Cycle C - Year I:  

16 June 2019: Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Proverbs 8:22-31

Second Reading:   Romans 5:1-5

Gospel:  Please Read  John 16:12-15

Our God is a Triune God!

What do we understand by "a Triune God"?

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity holds that God is one God, but three co-eternal con-substantial persons-- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-- as "one God in three divine Persons".   

The Church celebrates this Sunday the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the most fundamental of our faith. On it everything else depends and from it everything else derives. Hence the Church's constant concern to safeguard the revealed truth that God is One in nature and Three in Persons.

This doctrine on the Holy Trinity is 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, the shortest Gospel commentary is that the Trinity is a mystery, and that is the end of the story.

It is important to mention though that the Church did not invent the teaching on the Holy Trinity. Because it is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who revealed this mystery of the Trinity to us through the first disciples.

So in this Sunday's Gospel from the evangelist St. John, Jesus reveals to us God's real identity in the Trinitarian mystery:

"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But 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." (Jn 16:12-15)

But does the Church teaching on the Trinity make sense at all to us today?  The answer is "yes", and it does greatly help us to grow in faith and strengthens us in practical ways of our Christian living.

First of all, God allows us to know Him more intimately as He truly is in the Trinitarian mystery. Because we cannot love Him unless we know Him: one God in three divine Persons. Thus, He reveals Himself to us as a divine family. And we are all invited to be part of that family.

In the words of St. John Paul II: "God in His deepest mystery is not a solitude, but a family, since He has in Himself fatherhood, sonship, and love, which is the essence of the family."

Second, because we know that God is a communion of persons, we who are made in His image and likeness are likewise made to be in a relationship with God and with each other. We are made to be communal beings, meant to live for others. This is the nature of love and the nature of God who formed us in His image.

And finally, through the Holy Trinity God reveals Himself to us as a family, a loving communion of persons. So, therefore, our family should be a communion of life  and love modeled after the Trinity. It is in the family that we first learn some important lessons about Christian living, like sharing, about being patient and forgiving. It is in the family that we also learn how to practice a selfless, sacrificial love that is an image of the selfless love of the Trinity.

So in sum, the doctrine on the Holy Trinity tells us something about who God is, and tells us something about ourselves, too, made in His image and likeness.  In the Eucharist at Holy Mass, let us give glory to God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit-- one God, three Persons-- from Whom everything in the world and in history comes, and to whom everything returns, in time. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year I:  

9 June 2019: Pentecost Sunday 

(Liturgical Color: Red)

Readings:

First Reading:        Acts 2:1-11

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

Gospel:  Please Read  John 20:19-23

The birth of the Church....

 Today is Pentecost Sunday. The word Pentecost is from the Greek work "pentekoste" and it means "50th day". Because fifty days after Easter Sunday the Church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and their followers. And this begins their earthly ministry to make disciples of all nations.

The First Reading today describes this great event, thus: "suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues..." (Acts 2:1-4)

On the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to an end, Christ's Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person.

Now Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church because from that point on the Apostles carried the message of Christ to the whole world. The authority that Christ gave His Apostles through the Holy Spirit extends through the bishops today. The Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church. In fact, St. Augustine said that the Holy Spirit was the soul of the Church. Just as the soul gives life to the body, so also the Spirit gives life to the Church.

Typically priests will wear red garments on Pentecost, and the alter cloth is also red, symbolic of the burning fire of God's love  and the tongues of fire that descended on the Apostles.

The evangelist John shares with us the Gospel for this Sunday, which speaks about the first encounter of the risen Lord with His disciples.

When the resurrected Christ appears, He offers proof of His resurrection by showing the disciples the wounds of His passion, His pierced hands and side. Then He calmed their fears and brought them peace, the peace which reconciles sinners and makes one a friend of God.

Then Jesus commissioned His previously weak and timid Apostles to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. He breathed on them the gift of the Holy Spirit to equip His disciples with power, grace, and strength to accomplish their great mission to the world.

Until today in our generation, we, too, are empowered by the same Holy Spirit to continue the missionary work, to face challenges of our time, especially in matters of faith and morality.

In sum, after Our Lord Jesus' ascension to heaven, it is now the turn of the Holy Spirit to continue His saving work through the disciples and our Holy Mother Church. The Holy Spirit is the one who will gather and unite men and women of every race and tongue in one body and one faith.

Finally, today we greet ourselves and the whole Church a Happy Birthday, or Happy Anniversary, or Happy Foundation Day, as we mark a fresh start for all of us as the New Church, the People of God, in journey toward the Father's house in heaven. Amen.

Happy Pentecost Sunday to everyone. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!