Dn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56
2 Cor 13:11-13
Jn 3:16-18
On the first Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate and honor God's character as the Most Holy Trinity.
The first reading shows us the Father, as he parented the baby nation of Israel. We see that he is "a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and faithfulness" — the Perfect Father. If we have difficulty seeing him this way, our spirits need healing. We have to mentally differentiate him from our human dads and other authority figures who've imperfectly modeled God.
The second reading shows us the entire Trinity: the grace of Jesus, the love of the Father, and our friendly partnership with the Holy Spirit. In this and because of this, we are to rejoice, mend our ways, and live in peace with one another.
In other words, because Jesus bore our sins as he died on the cross and then conquered death, he provides us with grace so that we can resist sin, and he provides us with the Father's love so that we can love one another no matter what, and he provides us with the Holy Spirit, who fellowships with us and empowers us so that we can continually live as holy Christians.
The Gospel reading shows us the depth of the Father's love. He doesn't condemn us for our sins; he gives us his Son to rescue us from condemnation. Our sins condemn us and sentence us to eternal death, but Jesus saves us from this by taking us to eternal life — IF we want him to!
Questions for Personal Reflection:
Which Person of the Trinity do you know the least? Or feel distant from? Or fear? How have human relationships interfered with feeling God's closeness?
Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
Which Person of the Trinity do you feel you know the best? Why? How is the Trinity the perfect example of a good, loving, healthy relationship?
Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman with the "Sunday Soundbite" for Trinity Sunday.
As a friar, it sometimes happens that when I've planned a trip by car that another member of my community asks to ride along. I confess it makes me stop and think: Do I want to spend hours in the car with that person? Traveling with another person means forming a relationship or building on one.
In today's first reading, Moses asks God to "come along in our company," to travel with the Israelites to the Promised Land. Moses admits they are "stiff-necked"—perhaps not the best traveling companions.
But in reality, it's God who's invited Israel on this trip. And God will supply what's needed to get them to their destination. Their relationship with God will be life-giving.
Today on Trinity Sunday, we celebrate a divine relationship—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three divine persons, one God. Understanding how that relationship works may be more than we can comprehend. But understanding what that relationship means is essential.
Through the Trinity we have strength to live in relationship to one another. As today's second reading says: We're to encourage one another and live in peace—and the God of love and peace will, in effect, "come along in our company." Such a relationship is God's plan for us.
The Gospel tells us that in what is perhaps the New Testament's most famous quote, John 3:16—God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.
•Blessed are you who look into the depths. (Daniel 3:55)
•The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. (2 Corinthians 13:13)
•God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Reflection:
•If you were able to look past the superficiality that is the world and peer into the depth that is your being what would you find residing in that place?
•What is the only way out of the inherent conflict that is the world? How did you find this way?
When I consent to the will and mercy of God as it comes to me in the events of life appealing to my inner self and awakening my faith, I break through the superficial exterior appearances that forms my routine vision of the world and my own self, and I find myself in the presence of hidden majesty. It may appear to me that this majesty and presence is something objective, “outside myself.”…Yet this is a majesty that we do not see with our eyes and it is within ourselves. It is the mission of the Word and Spirit, from the Father, in the depths of my own being. It is a majesty communicated to us, shared with us, so that our whole being is filled with the gift of glory and responds with adoration.
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