On Friday, my baby sister Sherry and I went to see Aladdin at The Playhouse Square. We had a wonderful time being together and experiencing that childhood movie that was brought to life on stage.
For me, the biggest mystery is how they made that carpet fly. The magic carpet was actually amazing if you saw it. I still don’t know how they did it, and I spent too long on Google trying to figure it out.
In the story of Aladdin, we hear the story of this street rat. This “diamond in the rough” that finds this magic lantern. He is granted three wishes, and the first wish that he makes is to become a prince.
Why does he make a wish to become a prince?
He makes the wish because he wants to marry the princess. By marrying the princess, he will become the king of this kingdom.
We may think that is a far off tale, but I know of some people that actually woke up the other day at five o’clock in the morning to watch the Royal Wedding. I did not get up at five in the morning to watch the Royal Wedding. I couldn’t care less. As a matter of fact, I have been trying to find out why it was such a big deal.
So, I asked, “Why is this so important? Why is everybody watching this?” They said, “It’s Prince Harry. It is a big deal.” I asked, “Does that mean he’s going to be king?” They said, “Well, no.” So I asked, “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
They responded, “Well, he’s not the first in line.” I asked “How far down the line is he?” They said “He is sixth in line!” Five other people have to die for him to be king.
It was still fascinating for people to watch because we love this whole idea of kingship. I looked at frequently asked questions on Google and one of the most frequently asked questions was “How do you get tickets?”
Well, you couldn’t. You were not going to get a ticket. I think 500 people got tickets. There were thousands of people outside watching, and then the rest of us watched on TV at five in the morning.
We have this whole desire to be part of something big – part of a kingdom – because the kingdom for us is a place that seems to be all-powerful and a place where you are going to be provided for. You are going to be taken care of. You are going to inherit the kingdom of God.
Well, the wonderful thing is, in Baptism, we are baptized as priest, prophet and king. So, if you have three wishes, you already have the first one granted. You are already king. That is a wonderful and amazing thing.
We hear about this in the second reading. St. Paul says, “The Spirit Himself will bear witness to this that we are children of God.” We are His children. “And if we are His children, then we are heirs, and if heirs in the Kingdom of God then joint heirs with Christ.”
So that means we are not sixth in line, we are not fifth in line, fourth in line, third in line. We are first in line. We are the heirs. Co-heirs with Christ of the Kingdom of God. You know what that means? The whole Kingdom is ours. God wants to give us his entire Kingdom.
So, that’s the first wish that Aladdin wishes for. The second is for freedom. He finds himself trapped in a cave. He wishes for freedom, and he finds himself free. The third wish he so beautifully gives to the genie. The genie himself is trapped in the bottle, and he wants his freedom, too. So, Aladdin grants him freedom.
And, ultimately, that’s what it means to be a child of God. We are free.
We are going to have a few Baptisms after Mass here. These babies will be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit – just as we were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Today we celebrate the Trinity that we have: God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are constantly in union. They are constantly in communion, and in our Baptism, we are brought into that union.
We’re brought into that wonderful mystery of the Trinity with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We become in relationship with Him. It is so amazing. I know often times we look at our lives, and we look at the world, and we think about what we wish we had. I wish I had that. I wish I had a bigger house. I wish I had a better job. I wish I . . . you know, whatever. But, if we realize what we do have, we realize we have it all.
We are His children. He is our Father, and He wants to give to us the entire Kingdom of God.
So, as we celebrate this wonderful feast of the Trinity, just always remember that. No matter what happens in our lives, we have God the Father that is providing for us on such a lavish scale. We are first in line. We are heirs of the Kingdom of God, and He is just delighted that we may inherit His Kingdom.
And so in Baptism, you’re baptized priest, prophet and king. We can all celebrate that we got the best seats in the house. We got the tickets to the celebration. We are heirs to the Kingdom of God, and we are members of the Trinity.
