Homily from Father James Gilhooley Trinity Trinity Sunday - Cycle B - Matthew 28:16-20 A couple received by mail two

tickets for a first class New York City Broadway show. They did not understand who sent them, but they thankfully went. They returned home and found their home stripped of cash, paintings, and jewels. On their table, they found a note which read, "NOW YOU UNDERSTAND." We will never receive a similar note about the Trinity. The roots of today's solemn feast can be traced back to the early Church. Today we can say with my ancestor, the peerless St Patrick, "I arise today, through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, through confession of the oneness of the Creator of Creation." The story is told of a priest sitting in an airport waiting for his flight. A fellow killing time struck up a conversation. Said he, "Father, I believe only what I can understand. So, I can't buy your Trinity. Perhaps you can explain it to me." The priest reluctantly put down The New York Times. "Do you see the sun out there?" "Yup." "OK, it's 80 million miles away from us right now. The rays coming through the window," said the priest, "are coming from the sun. The delightful heat we are enjoying on our bodies right now come from a combination of the sun and its rays. Do you understand that?" The fellow answered, "Sure, padre." "The Trinity," the priest went on, "is like that. God the Father is that blazing sun. The Son is the rays He sends down to us. Then both combine to send us the Holy Spirit who is the heat. If you understand the workings of the sun, its rays, and heat, why do you have

difficulty believing the Trinity?" The man said something about catching a flight and was off. The priest, a physics professor, picked up the Times with a broad smile. He doubted whether his recent guest understood the workings of the sun. He knew no one would ever comprehend the mystery of the Trinity this side of the grave. After all, why does God have to tell us everything? In his experience, He tells us only on a need to know basis. His favorite line from the Book of Job popped into his mind. "Can anyone penetrate the deep designs of God?" (11:7) As a scientist and a Catholic, he knew the answer to that question. Try to understand the Trinity and you become like a person staring, as someone said, into the noonday sun to better understand it. All you get is a serious headache requiring extra strength Tylenol and a resolve to buy good sunglasses. Finally he put down the Times and recalled fondly his late Dogma professor in the seminary. When he came to the section on the Trinity in the textbook, he turned the pages quickly. The Dogma prof said, "Professor Thomas Aquinas, late of the University of Paris and the Albert Einstein of his day, didn't understand the Trinity. So, it is most unlikely that you blockheads will either. Just remember St Paul mentions the Trinity 30 times in his letters. Take it on faith and you'll muddle through somehow." He trusted that the professor and Thomas both now understood the Trinity perfectly. He himself never had difficulty buying into a God who is passionately in love with us, a Son who was willing to die for us, and a Holy Spirit whose job it is to help us become

saints like Thomas of Aquin and Paris. He recalled the husband, who said when he became a father, he better understood the Trinity. When he and his wife had their son, they had evidence of their love for each other. There was the lover, the beloved, and the love, each distinct and yet one. I enjoy the playful description of Daniel Durken of the Trinity. The Father played creator and was overjoyed that the world turned out so attractively. The Son played redeemer and put everything right again in the wounded world by stretching out His arms on a cross. The Spirit played sanctifier. He made room in the heart of each of us for the Trinity. "Today," says Durken, "the Trinity invites us to keep playing with them this delightful game of life and love." And why not? We have nothing to lose but our chains. Dante Alighieri expressed his thoughts on the triune God in verse. His Italian runs off the lips like music: "O trina luce, che in unica stella..." And, for the benefit only of the very young children reading these lines I translate, "O triune light, which in a single star contents all upon whom it shineth..."

Homily from Father Joseph Pellegrino http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html Trinity The Trinity: Intimacy and Transcendence Arians are all around us, and among us, and within us. They are the intellectually arrogant in the academia. They

attempt to rewrite history. They declare that Jesus was just a man, a good man, yes, but just a man. The Trinity is too much for them. Jesus is too much for them. Where did this word Arian come from? Well, in the fourth century of the Church, Arius, a priest of Alexandria, Egypt, declared that Jesus was not the Son of God. His heresy made Christianity easier to accept. People did not have to suspend their rationality to accept that which was beyond their abilities. The laws of Christianity were now just a matter of advice, not the New Law of God. Arianism grew so popular that, according to some historians, over two thirds of Christians went over to this heresy. But the Power of God, the Holy Spirit, prevailed and through various councils of the Church, the belief in the Trinity was codified into the formula we continue to use: There is one God, who has three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each person is God, yet there is still only one God. Belief in the Trinity was not created by the early councils of the Church. It was given to us by God himself. It is in the Bible. The Old Testament points to the Trinity speaking about the Eternal Son who will come and suffer for the forgiveness of sins, Isaiah, and who will judge the world, Daniel, and whose Spirit will rest upon us, Ezekiel. Look at the New Testament. Start with the records of Christmas. We call these the Infancy Narratives. The Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke are written to emphasize that Jesus is the Son of God and Son of Mary. Joseph was his foster father. An even deeper understanding of the mystery of Jesus presented in the Gospel of John. The theme of this gospel is John 3:16: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. The beginning of the Gospel of John, usually called the Prologue, tells us about the Eternal Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us. The existence and the power of the Holy Spirit are also experienced throughout the New Testament, particularly in the Gospels of Luke and John and the writings of St. Paul. The Holy Spirit continues to be experienced in the Church. Belief in the Trinity demands acknowledging Gods infinite superiority in all areas including our rationality. Adam and Eve refused to do that. They pushed God aside, turned away from life and gave us death. The Arians, including the modern day arians of the academia, do not have the humility to admit that mans knowledge of the Divine is limited by the finite capability of the human mind. They do not have the humility to enter into mystery, the mystery of God. I like to consider it this way: an eight year old cannot understand calculus. He or she is incapable of that form of understanding. But calculus still exists. Most of our top high school students could not come to the theory of relativity, but it is a valid theory. Because some knowledge is beyond us does not mean that it doesnt exist. What does exist is the pride and arrogance we all have to refuse to go beyond the limits of our minds and accept Gods mysteries. The trouble is that we humans are proud. We would like to determine who God is, what He should be like, etc. We try to fit him into our mental constructs. In doing so, we are refusing to enter into mystery. Dom Julian, a Benedictine monk, wrote, All that matters is that God is God, and I, I am only I.

Within the Mystery of the Trinity dells the wonderful belief that God is both close to us and beyond us, Intimate and Transcendent. The Eternal Creator of the universe shocked us by establishing an intimate relationship with us. At baptism we receive His Life. Our bodies are sacred, holy, because we are the dwelling place of God. My favorite verse in Scripture is the concluding verse of the Gospel of Matthew and of our Gospel for this Sunday: Know that I am with you always until the end of time. He is always there. We can pray to Him within us, and in times of crisis ask Him for that power that is beyond us. So we pray for miracles of healing, we pray for miracles of forgiveness, we pray for the miracle of His Body and Blood. We are made in the image and likeness of God, the Book of Genesis tells us. That means that we share in His Closeness and His Beyond. This is how we make God present in our society. We are given His Presence so that others can find Him in us, and ultimately, enjoy His presence in themselves. At the same time, our focus in life must be transcendent, on things above, on God. Yes, we work hard to provide for ourselves and our children, but only so we can better serve God. After all, the goal of all Christian parents is to allow their children to reach their spiritual potential. The goal of Christian parents is to all their children to live forever as children of God. That is why people have children, correct? Children are created for Love, His Love. The intimacy and transcendence necessary for Christian life is summarized in a remarkable way in a letter to a Greek official, Diognetus, dating back to the third or fourth century. The life of the Christians is the same life

that we live. I want to read a little sections of it: Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. Yet, there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as if they were only passing through. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. The are obedient to the law, but they live on a level that transcends the law. How are we to translate this intimacy and transcendence into our modern context? We can do this by focusing on the One who is intimate and transcendent, Jesus Christ. He is one of us, with us always. He is the eternal Son of the Father, present at the dawn of Creation, sitting at the Right Hand of the Father judging the living and the dead. Every action of our lives must be grounded in our union with Jesus Christ. We do not worship to experience an emotional release, such as we might experience on Christmas and Easter. We do not worship to keep other people happy. We worship because we need the Lord in our lives and in the lives of our families. Parents worship to ask God to help them make Him real for their children. We all worship to experience His Presence in others and to provide others with an experience of His Presence. We worship to ask God to help us draw closer to Him every day of life that we have left. We worship because we have all absorbing desire to live for God. After all, we are an intimate part of the Mystery of God. We are part of the Eternal Plan of God for His Creation. We pray today for the humility to accept His Mystery into

our lives. We pray today for the courage to live His Mystery. May we be in the world, intimate, yet not of the world, transcendent. May the Lord give us the strength to live in His Image and Likeness.

Homily from Father Phil Bloom http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/ * available in Spanish - see Spanish homilies Trinity Purpose of Our Existence (June 7, 2009) Bottom line: Mary can help us realize the purpose of our existence: to enter an eternal relationship with God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Recently I had the privilege of praying for a dear friend in the final hours of her life. Words do not come easy at that moment. Fortunately the Church gives us wonderful words. The traditional Prayer of Commendation for a dying person has great beauty and power. I would like to quote it this Sunday, not only to honor my friend, Esperanza, but for what it says about our relationship to the Blessed Trinity - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here are the opening lines of the Prayer of Commendation: Go forth, Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God, the Father Almighty, who created you; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for you; in the name of the Holy Spirit,

who was poured out upon you, go forth, faithful Christian. When you and I go forth from this world, how beautiful to do so in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! The goal, the purpose of our lives is to have an eternal relationship with Blessed Trinity - the beginning and end of our existence. We see it in today's Gospel. Before ascending into heaven, Jesus instructed us to make disciples of all nations, "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." To help understand our relationship to the Trinity, I would like to recommend a new book. Written by Catholic lay evangelist, Mark Shea, it is titled "Mary, Mother of the Son." Don't let the title mislead you. It is much more than a devotional book on the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mark has a unique ability to situate devotion to Mary in the context of the entire Christian life. His book is like opening a side door called "Mary" and finding oneself in an enormous banquet hall. The tables are set with an astonishing variety of food. As you look around you see familiar faces, but also others you have heard about, but do not know well. A gracious lady takes your hand and begins to show you around. Above all she wants you to know her Son, his Father and the One who overshadowed her. In Mary Mother of the Son, Mark Shea introduces (or reintroduces) us to Mary. And through her we understand the reason for the Bible and the Church: to guide us to a relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - the One God who is all in all. The book comes as a trilogy: three volumes. Each volume is a manageable length (from 150 to 195 pages). Once you start reading, Mark's logic

and apt comparisons will carry you forward. These books are not inexpensive, but they are worth the investment. If you have any hesitation, just purchase volume one. You will agree, I know, that Mark's explanation of the Trinity is worth the entire price. Mark Shea is with us this Sunday. At the end of the Mass, he will say a few words about Mary Mother of the Son. He will be available after Mass to sign your copy. Jesus has given us Mary, his mother as our mother. In baptism we not only become children of God, but children of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She can help us realize the purpose of our existence: to enter an eternal relationship with God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. ************ Intercessions for Trinity Sunday (from Priests for Life) Spanish Version

Homily from Father Andrew M. Greeley http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html Trinity June 7th 2009 A.D Trinity Sunday Mt 25/16-20 Background: Unquestionably this a mission Sunday. The followers of Jesus are deputed to go forth to pass on the good news that Jesus had shown them of Gods overwhelming and

forgiving love. A lot of time and energy has been poured into that challenge through the ensuing centuries. Often we made a terrible mess of it. We have forced people to be baptized whether they wanted to be or not. Once in Seville Spain, forty thousand Jews were baptized (under pain of leaving the country by priests who strode through cathedral plaza sprinkling water on them. Other times we have forced them to abandon their native cultures and become Europeans like us. Still other times we bribed them (with rice when they were hungry) to join us. Sometimes we got the point, particularly in very early days and attracted them to the church by the kinds of people we were and by the love we had for one another and for them. Story: How many of you would like to go to a baseball game with me, the enthusiastic parish priest, said to a bunch of teens. I have twenty tickets to a Sox game tomorrow afternoon (Cubs fans will tell you that free tickets for Sox games are easy to find). About twenty five kids, even some girl kids, put up their hands. Well, said the priest, we cant take everyone. He almost said girls cant come because they dont understand baseball. But his guardian angel intervened and shut his mouth. Instead he said I tell you what, how many of you are Cubs fans? More than half the kids put up their hands, some would say because they had excellent taste, others would say because of genetic programming. Cubs fans, the priest said (thinking he had a way out) cant go. Sorry. Nine hard core Sox fans approached him with their hands out. He still had eleven tickets. I tell you what, he said, how many of you Cub fans want to convert and be Sox fans for this afternoon only. Well, you know what Cub fans are like? So the priest when to the game with the nine hardcore Sox

fans. That night when he explained what happened, the wise old monsignor said, you might have flipped a coin. I never thought of that said the young priest. Its not evil to ask people to convert to the other team for an afternoon. Alas, how often we have used methods like that against those who are not Catholic, even against those who marry into our families.

Homily from Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe,Pa http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lass o Trinity Jun, 07, 2009 Matthew 28:16-20 Campion P. Gavaler, O.S.B. Trinity Sunday Gospel Summary This carefully crafted passage is the climactic summary of the essential themes of Matthew's gospel. Jesus, now Risen Lord, reveals that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him, and thus he has authority to commission his disciples to continue and to extend his mission to all the nations of the earth. Jesus' epiphany and commission to the eleven take place on a mountain, the symbolic place where humans encounter the divine presence. The mountains of encounter unite in a single narrative the biblical covenants, and make all history a sacred history. These awesome places of the divine presence evoke the memory

of crucial turning points of human history: Ararat, Moriah, Sinai, Zion, Carmel. Matthew, fully in harmony with this tradition, brings the narrative of the divine plan to its climax. He tells of Jesus' trial of temptations, his sermon, and his transfiguration on a mountain. From the severe testing of faith on the Mount of Olives, Jesus descends to suffer and die in obedience to his Father's will. Now on a mountain, Jesus with divine authority commissions the eleven to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. God's promise to Abraham after the testing of faith on Mount Moriah will at last be fulfilled. Through Jesus, son of Abraham, "all the nations of the earth shall find blessing" (Gn 22:1-18). All nations will hear the good news, and be taught to observe what the Lord has commanded. Matthew concludes his gospel and begins the era of the church with the promise of Jesus: "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." Life Implications The good news we hear proclaimed on Trinity Sunday is that Jesus the Risen Lord wants us to share divine life with him in the oneness of intimate, familial love with his Father and Holy Spirit. Through the gift of baptism we belong to God, and God belongs to us. With Jesus we can say Our Father. We are at home in God. To be certain that we do not imagine the era of the church to be an illusory Utopia above the ambiguities of the human condition, Matthew interjects a surprising note of realism. He tells us that though the eleven disciples recognize Jesus as Risen Lord and worship him, at the

same time they doubt. He uses the same Greek verb for "doubt" as he did when Jesus stretched out his hand to Peter, frightened and sinking in the stormy water: "O you of little faith, why did you doubt" (Mt 14:22-33)? A theme of Matthew's gospel is the contrast between the total, single-minded faith of Jesus and the double-minded, little faith of his disciples. Jesus tells the disciples that because of their little faith they do not understand him, and for the same reason they are unable to cast out a demon (Mt 16:8 and 17:20). The disciples, except for one of the original twelve, are willing to follow Jesus and listen to his commands; but at the same time their "common sense" tells them that what Jesus expects is way beyond their capacity to accomplish. It is not difficult for us present-day disciples to identify with the feeling of inadequacy and doubt in the face of the powerful forces that oppose the fulfillment of the divine promise of blessedness in our own circumstances. Like the first disciples, we worship the Risen Lord; and we doubt. Yet we go on because we trust with our little faith that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. The Risen Lord, who conquered even death, is with us as he promised. When we do not understand what is going on, when the demons in us and around us seem invincible, when we begin to sink in the stormy water, when the task at hand seems too much for us, Jesus stretches out his hand and says: "O you of little faith, why do you doubt?" With our little faith, we can only respond: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." Campion P. Gavaler, OSB

Homily from Father Cusick http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting Christ in the Liturgy Trinity YEAR B Deuteronomy 4, 32-34, 39-40; Psalm 33; Romans 8, 1417; Matthew 28, 16-20 Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Resurrection. Fact or fiction? The Resurrection of the Lord, the only Son of God the Father, and the coming of the Holy Spirit reveal the Trinity we celebrate today: three persons in one God. Christ taught the Apostles that the Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son" and so we profess this in the Creed. The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus remains the cornerstone of Christian faith and life for by his Resurrection Christ's divinity is revealed and all his words and teachings are thereby guaranteed as true. The whole edifice of Christian faith, all that we believe about God fully revealed in Jesus Christ, stands or falls on the cornerstone of Christ's Resurrection. It is fashionable in the literary and academic world today to "doubt" the Resurrection of the Lord, to revise and rephrase tradition, to reinterpet scripture in order to call the real bodily Resurrection into question. Knowing that men would call the truth into doubt, St. Paul wrote: "If Christ has not risen, your faith is in vain." Some Christians propose the Resurrection was

experienced only in the faith or credulity of the Apostles or first Christians, something they simply made up out of thin air. It is possible today to hear even Christian leaders say; "If they found the bones of Jesus, it would not shake my faith." It is the lesson of the Ascension of the Lord in scripture and the celebration of the liturgy of the Church that this is completely out of the question! We are left with the testimony of Scripture, and there we find record in several places that the Apostles doubted Christ's Resurrection. "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted." (Mt 28; 16-17) Are we to believe that the Evangelists recorded the doubt of some of their number even while creating a fiction of their own imagination? The liar is the first to recognize the stupidity of giving evidence contradicitng his own falsehood! "Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a ghost. 'In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering.' (Lk 24:38-41) Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee 'some doubted.' (Cf. Jn 20:24-27; Mt 28:17) Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the risen Jesus." (CCC 644) We too experience doubts as part of our weak human condition. But we also directly experience the Lord Jesus in the proclamation of the Word and in his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. Christ Himself, then, by these his

works which give the grace of faith strengthens us to do the humanly impossible and declare with supernatural joy: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Alleluia." I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick (Publish with permission.) http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/ (For further reading on today's Gospel see also these paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 2, 80, 189, 232, 849, 1122, 1223, 1276, 2156, 2743.)

Homily from Father Alex McAllister SDS http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/ Trinity Trinity Sunday, Year B2006 Homily The text of todays Gospel is the most direct reference to the Holy Trinity in the Bible. It is given on a mountain in Galilee where the Apostles have been are instructed to go by Jesus. This mountain is not without significance nor is its location. There are many mountains in the Bible and in every case what takes place on them is a special revelation of God. You can think of many examples going from the Ark on Mount Ararat, through the Sacrifice of Abraham on the mountain of Moriah, to the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

And in the New Testament there are other mountains and hills: Jesus is Transfigured on Mount Tabor, he gives his most important teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and gives his life for us on the Hill of Calvary. So what we are dealing with here is a moment of great significance, an occasion of special revelation. And it is no mistake that it takes place in Galilee as if to remind the Apostles that, while many important events took place in Jerusalem, Jesus conducted most of his public ministry in Galilee. Indeed that was where it was inaugurated and now in this great event where it comes to its final conclusion. The Apostles are given three tasks: 1) to make disciples of all the nations 2) to Baptise them in the name of the Holy Trinity and 3) to teach these new disciples to observe the commands of Jesus. To become a disciple is the natural response to any extended encounter with Jesus. It is the task of the Apostles to bring people into contact with him, to enable those they meet to get to know the Lord. This is our task too. When we meet others it should be as if they are meeting Jesus. Now I know quite well that we are none of us up to Jesus standards. We are much more tetchy, much more irritable and not really as kind as we ought to be. If you were to meet me on a Monday morning then it would be as far from an encounter with Jesus as you could possibly get! But, whether we are any good at it or not, that ought to be our aim.

We dont need to go into long complicated explanations as to who Jesus is; just as long as the people we meet know that we are one of his disciples then that should be enough. From our behaviour they will be easily able to deduce quite a lot about Jesus. We might feel rather inadequate and be afraid to give the wrong impression and think that what we say and do isnt in line with what Jesus would want. But this is to underestimate the sophistication of other people; they are quite easily able to assess whether a person is sincere or not and they know immediately what your true intentions are. Thats the task of making disciples; its a big undertaking but get used to it because it is our primary role as Christians. The other two objects of the mission given by Jesus were to Baptise and to teach. Baptism is the key to membership in the Church and teaching is one of the most important activities in the Church. Its what we are doing now. These both follow on from making disciples, from introducing people to Jesus. And in a sense they are much easier because, as I said, once people get to know Jesus the natural response is to follow him, seek Baptism and wish to know more about him. You might be wondering if Im preaching the right sort of sermon for this Sunday dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Well I think I am! We noted that this text given for today was the clearest reference to the Trinity in the scriptures and if you look it up you will find that the scholars mostly say that this phrase must have been a Baptismal formula

that Matthew has inserted into the text. Jesus didnt explicitly teach us about the Trinity. The theology of the Trinity comes out of the reflection of the early Church on the teaching of Jesus. They thought over what he said and under the influence of the Holy Spirit they began to understand the dynamics of the Trinity. Jesus referred on many occasions to his Father and the closeness of his relationship with him. Moreover he taught us to speak to the Father in a very familiar and direct way. Jesus also promises to send us his Spirit and refers even in this particular passage that he will be with us always, until the end of time. We understand that it is precisely through the Holy Spirit that Jesus is present to us. What we have here are examples of the other two tasks given to the Apostles namely Baptising and teaching. By weaving into his text a Baptismal formula we realise that Baptism was one of the most important activities of the early Church. And the very succinct formula that they used is a direct result of their refection on the things that Jesus had told them during his public ministry. This is the teaching role of the Apostles; like any good teacher they had first to reflect on what it actually is that they are to communicate and explain to others. This final passage of Matthews Gospel is sometimes regarded as a brief summary of the whole Gospel. It certainly is a very succinct summary of the role of a true disciple of Christ and gives us a plan for the rest of our

lives. But it also contains a promise; a promise that Christ will be with us till the end of time. This is one of the great promises of God recorded in the Bible. He will not abandon us, he will always be with us guiding us and guarding us from the evil one through the power of his Holy Spirit. And in time we will be taken up into him to share the life of love that is the Trinity. We might find the task of discipleship daunting but with this promise, with this greatest of all guarantees, we know that we will be able to fulfil the mandate of Christ and so give expression to our deepest desire to be faithful followers of the Lord Jesus in the world of today.