Solemnity of the Holy Trinity (Cycle C, Year II)
Community Word: The Holy Spirit teaches those who keep the word of God.
Theme: We keep the word of God when we speak of the glory of God.
Promise: “…the Spirit of truth will guide you…” (Jn 16:13a)
Reflection:
This Sunday, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, John’s gospel tells us how God imparts the wisdom of His Word to us, that we may share in the life of the Trinity in this unique revelation of God’s identity (Jn 16:12-15) as a Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which we sometimes refer to as the Holy Trinity.
Understandably, as we go through the Gospel narrative, God’s word overwhelms us with wonder and bewilderment. Humanity could never have conceived of a Triune God. By human calculations and logic, we cannot understand how three can be one, and one is three. But the Church teaches us that although there is but one God, yet, somehow, there are three Persons in this one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet, we do not speak of three gods, but of only one God. The Church further clarifies that even though the Three Persons are One God, yet they are distinct from one another: the Father has no origin, He came from no one. But the Son is begotten, He comes from the Father. The Holy Spirit comes or proceeds from both the Father and the Son. These distinctions in origin tells us there are three distinct Persons, who have one and the same divine nature. The Church also explains that while everything the Three Persons do outside the Divine nature is done by all Three, yet it is suitable for us to attribute some works specifically to one or the other Person. So we speak of the Father specifically as the power behind creation, the Son as the wisdom of the Father, of the Holy Spirit as goodness and sanctification.
We must therefore celebrate this great solemnity, not by trying to figure out the concept of the Trinity, or how it works, but by opening our hearts to a deeper relationship with our God, who is love. We can have a relationship with each, or all Three Persons in the Trinity.
More importantly, we must internalize and celebrate the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity in our Christian life of faith, because it was revealed to us by Christ Himself. Indeed it is a direct expression of God’s profound love for all mankind. The Holy Trinity has therefore become the central mystery of our Christian faith and life. Perhaps it is the deepest and most profound of all mysteries. It is the mystery of God in Himself, and therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, as well as the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith”. The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – reveals Himself to men “and reconciles and unites with Himself those who turn away from sin.”
The Holy Trinity is a Church doctrine that provides a strong foundation to our Christian life and worship in the BLD Community. By becoming man, God the Son offered us a share in the inner life of the Trinity. By grace, we are brought into the perfect communion of life and love, which is God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This sharing in the life of the Trinity is meant to culminate in heaven, where we will see the three Persons face to face, united with them in unspeakable love.
Within the BLD Community, our observance of the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity renews in us every year the joy and awesomeness of faith. It is not a sentimental, emotional kind of love but the love of the Father who is the origin of all life, the love of the Son who dies on the Cross and is raised, the love of the Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who renews human beings and the world. Thinking that God is love does us so much good, because it teaches us to love and to give of ourselves to others, as Jesus gave himself to us and walks with us on the road through life.
Prayer:
Blessed be God the Father, and the Only Begotten Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, as we pray and seek for the gift of love which we may share with our brothers and sisters in the BLD community.
Reflection Questions:
1. Have I ever entertained any doubt on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
May 22, 2016 (Sun) Prv 8:22-31/Ps 8:4-5,6-7,8-9/Rom 5:1-5/Jn 16:12-15
May 23, 2016 (Mon) 1 Pt 1:3-9/Ps 111:1-2,5-6,9,10/Mk 10:17-27
May 24, 2016 (Tue) 1 Pt 1:10-16/Ps 98:1,2-3,3-4/Mk 10:28-31
May 25, 2016 (Wed) 1 Pt 1:18-25/Ps 147:12-13,14-15,19-20/Mk 10:32-45
May 26, 2016 (Thu) 1 Pt 2:2-5,9-12/Ps 100:2,3,4,5/Mk 10:46-52
May 27, 2016 (Fri) 1 Pt 4:7-13/Ps 96:10,11-12,12/Mk 11:11-26
May 28, 2016 (Sat) Jud 17:20-25/Ps 63:3-4,5-6/Mk 11:27-33
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
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