Fr Dominic
Parish Priest

In today’s Gospel we read that Baptism is to be administered in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We must try to appreciate the weight of importance that Scripture gives to a name. In the name is the presence of the person and a sharing in all that this person stands for. In Scripture, the name of a person calls up the living and active presence of that person. In Baptism we are established in a vital , dynamic relationship with God as our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. In the name of the three divine persons is the presence and power of the three.
The Blessed Trinity is the story of the three movements of God towards us. First is the movement of life out from the mind of God, fathering all creation. When God saw what he had created each day he said “it is good”. However human freedom was abused , man sold off his birth right , becoming the slave to sin. So the second movement of God towards us was in sending us a Redeemer, a Saviour. “ God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not be lost but may have eternal life.”. The Son took on our human condition: as our brother he embraced our lot, as our Saviour he led us out of the slavery of sin, as the Word of God he brought us to the light of faith. As head of the body, where he has gone we hope to follow.
The basis of our hope is the third movement of God: the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like the breath which always returns to the great surroundings: the power of love which draws towards unity: the power of God which drew up Jesus Christ out of death into glory. In his glorified body he is no longer limited physically and so now the Holy Spirit has been released for all believers. So, we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.