Pastoral Letter
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust»
(2 Tim, 1:12)
Saint Andrew Roublev
 Serge Poitras
Bishop of Timmins
Year of Faith 2012-2013
Pastoral Letter
« I know the one in whom I have put my trust » (2 Tim. 1:12)
Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, Patron of the Diocese of Timmins
June 13, 2013
Dear faithful of the Diocese of Timmins, in my January Pastoral Letter at the beginning
of Lent in the Year of Faith, I invited you to take advantage of this liturgical season « to increase
your understanding of Jesus Christ. »
Understanding of God is never acquired once and for all; indeed, God is a Mystery, not
one that we cannot understand but one that we never finish discovering. In this regard, Saint
Augustine recounts that he met a young child along the seashore who had made a hole in the
sand and was diverting water into it that he had drawn from the sea. The child said that he
wanted to put the sea into this hole. Saint Augustine told him that it was impossible to put the
sea into such a small cavity. We can easily adapt this experience to our understanding of God:
human intelligence cannot contain the mystery of God that totally surpasses it. Nevertheless, it
can arrive at a genuine perception that can always be deepened.
I
n this letter, I want to submit to you a few
considerations about the mystery of God.
I hope that they will accompany you during
the summer holidays that offer more free
time
for
prayer,
meditation
and
contemplation, thereby enabling you to
further discover in whom we have put our
trust. (2 Tim. 1:12)
1- Faith in the Holy Trinity is the distinctive mark of Christians (Catholics, Orthodox,
Anglicans, Protestants). For their part, Jews, like Muslims, neither know nor acknowledge,
as we do, one God in Three Persons.
our Baptism, we express our faith in
Since
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
several times a day. When we make the
Sign of the Cross, we say “In the name of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Mt
28:19). We end each decade of the rosary
June13, 2013
with: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit”. At Holy Mass we
offer our prayer to the Father “through his
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and
reigns with you in the unity of the Holy
Spirit”. We conclude the Eucharistic Prayer
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
2
with the following words: “Through Him,
and with Him and in Him, o God almighty
Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all
glory and honour”. Blessings are also given
June13, 2013
in the name of the Three Divine Persons.
Professions of faith (creed) proclaim the
Mystery of the Holy Trinity; let us take for
example the Symbol of the Nicene Creed:
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
3
I believe in one God, the Father almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord
Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit
was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son
is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic,
and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection
of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The Creed begins by affirming: « I believe in one God », a confession that also includes Jews
and Muslims, two monotheistic religions, that is to say, religions that recognize only one God.
Then the Three divine Persons are introduced, with the task that is attributed to them (Creator
Father, Redeemer Son, Sanctifier Spirit), all while stating that the Three Persons always act
June13, 2013
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
4
together: the Father creates through the Son and in the Spirit; the Son is the messenger of the
Father and leads to him through the gift of the Spirit; the Spirit united to the Father and to the
Son.
2- Knowledge of the mystery of the Holy Trinity is not of the natural order.
A great number of people naturally come to know about the existence of God, as Saint Paul
attests: « Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature—invisible
though they are—have been understood and seen through the things he has made». (Rom
1:20). Starting from Creation, human intelligence is able discover that God exists.
Access to the intimate mystery of God is impossible, however, without a revelation on his part.
Without the Lord Jesus, one is left with an external understanding of God that does not allow
the Three divine Persons to be distinguished.
This is a little like a young child who is discovering his parents: at the beginning of his
existence, he perceives a ‘force’ who feeds him and takes care of him: with time, he is able to
clarify who this ‘force’ is: he can therefore distinguish and recognize the
faces of his mother and father. He identifies their individual ways of caring
for him; he also grasps their unity in the love they have for him.
This modest comparison can help us to understand our access to the
intimate mystery of God. Human beings can naturally perceive God as a being or a ‘force’ who
is at the source of the universe and who acts in the life of each person. Nevertheless, in order
to understand and recognize the presence and the action of the Three divine Persons, the
revelation of Jesus Christ is indispensable.
The mystery of the Trinity is detected in the story of the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to
the Virgin Mary (Lk 1 :26-38).
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee, to a virgin engaged to a man whose
name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.”
But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now
you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great
and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give to him the throne of his
ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be
no end.”
Mary said to the Angel: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.
being called « Son of God » signifies
Jesus
that God is Father; his coming into the
June13, 2013
world happened through the intervention
of the Holy Spirit. Thus we see the three
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
5
divine Persons clearly mentioned, their
connection with each other and their joint
action. We see them again at the Baptism
of Jesus and at the Transfiguration.
Let us look more closely at each one of the divine Persons.
3. God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible
The Creation that surrounds us, and that we form part of, is the first book that God writes. We
can decipher several fundamental messages from it: the world finds its origin in an intelligent,
powerful, ultimate Being, distinct from the world. Psalm 8 invites us to recognize God using his
work:
Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established,
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet:
all sheep and oxen, and the also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
This psalm recognizes the possibility of discovering God using creation: the grandeur of the
universe and the beauty of the beings within it enable us to get an idea of God’s greatness. At
the summit of Creation, serving as its steward, the human being appears whom God cares for
in a particular way.
The psalmist invites praise for God, as much for the infinity of the heavens as for the
perfection of miniscule beings and the human being.
During this summer season when we are closer to nature, we can
pray to God using Creation: be aware of its grandeur, its perfection,
its intelligence, by looking at the starry sky, the delicateness of a
flower, the beauty of a newborn; look at the infinitely great, with a
telescope, the infinitesimally small, with a microscope and the
June13, 2013
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
6
infinitely complex human being, with the heart. Everything can bring us to a prayer of praise
and respect for the work, the management of which God has entrusted to us.
Meditation on the work of the Creator God also invites us to trust in his Providence. Jesus
recalls it in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6: 25-34).
I tell you, do not worry
“T herefore
about your life, what you will eat or
drink; or about your body, what you will
wear. Is not life more than food, and the
body more than clothing? Look at the birds
of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor
gather into barns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not of more
value than they? Can any one of you by
worrying add a single hour to your span of
life?
“And why do you worry about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell
you, Solomon in all his glory was not
clothed like one of these. But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which is alive
today and tomorrow is thrown into the
oven, will he not much more clothe you—
you of little faith? Therefore do not worry,
saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What will
we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For it
is the Gentiles who strive for all these
things; and indeed your heavenly Father
knows that you need all these things. But
strive first for the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well. So do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries
of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for
today”.
In this way, God looks after his children, who are worth more than all the birds and the lilies.
Spiritual Exercises :
a- Look at a starry sky or a sunset. Let the beauty of the universe seep into you and
recognize the majesty and intelligence of God, its creator.
b- Look at the beauty and perfection of the smaller beings that surround us: plants,
birds, animals … Admire the perfection of divine work, the details and how these
beings complement one another.
c- Check our attitude and our mentality with respect to creation, destined for all of
humanity.
d- Know that the human being occupies a predominant place in the mind of God:
recognize the beauty of the newborn, the members of our families, the
outstanding work that human beings can produce (inventions, music …).
e- Put ourselves confidently under the supervision of God and his Providence to look
after us; learn to become instruments of his Providence for others.
4)
Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Holy Trinity.
the face of the mystery of Christ, the
InCreed
clearly
distinguishes
two
June13, 2013
dimensions: one
within the Trinity
(« Only begotten Son of God, born of the
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
7
Father before all ages. God from
God,
Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the
Father; through him all things were made”);
the other in its relationship to the world as
Saviour, through incarnation, death on the
cross, resurrection, ascension (“For us men
and for our salvation he came down from
heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For
our sake he was crucified under Pontius
Pilate he suffered death and was buried and
rose again on the third day in accordance
with the Scriptures. He ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of
the Father. He will come again in glory to
judge the living and the dead and his
kingdom will have no end.”)
Jesus reveals himself as the Son of God (Lk 10:21-22): “At that time Jesus rejoiced in the Holy
Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these
things from the wise and the intelligent, and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for such
was your gracious will. All things have been handed to me by my Father. No one knows who the
Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to who the Son
chooses to reveal him.” Here Jesus declares that the Lord of heaven and earth is his Father; this
is an incredible statement; Jesus is not only a man but the very Son of God; as Son, he offers
access to the personal mystery of God: every human person is invited to take a stand before
this possibility.
The same doctrine is found in the Letter to the Hebrews (1:1-4). “Long ago God spoke to our
ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us
by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he also created the worlds.
He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all
things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high.”
In this way, Christ is the key who allows
entry into the intimacy of the Trinity; he
comes to make it known to us and to
bring us into it. He is God (we say
‘consubstantial’ with the Father, that is
to say, of the same substance and of the
same nature as him) and He is man (he took on human nature by being incarnate in the womb
of the Virgin Mary). He is consubstantial with us as well.
Other passages from Holy Scripture show the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption. In
his Letter to the Philippians (2:6-11), Saint Paul writes:
June13, 2013
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
8
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited;
But, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death
even death on a cross!
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the Name that is above every name,
so that at the Name of Jesus
every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
5-
see that Jesus was ‘in
InthethisformtextofweGod’.
He took the ‘form
of a servant’ and took on ‘human
likeness’: this is what the Church
professes in the mystery of the
Incarnation (the second person of the
Holy Trinity who takes on human
nature). To get an idea of this
incredible ‘humbling’ on God’s part, I
give an example: the President of a
great country who plays on the floor
with his children; he forgets the
grandeur of the position he holds in
order to make himself small; love alone
is capable of making one so small!
When we think of the grandeur and the
majesty of God, we can only be
astounded that he wanted to humble
himself to the point of taking on
human nature.
6- Saint Paul continues by saying that
Jesus became ‘obedient to death, even
death on a cross”. This is the great
reality of the Love of God who went as
far as to take upon himself what is most
June13, 2013
painful about the human condition:
death. We could re-read the story of the
Passion of Jesus to remind ourselves
how serious his love for humanity was
or the magnificent text of the prophet
Isaiah (Is 53) who proclaims the
sufferings of the Servant of God. By
taking suffering and death on himself,
the Lord Jesus shows the depth of his
love: a little like parents who suffer the
pain of their sick children.
7- God ‘exalted’ him through the
resurrection and ‘gave him the Name’:
in his human nature, from now on, the
Son is full of the glory of God: his body
is glorified, filled with the Spirit. As a
result we can now profess that ‘Jesus
Christ is Lord’.
In this way, Jesus is not simply an
ordinary human; he is the very Son of
God who took upon himself the most
painful aspect of our human condition;
he gave us access to eternal life.
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
9
Spiritual Exercises
a. Slowly go back over the prayer that Jesus taught us: the ‘Our Father ‘. In so doing,
enter into his action of loving adoration of the Father.
b. Express our faith in the mystery of the Incarnation « for us and for our salvation ».
Make a habit of reciting the Angelus.
c. Read one of the four Gospels.
d. Kneel before a picture of the Lord Jesus and tell him again of our faith.
e. Make the sign of the cross reverently by reminding ourselves that it was through
the Cross that Jesus showed us how great is God’s love for us.
f. Kiss the cross that we wear around our neck or the one on our rosary.
g. Look at the crosses on the walls of our homes or put one up if it is not already
there.
h. Salute the crosses on the steeples of our churches or the ones found at the
junction of some roads.
i. Recognize the presence of the Lord in particular in the sacrament of the Eucharist:
« This is my Body … This is my Blood ». Express adoration and gratitude for this
great mystery through which Jesus continues his Incarnation among us. Spend
some time at church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
j. Invite our young people to greet with respect the Lord Jesus present in the
tabernacle of our churches.
8) The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity.
A s it did for Christ, the Creed distinguishes
two aspects of the Holy Spirit: within the
Holy Trinity, (« I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life who proceeds from
the Father and the Son, who with the Father
and the Son is adored and glorified”); in his
relationship to the world, (“ who has spoken
through the prophets”) and his presence in
the Church.
The presence of the Holy Spirit was already known in the Old Testament. We see him beginning
with the story of the Creation of the world: « a wind from God swept over the face of the
waters » (Gen 1 :2). We see him acting in the lives of the prophets that he inspires in order to
transmit the word of God; they acknowledge his presence, as coming from God but not as being
God himself. In the life of Jesus, the Spirit is obviously present in a more marked way: it is under
his intervention that his immaculate conception happens (Lk 1 :35); at Jesus’ Baptism, he rests
on him in the form of a dove (Mt 3:16); when he begins preaching, Jesus declares: « The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me.» (Lk 4:17).
June13, 2013
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
10
J
esus promises to give the Spirit to his
disciples: “And I will ask the Father, and
he will give you another advocate to be with
you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth whom
the world cannot receive, because it neither
sees him nor knows him. You know him,
because he abides with you and will be in
you. I will not leave you orphaned; I am
coming to you” » (Jn 14:16-18). This Spirit
enlightens the intelligence of believers, by
making them preserve and deepen the
word of Jesus: “But the Advocate, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you everything and remind
you of all that I have said to you » (Jn 14,
26); « He will guide you into all the truth”
(Jn 16, 13).
The Spirit was given to the disciples
gathered on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2 :111). His manifestation in the form of
tongues of fire signifies
that the mission of the
Church consists of
proclaiming the Gospel
(language: necessity of
speaking); but these are tongues of fire: the
hearts of believers should be burning with
love, like those of the disciples of Emmaus
who were impassioned by Christ (Lk 24:32).
This fire represents well the Spirit who is
love, uniting the Father and the Son and
uniting the disciples among them and with
God in order to send them out onto the
pathways of the world.
We received the Holy Spirit at Baptism and at Confirmation. We were invited to let him rise up
in us. He teaches us to pray and to love, as Saint Paul in his Letter to the Romans (8: 14-17; 2627) points out:
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. For you did not receive a
spirit of slavery to fall back into fear; but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry,
“Abba, Father”, it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ …
Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how as we ought, but that very
Spirit himself intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows
the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Spirit distributes particular gifts to
Theeveryone
for the good of the Church.
“Now they are varieties of gifts, but the
same Spirit; an there are varieties of service,
but the same Lord. There are varieties of
activities, but it is the same God who
activates all of them in everyone. To each is
given the manifestation of the Spirit for the
common good. To one is given through the
Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to
another the utterance of knowledge
June13, 2013
according to the same Spirit, to another
faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of
healing by that one Spirit, to another the
working of miracles, to another prophecy, to
another the discernment of spirits, to
another various kinds of tongues, and to
another the interpretation of tongues. All
these are activated one and the same Spirit,
who allots to each one individually just as
the Spirit chooses them to.” (I Co 12:4-11).
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
11
In this way, we are invited to be attentive to the Holy Spirit, who enlightens our minds and
warms our hearts and who unites us to others in charity.
Spiritual Exercises:
Reiterate our faith in the Holy Spirit as the Church teaches us to do.
Ask the Holy Spirit to dwell in our prayer.
Recognize the gifts of the Spirit present in me and in others.
Ask for the grace of discernment: « Do not quench the Spirit … test all prophecies; hold
on to what is good, (I Thess. 5: 19-21)
5- Repeat the prayers of the Church to the Holy Spirit: Come Creator Spirit
6- Re-read the sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that present the mystery
of the Holy Trinity and the Three Divine Persons :
a. I Believe in God (n. 199-231)
b. The Trinity (n. 232-267)
c. The Almighty (n. 268-278)
d. Creator (n. 279-373)
e. Jesus Christ, The Only Son of God (n. 422-682)
f. The Holy Spirit (n. 683-747)
7- Re-read the encyclicals of Pope John Paul II on the Father (Dives in misericordia,
November 30, 1980), on the Son (Redemptor Hominis, March 4, 1979) and the Spirit
(Dominum et vivificantem, May 18, 1986); see also (Deus Caritas est, by H.H. Benedict
XVI, December 25, 2005)
1234-
9) With these few considerations about the mystery of God, we have learned more about the
Lord in who we have put our trust: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who dwell in our
souls and in the Church.
Obviously the Holy Trinity remains a mystery that our minds cannot understand perfectly;
nonetheless we can experience them, as the saints who marked the history of the Church
testified. We can immerse ourselves in God as in a sea, just as suggested by Baptism, that
literally means immersion.
We can however come to some understanding of this mystery. In his preaching, Saint Patrick
kept returning to the image of the shamrock in order to help the faithful grasp the idea of the
Trinity: three leaves form the shamrock, like Three Persons form the Trinity.
Augustine provided an important
Saint
contribution in this effort to understand.
He began with the assertion of the Bible
that the human being was created in the
image of God (Gen 1: 27). If man is the
image of God, he must bear some
June13, 2013
resemblance to the original: with faith
teaching that God is Trinity, there must be
some reflection of the Trinity in the
constitution of the human being.
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
12
Saint Augustine recognized three distinct
faculties and connections in the human
soul: memory, intelligence and will.
Memory is the faculty that stores
information; it is the basis for the
functioning of the personality (we know
that when it is disturbed, everything else is
affected: for example with Alzheimer’s).
Intelligence is the faculty that analyzes the
data of the memory, puts it in order and
grasps the value of it: it seeks truth,
distinguishes truth from error. The will is
the faculty that enables us, from what
memory and intelligence preserve, to seek
what is good and avoid what is evil. The
three faculties therefore are different but
are united and form the personality. They
don’t always function perfectly in the
human being: through my intelligence, I
might know that a certain thing is damaging
to my health but my will is not strong
enough to deprive myself of it; on the other
hand, I cannot want to have something that
I do not know: we say that love comes after
understanding. In God, the Father is the
source, the Son is the expression of the
Father and the Spirit is the love that results.
Saint Augustine’s approach, beginning with the three faculties of the human soul, enable us to
think that the mystery of the Holy Trinity is not contrary to human reason and can be grasped in
part. We must nevertheless remind ourselves that God is infinitely greater than we are: that
what we understand about God does not exhaust all of his mystery as the anecdote about the
child wanting to put the sea into a hole recalls. We have a real grasp of God (like the sea water
that the child puts into the hole: it really is sea water); but there is
still infinitely more to discover, like the immense sea. Love (charity)
is indispensable in order to understand God: this is what makes us
touch and encounter him more, in the same way that we really
know a person to the extent that we love them.
Hoping that these few reflections will help you to better understand and love the Lord our God
in this Year of Faith, I wish each of you an enjoyable summer and assure you of my blessing.
+ Serge Poitras
Bishop of Timmins
June 13, 2013, Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, Patron of the Diocese of Timmins
June13, 2013
«I know the one in whom I have put my trust »
13
Diocèse de Timmins / Diocese of Timmins
http://www.dioctims.ca