<\/p>\n
It’s all about the name!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, for a moment, consider your own names.\u00a0 How did you get them and what do they mean?\u00a0 First, there is the Family name.\u00a0 The root of some of your names probably refers to an attribute or skill.\u00a0 I have been told that my family name’s roots are in brick laying skills, for example.\u00a0 Others are named after their parents- like for example Erickson- son of Eric.\u00a0 The point is that each person’s name meant something- it was a way to define, to identify, who they were.\u00a0 As we became more numerous- the family name wasn’t enough to identify us.\u00a0 There were a whole lot of Smiths and Whites and Carpenters, for example.\u00a0 And so, we added one or more other names.\u00a0 These were often chosen to honor someone in our families.\u00a0 We say, for example that so and so is named after their Grandfather.\u00a0 Others are named after some hero or popular personality.\u00a0 And so, identity and honor are two main attributes of names.\u00a0 That is basically a trend that God instilled in us- because He wanted us to honor and respect His name and identity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, in the first reading, the Lord comes down out of a cloud and the first thing He does is to proclaim His own name!\u00a0 He simply says- “Lord”, or in Hebrew “Yahweh”, meaning “I am who am”; the self-existent; the Eternal one.\u00a0 And then He repeats that name several times for emphasis.\u00a0 This name was considered so Holy and awesome by the Israelis that they wouldn’t even say it aloud.\u00a0 And so, we have a hint about why God wants us to know Him by name.\u00a0 God the Father wants us to know Him, honor Him, and respect Him and to recognize His identity at all times.\u00a0 In fact, the first several commandments, which were about to be handed down on those stones we heard about, lay it all out for us:\u00a0 I am your God; have no false Gods; and show me respect by not taking my name in vain and by honoring me on the Sabbath.\u00a0<\/p>\n
God the Father is the one who is eternal, who existed before anything else, and who will always exist; and the one who made everything.\u00a0 Indeed, He wants us to know Him for that- who He is and what He has done. \u00a0He wants us to know and accept His name!\u00a0 When you think about how awesome the one and only God is, how can you possibly do otherwise?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now God made everything that is, and it was all made out of Love so He could share it with His creation.\u00a0 Paul reminds us of that in the second reading.\u00a0 There he greets the Corinthians with a fascinating reference to the Trinity when he says:\u00a0 “The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”\u00a0 How many times have we heard that- but do we understand it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We have just heard how God the Father gave emphasis to His name.\u00a0 But in the Gospel, importance of the name of God comes up again.\u00a0 We are told by John that unless we believe in the name of the only Son of God, we cannot be saved.\u00a0 Now lots of people hang up on this statement.\u00a0 Are we to take it literally?\u00a0 First of all, consider what the name “Jesus” means.\u00a0 This is the name the angel Gabriel told Mary that her child should be named.\u00a0 And it means- Jehovah, the Lord, is Salvation.\u00a0 “Christ” means the anointed one, or chosen one.\u00a0 So Jesus Christ is God from whom Salvation comes; and He is the chosen person in Human form to be the Savior.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We know that believing in the Name means a couple of things:\u00a0 It means believing in the identity of the name; and it means respecting the name and giving it honor.\u00a0 \u00a0And so it is essential for everyone to believe that the one true God is the Salvation of the World and to respect Him, as symbolized by respecting His name.\u00a0 Those who do these things believe in His name.\u00a0 Those who believe in His name will be saved.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now we hear that Paul also hopes that the grace of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with us.\u00a0 These are the things that God the Father gave us out of love.\u00a0 The Grace of Jesus Christ is captured by the life of Jesus Christ- the Gospel.\u00a0 We need to live the example of that Gospel to be in that grace.\u00a0 And the Holy Spirit works within us to bring us out of ourselves and to love each other; and share our Christian Joy with others.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It occurs to me that this is what our families are all about.\u00a0 Moms and dads share the Love of God and the Grace of Jesus Christ; and through the Spirit dwelling in them, they pass on the name of God and the message of the Gospel to their Children.\u00a0 The family is the living expression of the Trinity.\u00a0 And so what better way for us to celebrate Father’s Day than to celebrate the Trinity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our fathers play the role of God the Father in our family.\u00a0 They are the initiators of new life; they are responsible for loving their spouse and their family; and they act as role models by showing the grace of Jesus Christ as they interact with their Children and the outside world\u00a0 through the inspiration of the Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And so, my wish to fathers out there today this Father’s day is simply this:\u00a0 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you Dad’s out there today.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trinity Sunday Ex 34: 4b-6, 8-9; 2 Cor 13: 11-13; Jn 3: 16-18 Dc. Larry Brockman It’s all about the name!\u00a0 Now, for a moment, consider your own names.\u00a0 How did you get them and what do they mean?\u00a0 First, there is the Family name.\u00a0 The root of some of your names probably refers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[55,56,54],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}