News - Prelature of Ayaviri - May our Families be an Icon of the Trinity

Ayaviri, June 11, 2006 - On the occasion of the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Bishop Kay Schmalhausen, in his homily to the faithful expounded on the fact that "the Church has tended to well prolong the great richness of Easter time which culminated last week with the solemn celebration of Pentecost in two great feasts that accompany us as we return to ordinary time. The first of these is this solemnity of the Holy Trinity. In it God-Love reveals His intimacy, His identity, to us."

Referring to this mystery the Prelate explained that "this is the central mystery - and thus - the first mystery of our faith." "In it God shows Himself to us as one and unique. But at the same time we are told that God is not solitary…In this month of June we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus. That's why in His Son, in Jesus the Lord, God has shown us that He is community, that He is a communion of love between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. We could say that in the heart of the Trinity God is family-like, because He is community, He is the fullness of Love," he added.

Further on, referring to the reality of each person he said: "This reality of loving communion in God speaks to us of our own identity. We carry the image of God engraved in our hearts. He has given us life, we have been created by Him in His image and likeness. This is why the human being is not a solitary being either. Our vocation is love. The human being only realizes himself and is happy in love and communion with God and with those like him. Let us not close our hearts to love, at the cost of dying of coldness. Egoism ends up killing the divine life in us, the fire of God's love which He communicated to us on the day of our baptism."

At the end of his homily Bishop Schmalhausen made reference to the value of the family as an icon of the Trinity. "The mystery of the Trinity tells us that in God there is what we could call a family communion between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The relation between the three divine persons is the model of our families and our families are like an icon of the Holy Trinity…May therefore this climate of love and communion be breathed in our families. Let us learn how to love each other in the hearts of our families - parents to children and children to parents - to share our lives, to place our gifts and talents at the service of others, to treat each other with respect and affection…and may this be expressed outside of our homes in bonds of true solidarity, of mutual help with our friends and neighbours, as well as in the necessary gesture of forgiveness with those whom we feel are or may have at one time been our enemies. Let us know how to forgive generously and also know how to ask for forgiveness."

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration Bishop Kay invited the faithful to participate next Sunday in the solemn celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi.