Homily for the week of June 7, 2009

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, 2009

Deuteronomy 4:32-40

Ps 33: 4-9

Romans 8:14-17

Mt 28:16-20

''Do I believe in God?'' Without a thought most of us will say ''Yes!'' Most Americans believe that angels and demons are active in the world, and nearly 80 percent think miracles occur, according to a poll released this week that takes an in-depth look at Americans' religious beliefs. The study detailed Americans' deep and broad religiosity, finding that 92 percent believe in God or a universal spirit -- including one in five of those who call themselves atheists. The test laid before us on this feast of the Blessed Trinity is to move past stating ''I believe'' and toward examining whether our thoughts, lifestyle and particular behaviors reveal this belief. In pondering my behaviors, might they reveal that I really do not believe?

Bishop Richard Higgins, who is the Bishop for all those men and women in the military recently had confirmation of young boys and girls at Fort Campbell, Ky., the home of the 101st Airborne. He quizzed those about to be confirmed about their cell phone usage. When he asked how many minutes they spoke on their phones, most just said, ''a lot.'' But a young girl responded that she talked on the phone over 5,000 minutes a month! This is about three-and-one-half days per month spent on a phone!

''Whom do we talk to the most on our cell phones?'' the bishop asked. ''Our friends''' the students responded. ''And why do we talk to our friends?'' he asked. ''To get to know them better,'' or ''to find out what they are doing,'' or ''to tell them about the stuff in our own lives'' were among the answers.

' 'And is Jesus a friend?'' Bishop Higgins asked. ''Yes!'' they replied. ''And how much time do you spend talking to Jesus?'' he asked. There were a lot of blank looks. The point was made. We work very hard to get to know our friends and harder to keep our friends. Very few people spend 5,000 minutes a month in prayer trying to get to know God, but this amount of time is given to our friends.

God is a mystery. Unlike a murderer in a mystery novel who does not want to be found, God wants to be discovered. Throughout the Scriptures He has revealed himself to us. This has not stopped. Everyday God reveals himself to us.

Our task is to open our eyes and discover God present in our lives. We must read the Scriptures, we can study our religion, but truly discovering God comes down to one thing: prayer. In the same way we discover who our friends are by spending time with them and watching their actions, we can discover who God is.

Two questions in our lives we must continually answer. They cannot be avoided. We cannot function well without dealing with them. One question is this: Who am I? It is in answering this question that I have a sense of what I believe to be right and wrong, what I will do and will not do. It is this question that helps us determine if integrity is important or not, if reputation is important or not. It is this question that helps us attain some sense of happiness. If I know who I am and am comfortable with my answer, I am more at peace.

Many people know the answer to their own question, but they work very hard to hide the answer from the rest of us. Any one of us can put up fronts, exaggerate our experiences or even outright lie about ourselves to control what others think of us. This behavior reveals those who do not like the answer to their question, ''Who am I?''

Most of my understanding of who I am is going to come from my relationships. I am a child of someone, I might be a spouse, I might be the parent of someone, I am employed by someone, I hang out with this group and not that group and so on. It is in my relationships and interactions that I come to my answer.

This reality leads to the second question every one of us must eventually answer, ''Who is God?'' If my answer to my question ''Who am I?'' is determined through my relationships, then my relationship with God is going to be very, very important to my understanding of myself.

In October last year an 18 year old kid went into St. Mary's Church in Potsdam in the afternoon. He had just had a fight with his stepfather and felted stressed. He said he wanted to go into the church to talk out loud to God to try to deal with some of the things he was dealing with. He said he found some matches and lighted the candles on the altar and throw the lighted match on the rug. The rug caught on fire. He tried to stomp it out, but couldn't so he ran out of the church and told no one. The fire did extensive damage to the church.

This young man wanted to find God to help him resolve the problems in his life. He was desparate for God. He went to the right place. Lighting candles can sometimes help.

Like this young man a lot of us try to find God when things don't go well. At times God may seem close and familiar to you. But at other times he may seem very far away and strange. Fortunately, a lot of people get back to church as a place to find or talk to God. Of course, some people never get past the question, ''Is there a god?'' This too is important, because many of us have multiple gods. Moses led a people who believed in the existence of many gods. Moses' task was to bring them to a belief that they were committed to the one God, and no other god was to rank before ''our God.'' Moses' task is our challenge. What are my gods? The God I worship on Sunday, or the god I worship on pay-day? The God who calls me to serve, or the god that makes me want to be served? Wherever you may be looking for God, try to remember the words of Jesus: I am always with you.