The Cabinet should learn from the Holy Trinity

Jesus said to his disciples: “… when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

– The Gospel of Saint John, 16:13-15

BEFORE the headline topic about the June 12 Trinity Sunday Mass readings, a very telling note on America’s wish to station missile forces in the country. When this writer asked a top Filipino diplomat about such a strategy mentioned by a leading Washington think-tank in its open letter last year to then new United States President Joseph Biden, the envoy cast doubt on the plan.

This undated photo shows an image of the Holy Trinity at St. Michel Church in France. IMAGE BY DAVID MARK VIA PIXABAY

Sadly and worrisomely, it’s true: the US does want to put projectiles in the country. Intermediate-range missiles, to be exact, according to a new study out last week by the RAND Corp., a top research institution funded by the American military.

“Ground-Based Intermediate-Range Missiles in the Indo-Pacific: Assessing the Position of US Allies” by Jeffrey Hornung with support from the US Air Force “analyzes the likelihood of US treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific region — Australia, Japan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Thailand — hosting US conventionally armed GBIRMs,” the projectiles named in the title.

The paper concludes that “across all five US allies, the likely receptivity to hosting such systems is very low as long as current domestic political conditions and regional security trends hold” (www.rand.org/t/RRA393-3).

That was the situation when the report was originally submitted to the US Air Force in October 2020. Nearly two years later, however, a new leader takes office on June 30 in the Philippines, and America will likely see if GBIRMs may be more acceptable now.

Notably, too, among the five allies mentioned, the Philippines has the greatest need for economic and military support. Uncle Sam’s inducements to accept its GBIRMs would wield more sway here than in Australia, Japan, South Korea or Thailand.

On this Philippine Independence Day, the 12th of June 2022, let our nation remember to never again fall under the sway of powerful countries seeking to use our land for their plans and purposes to the endangerment of our people.

Not ego, but alter ego

Turning to the headline topic, the key lesson for Cabinet members and other appointees of the president is in our Lord’s words in the above-quoted Mass Gospel reading for the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity, the greatest mystery of Christianity about the nature of God Himself.

In Trinitarian Christianity, God has three Persons, all partaking of His divinity, but distinct from one another: God the Father, who generates God the Son, and their love for each other is God the Holy Spirit.

Without getting into an extended explanation of the doctrine, one can highlight one paramount aspect of the Trinity, especially in relation to the world: Son and Spirit bring the Father’s truth, love and will to creation.

The Son Jesus Christ showed the Father, preached his truth and fulfilled his will on earth. And after the Son ascended to heaven, the Spirit was sent into the world to continue imparting divine truth and guiding the Church for the salvation of the world.

In the words of our Lord, the Spirit “will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

And what does Christ have? The Father, for as Jesus spelled out, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me … The Father and I are one” (John 14:11, 10:30).

So, what’s all that supposed to teach the Cabinet and other officials appointed by the president?

In a phrase, alter ego.

Just as the Son and the Spirit convey the truth and carry out the will of the Father, so should the officials appointed by the President wield authority and power as his alter egos. So, no egos, but only alter egos.

The reason for this is constitutional: the president…