Cycle B - Year I:  

30 May 2021:  Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40

Second Reading:   Romans 8:14-17

Gospel:  Please Read  Matthew 28:16-20

"Go and make disciples of all nations!"

Let us begin our Sunday reflection today.... in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The sign of the cross is the "trademark" of every Christian.  How often do we make the sign of the cross?  Do we cross ourselves as we wake up in the morning, and at night time before we sleep?

Every time we make the sign of the cross, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" we actually profess and proclaim the most important truth in our Catholic faith:  One God, one Lord, yet three divine Persons equal in majesty.

This Sunday is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Church celebrates Trinity Sunday a week after Pentecost Sunday.  Trinity Sunday honors the most fundamental of Christian beliefs -- belief in the Holy Trinity.

On Trinity Sunday the Church proclaims with joy and thanksgiving what the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have done to accomplish the salvation of sinful humanity.  We honor the Father as our Creator, the Son as our Savior, and the Holy Spirit as our Comforter.

Now let us tackle the pivotal question:  What do we understand about the Holy Trinity?

The human mind can never fully understand the mystery of the Trinity, but we can sum it up in the following formula:  God is three Persons in one Nature.  There is only one God, and the three Persons of God -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit --are all equally God and They cannot be divided.

So then, the Holy Trinity is admittedly the most difficult to comprehend and even more difficult to fully communicate with human words.  We end up acknowledging that the Trinitarian character of God will always be, in reality, a great mystery.  In fact, this would be easily the shortest Gospel commentary: the Trinity is a mystery, and that is the end of the story.

Yet, the Church did not invent the teaching on the Trinity. Jesus Himself revealed this mystery of the Trinity to us through the first disciples.  Thus, the doctrine of the Trinity developed first out of the Scriptures and communal prayer of the early Church.  The doctrine was officially formulated at the Councils of Nicea (325) and Constantinople (381).

Today's Gospel proclamation is from St. Matthew.  Jesus commands the Apostles to go out to all nations and teach as well as baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."  Again, here we have God revealing Himself to us as a communion of three divine Persons.  So God Himself shares with us the truth about Himself, by revealing to us His real identity.

In the Gospel narrative, Jesus spoke to His disciples and said: "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  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." (Mt 28:18-19)  Thus, the second part of today's festivity is the "Great Commissioning" of the first disciples and their mission was to share with people of all nations what Jesus had taught them.

This commissioning of the first disciples goes down to us in our generation.  By our baptism, we are also "commissioned" to preach the Gospel every day, right where we are.  We can preach the Gospel every day by what we say, how we say it, what we do and how we do it.  In other words, we preach the Gospel by living authentic Christian life.  Because if we choose to preach the Gospel, we simply need to live our lives in a loving and generous way.

In Holy Mass, let us give glory to God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- one God, three divine Persons-- from whom everything in the world and in history comes, and to whom everything returns, in time.

A blessed Holy Trinity Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!