Reading from the Book of Prophet Ezekiel on Father’s Day

When you were a child, perhaps, you did something not so good and upset your father. Then, your father chastised you. 

God the Father is just like your father. When we sin against Him, He sure brings us due consequences for our sins, so that we can learn a lesson.  Though we cannot get away from God’s watch (Proverbs 15:3) and judgement (Proverbs 11:21), as the Neviim (the prophetic books in the Old Testament) remind us, God the Father never leaves us in punishment. Rather, He shows His mercy, both as rachamim and chased (Psalm 103:8),  on us with His salvific vision for us, as we repent and reconcile with Him. Thus, when Pater Noster rebukes us for our sins, it is not qetseph but yakach that brings judgement to us.

This year (2018), Father’s Day coincided with the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time on Cycle B. The First Reading for the Eleventh Sunday Mass, Ezekiel 17:22-24, prophetically describes how God the Father cared for His beloved Israelites, even though He had to punish them for their defilements through the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, followed by their Exile in Babylon.  Because He was merciful to His people so deeply, God the Father wanted them to repent for their sins and reconcile with Him. Upon this, He wanted to offer them salvation, which is in the post-Exilic hopeful vision.  For this reason, God the Father chose and commissioned Ezekiel as His prophet during the Israelites’ Babylonian Exile (Ezekiel 1-3) to communicate His merciful and loving heart to His beloved – How much He cares for them, in spite of their sins by describing His salvific vision for them, following the tragic consequences of their sins. Thus, like other prophetic books (Neviim), the Book of Ezekiel reflects God’s message for His beloved in the three parts: Oracle of woe against His beloved for their defilements (Ezekiel 4-24); Oracle of woe against the surrounding neighbors of His beloved for their influence on His beloved (Ezekiel 25-32); Oracle of the post-Exilic salvific hope for His beloved (Ezekiel 33-48).

Ezekiel served God’s beloved amidst their darkness in Exile by showing a beacon of hope, which is God’s providential message for them. The God’s dabar in the First reading for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time on Cycle B (Ezekiel 17:22-24),  along with Ezekiel 33-48, reflects the love of God the Father for His beloved to renew their faith in fresh hope for the post-Exilic salvation.

The Israelites returned to Jerusalem from Babylon after King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylonia in 539 BC, after 70 years of the Babylonian Captivity. Though they made it back to their home, Jerusalem was completely ruined by the Babylonian, which took place from 597 BC to 587 BC. It was devastating, to say the least. The fact that their Temple was desecrated and destroyed was the hardest reality that they had to face, upon their return. Nevertheless, God the Father assured His beloved Israelites that Jerusalem (Zion) and its Temple would be rebuilt into its greatness through His providence. Out of this, they drew inspiration to restore the Temple and rebuild Jerusalem during the early part of the post-Exilic period, as led by Prophet Zechariah, High Priest Joshua, and Governor Zerubbabel. Though he did not make it back to Jerusalem, as he died during the exile in Babylon, Prophet Ezekiel had the post-Exilic vision, banking Israel’s hope on the providence of God the Father.

The First Reading for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Tile on Cycle B (Ezekiel 17:22-24) is a metaphoric vision of how God the Father cares for His beloved Israelites, even though they rebelled against Him with their sins.  In addition, Ezekiel put more post-Exilic hopeful vision of the providence of God the Father from chapter 33 on in the Book of Ezekiel.  The preceding texts to Ezekiel 17:22-24 remind us that God the Father was angry at the sins of the Israelites and sent His judgement justly.  However, Ezekiel 17:22-24 and Ezekiel 33-48 give us assurance that mercy of God the Father is even greater than His anger.

Yes, indeed, God the Father is merciful and gracious, abounding in His steadfast love (chesed) and mercy (rachamim) (Psalm 103:8)! Thus, Jesus has said, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”(Luke 6:36), and this was cited by Pope Francis for the Jubilee Year of Mercy (Pope’s address to the general audience on September 21, 2016).  Though God the Father may become like an angry dad, in response to our obstinate sinfulness, He is, in essence, the merciful Father with His steadfast love for us. Therefore, we affectionately call Him, Abba Father, as Jesus the Son called Him so during the hours of his intense agony (Mark 14:36).  Since He is also Pater Nostor through Jesus the Son, as reflected in John 14:6-7, we also call God the Father, Abba Father. Because He is merciful, God the Father is like a dad we can cry out to for comfort and strengths.

Out of His mercy for repentant Israelites, God the Father spoke the below words to Ezekiel in his post-Exilic prophetic vision – while still in Babylon, which symbolized the penitentiary.

I, too, will pluck from the crest of the cedar

the highest branch.

From the top a tender shoot

I will break off and transplant

on a high, lofty mountain.

On the mountain height of Israel

I will plant it.

It shall put forth branches and bear fruit,

and become a majestic cedar.

Every small bird will nest under it,

all kinds of winged birds will dwell

in the shade of its branches.

Every tree of the field will know

that I am the Lord.

I bring low the high tree,

lift high the lowly tree,

Wither up the green tree,

and make the dry tree bloom.

As I, the Lord, have spoken, so will I do!  (Ezekiel 17:22-24)

The steadfast love (chesed) and mercy (rachamim) of the Father bring only the best to His beloved. So, God the Father took the choicest part of the best tree in the world– the Cedar of Lebanon, for His beloved to make a fresh start.

Because Lebanon is a prosperous place at that time, the Lebanese were very proud of themselves (Isaiah 2:11-16), perhaps, to a point of making the Israelites envy. Thus, the Cedar of Lebanon may also symbolize the pride of the Lebanese. As reflected in Ezekiel 26, God’s woe was upon Lebanon. So, God plucked the crest of the Cedar of Lebanon to put down the pride of the Lebanese and planted the crest on the higher mountain than the high mountain in Israel before. This suggests that God wants to plant the best cedar on the new Mt. Zion to build the New Temple in His post-Exilic salvific vision, while subduing the prides of people, whether they are of His beloved Israelites or their neighbors, such as the Lebanese.

Though it may have symbolized the pride of the Lebanese once, the Cedar of Lebanon now becomes a symbol of the provision of God the Father for His beloved. At the same time, its splendor symbolizes the glory of God the Father, to whom all else are brought low.

Through the new providential and majestic cedar, God the Father reminds who the Lord really is. This reminder also sets and restore the order. This is also echoed in Salvador Minuchin’s structural family therapy to treat a chaotic family by restoring or setting the order in the family. In this sense, God the Father is doing structural family therapy to restore the lost order of God’s family – His beloved, along with the rest of His creation. Therefore, not only His beloved but all else of His creation know who the Lord is.  He is, indeed, Pater noster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo et in terra.

“Regnum Tuum”(thy Kingdom) – the Regnum-  the Regnum de Pater Noster is what the new cedar on the new Mt. Zion in Ezekiel 17:22-24 is symbolically projected to. Therefore, this is echoed in the Gospel Reading for the Eleventh Sunday on Cycle B (Mark 4:26-34), especially, in vv. 30-34. In this Gospel text, Jesus, the Son, reminds us that the Regnum de Pater Noster is like how a tiny mustard seed will grow into a majestic tree.  Because Jesus uses a mustard seed as a metaphor for our faith to grow (Matthew 17:14-20), the majestic and majestic cedar of new Mt. Zion as Regnum de Pater Noster grows through our growing faith.

God the Father – Pater Noser is erek apayim (Psalm 34:6) in response to our sins, and He sends due judgement to us not with qetseph but rather with yakach, because He is chesed and rachamim.  As His chesed and rachamim are immeasurable, we can always cry out to Him, calling Him, Abba Father, with our hope for His providence, which is like the great Cedar on the new Mt. Zion, as reflected in Ezekiel 17:22-24, reflecting Regnum de Pater Noster. 

Abba Father – to whom we cry to for His mercy, to whom we remain humble and obedient, and from whom we are endowed with everlasting love, including the Son and the Holy Spirit.

On Trinity – a Mystery of the Divine Love to be Experienced and Embraced as the Center of Our Life

1+1+1=3.  We have learned this “truth” when we were in a first grade math class. This is also the kind of math we understand this world. However, this human thinking does not apply in regard to addressing God, who is a great mystery, called Trinity. In fact, this Triune God is what makes Christianity stands out, even among the Abrahamic monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Then, what is Trinity? This question is, in essence, asking who God really is.

Can anyone answer who God is?  Verbally, God revealed as “אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה”(ehyah aser ehyah) – “I am who I am”, to Moses (Exodus 3:14). This is why God is also known as Yahweh. Thus, asking who God is means asking who “I am who I am” is.

Throughout our history, many theologians have struggled and attempted to answer this question and brought their own unique theological concepts on God.  As they pursue their own answers on who God is, they have also developed their views on Trinity, who Triune God is. Who Trinity is, in essence, who “I am who I am” is.

In my view, while these theological concepts on who God is – who Triune God is – have certain merits in our pursuit of intimate and harmonious relationship with God to “understand” God, we must humble ourselves to remember God is far beyond our comprehension, because God is a mystery. Therefore, Trinity – the Triune God – is also a mystery.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 237, states:

The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the "mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God". To be sure, God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel's faith before the Incarnation of God's Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Trinity is a mystery of faith, and we, the Christians, center this mystery of faith in our lives (i.e. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 261).

God in Trinity is a mystery. Therefore, we can never fully comprehend Trinity and why God is Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Rather than struggling with our attempts to “understand” this mysterious Triune God – God in Trinity, it is better to experience and embrace the traces of God’s Trinitarian marks in our own daily lives. It is far more important than spending all life reading difficult theological books in our futile attempts to “understand” Trinity.

Trinity is not meant to be “understood” by us but to be experienced as we live a life of faith. In other words, we are to experience and embrace this immeasurable, incomprehensive nature of God, as much as we can, as we live a life of faith, centered on this mystery of our Triune God.

Given our empirical approach to Trinity, rather than rational one, perhaps, it is helpful to juxtapose Triune God to the Sacrament of Matrimony. Why? Because, both Trinity and the Sacrament of Matrimony are respectively mysteries.

In this juxtaposition, think of 1+1=2 in parallel to 1+1+1=3. According to what we have learned on the first day in our first grade math class, 1+1 has to be 2, just as 1+1+1 has to be 3. This is applicable to understand this world. However, when it comes to the Sacrament of Matrimony, which is a reflection of Genesis 2:24, 1+1=1! , as 1+1+1=1 in Trinity! Because it is a great mystery, 1+1=1 is “irrational”. However, in the eyes of God and in our Christian faith, it is what it is.

Why the Sacrament of Matrimony is so attractive for men and women in faith and in mutual love? It is because of this mystery- far beyond human rationality. Why God is so great? Likewise, God is a mystery, called Trinity.

Men and women who have tied their nuptial knot in the Sacrament of Matrimony continue to experience and enjoy mystery of their mutual love, centered in the Triune God. When they first kissed at God’s alter during their wedding ceremonies, they did not fully understand each other. Nevertheless, they already loved each other and desire to further experience the mystery in each other. And, their marriages continue to grow and bear the Fruits of the Holy Spirit! Perhaps, experiencing traces of Triune God in our daily lives is like this – like experiencing each other’s mystery in love in the Sacrament of Matrimony. After all, God is love (1 John 4:8), and King Solomon has poetically reflected God’s love to us analogous to a mystery of passionate love between a young man and a young woman through the Song of Songs. 

The mysterious nature of the Triune God does not mean God is unreachable to us. If so, God would not have incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus, the Son, the first Parakletos and another Parakletos, the Holy Spirit, would not have descended upon us on Pentecost, either. Not to mention, Jesus would not have instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist as his own Body and Blood, at the Last Supper, either.

Remember, as God is love, the incomprehensive and immeasurable nature of Trinity reflects how great God’s love for us is. Through John 14 through 16, Jesus himself explains who he is in relation to the Father and the Holy Spirit. These three Johannine chapters also reflect the mystery of God’s love and God’s desire to unite us to Trinity. For this reason, God the Father has sent the Son and the Holy Spirit in Son’s name.

Trinity Sunday is a humble reminder, as well as a joyful and awesome invitation to experience as many traces of Trinity mystery, our God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in our daily lives. And, as we experience the mystery of Trinity, while our faith, which is our trust and intimacy with God, continues to grow, we become more united not only with each other in love but with Trinity.

If to insert some theological insight to experience and embrace Trinity, perhaps, David Tracy’s concepts of “analogical imagination” and “mutually critical correlation” can be applied. Certainly, St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Thomas Aquinas, and other great theologians have addressed Trinity with their own unique applications of David Tracy’s these concepts. After all, according to James Fowler’s “Stages of Faith Development”, which is based on Erik Erikson’s life-span identity development theory, imagination is the foundation of our faith development. Given that experiencing Trinity leads to the growth of faith, as indicated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it makes sense to approach this mystery of Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the hypostatic union – with imagination.

Just as Christian husbands and wives united in the Sacrament of Matrimony have great imaginations to thrive, we, who are baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, shall apply our sense of imagination to experience and embrace Trinity, whose nature is love – ἀγάπη (agape), חֶ֫סֶד (chesed), and רַחֲמִים (rachamim). Perhaps, applying Tracy's "analogous imagination" and "mutually critical correlation" upon passages in John 14 through 16 and 1 John 4 may give us a focus on the mystery of love, in experiencing and embracing Trinity. 

To make this imagination analogous and mutually critically correlated to applicable scripture passages in John 14 through 16 and 1 John 4 may help us experiencing Trinity with a focus on love.