Scripture Reading Reflection

Scripture Reading Reflection
By Fr. Andrew Kelly
MOST HOLY TRINITY – MAY 31, 2015
In Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20) Christ proclaims: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Christ’s authority is essentially the unconditional love which is God’s core existence.
On that authority Christ sends disciples on mission:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”
Making disciples and baptizing means incorporating the world into the unconditional loving relationship which animates and sustains the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Part of Christ’s mission is to teach and form disciples in living the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’s unconditional love. Disciples are best taught and formed in communities that unconditionally love one another as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit unconditionally love.
The fundamental source text of God’s unconditional love is the Word God first spoke and revealed in Jesus Christ’s words, deeds, life, death and resurrection as now written down and passed on in the Scriptures.
Is Christ’s mission of teaching and forming disciples in God’s unconditional love still possible? Yes. Christ has promised permanent presence of God’s unconditional love: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Father Andrew Kelly is a retired priest of the Diocese of Davenport.)