A few years ago a pack of wild dogs broke into the Omaha Zoo in the middle of the night. The area they invaded was inhabited by wallabies. And the next morning, when the zoo keepers make their rounds, they found all 23 wallabies were dead. Upon closer inspection the keepers learned that none of the dogs had actually gotten into the wallaby cages. Not one dog had laid a paw or a jaw on a single victim. The wallabies were all dead from internal injuries suffered when their panic at seeing the dogs sent them crashing about wildly, bashing into the fences and one another. Literally sacred to death, fifteen adults and eight baby wallabies, dead of fear.
My sisters and brothers, fear, anxiety, anger, and doubt play far too large a role in all our lives, and sometimes they kill us. That is why this Feast of the Most Holy Trinity is made for us. It’s an antidote to the poison of our unhealthy fears, angers and doubts. It’s an invitation to relax in the God who manifests his life-giving presence as Father creator, Son redeemer and Spirit sanctifier in our daily lives. It’s an invitation to relax in the Lord who is infinitely bigger than any problem or need of our can ever be.
Relax in the Lord. Relax and gaze at the stars in the vast, night sky and see there a reflection of the mighty God who made them. Relax and look at the tiny fingers of a newborn child and see there a reflection of the tender God who made every child ever born. Relax and look at the goodness of so many people around you and see there a reflection of the good God whose inner life is a family of persons always giving and receiving in love. Relax and look at the loveliness of a single flower and see in it a reflection of the gracious God who made every flower that ever blossomed. Relax and look at all the goodness within your own heart and see there a reflection of the wonderful God who made you and me.
The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins so beautifully wrote that the “world is charged with the grandeur of God” – Mirrored in the very beauty of creation we see a glimpse of the hand of a loving God who invites us every day to surrender our fears, anxieties, anger and doubt, pretensions and worries and to daily grow ever more deeply into his image and likeness – the image and likeness of one who creates, heals and makes holy. It is wonderful gift, let us be willing to receive it in gratitude and share it with others in love.