and yet we are called to be one in love for all. We are one family, all children of the one God, saved by the actions of the Son who became one of us so that we could be "joint heirs with Christ" and filled with the Holy Spirit so that we may go forth and tell others of this great mystery. The early Christians were well known for the love that they showed one another. I wonder what the non-Christian world sees when it looks upon us today. Do they see a community of love or do they see discord and conflict? While it's true that we can't change the past, we can work to change the present. If every Christian family became a witness of God's love, what would happen in our neighborhood, our city, or our world? We have a choice. We can say that one family more or less can't make a difference or we can decide to become an example of the great Community of Love that is the Trinity.
Prayer
O most Holy Trinity, help your people today become a symbol to the world of a community of love. Amen.
Night Prayer
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Inspiration
We despise the thought of a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. The outside is easy to clean; it's the caked-up residue on the inside that's so difficult to remove. Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with dishes that have been wiped clean on the outside while dirty inside. The Pharisees took exceptional care of their outward appearance and neglected their inward spirits. We are guilty of allowing our hearts to be left filthy as well. We look and act as we should while our souls are full of darkness. We must continue to converse with the Holy Spirit daily and trust His guidance to cleanse our sinful nature.
Prayer
Dear God, Please forgive our sinful nature. We yearn for cleansing from within, so we are genuine witnesses to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
