Rev. John Campoli, i.v.dei
His Love Ministries

Over the years of attending conferences and retreats, I've noticed a growing practice of opening prayer with "In the Name of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier." I’m sure it’s a nod toward “political correctness,” but it shows a deep lack of understanding of the nature of God, and nothing could be more of a watering down of the long teaching of the Church.

The actions creator, redeemer, and sanctifier, while all true and rightly associated with persons of the Trinity, were used in prayer like a job description. Prayer is a call to closeness in relationships. To begin prayer with the traditional "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" was to speak the words of relationship. To talk not of what God has done, but to speak of who God is. To pray as did Moses, "If [we] find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. [We are] indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own." It is to invite ourselves into the Trinity's inner life in hopes that the best of that inner life will accompany us on our own journey. It is to pray as St. Paul reminds us in the words from his 2nd letter to the Corinthians and the opening words of our Mass: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you." It is to know that from that inner life come the grace, love, and fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as gifts to animate, sustain, and grow our relationship with our sisters and brothers in faith and the world. It is to understand that God so loved the world that he gave it life; he sent his only Son to us that we would know we are ever loved, and sent the Holy Spirit as the pledge of the grace, love, and fellowship that await the one who believes.

St.John the Evangelist, who wrote today's gospel, lived for decades after the time of Jesus. As a very old man, he was the last of the disciples who had been an eyewitness to the life and person of Jesus of Nazareth. When his health allowed him to join the community in prayer and for Eucharist, it is easy to imagine that he would have been invited to speak to the people. It is said that on such occasions, as people waited for a new story, an insight, or words of wisdom, John would slowly rise to his feet and finally speak: "God is love, God is love, God is love." And then sit down. It was as though, after a lifetime of reflection, all the words of Scripture and prayer led to this one certain and dependable truth: God is love.

Today we celebrate – not the actions of God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier – but the deeper truth of a God who is love. We celebrate all that love implies. We celebrate that God has revealed to us what it means to believe in God, whose most intrinsic nature is love – who created us in love, redeems us because of love, and sanctifies us because love finds its completion in the other.