Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 06-03-12, Solemnity, Most Holy Trinity

Meditation: Matthew 28:16-20

The Most Holy Trinity

Go, therefore… (Matthew 28:19)

Have you ever started to leave a friend’s house, but then turned turn back to say: “Oh, and one more thing… .” That’s kind of what Jesus does here. Just before he ascends into heaven, he turns to his apostles and tells them one more thing: “Go … and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Teach them. Tell them what you know. Make them students of my life, my Father’s love, and the power of the Spirit. Baptize them—immerse them—in all that it means.

Those words are for us, too. Tell people who the Father is, who the Son is, and who the Holy Spirit is. So here are a few things we can all meditate on today so that we are better equipped to go out and “make disciples” ourselves.

The Father: He is the creator of the universe who holds us close to his heart. His voice thunders in the heavens and whispers quiet words of love in our hearts. He is supreme above all things. He knows us completely and loved us absolutely before we were even conceived.

The Son: He is the image of the invisible God, divine love in human form. Jesus opened the gates of heaven for us and all who believe and are baptized. On the cross, he restored our relationship with God, bringing us back into his embrace. He rescued us from sin and death, and set our feet in the way of peace.

The Spirit: He is a divine gift given to guide and direct us. He leads us in all truth and teaches us God’s mind. Through his indwelling presence, we grow more loving, patient, and joyful. He gives us words of understanding, comfort, and instruction for our day. And he gives us the energy we need to do the things God has called us to do.

Immerse yourself in these truths today. Then go and teach them, remembering that Jesus is always with you!

“Holy Trinity, help me experience your love and life more today, and to tell everyone about you.”

Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion

(Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40; Romans 8:14-17; Psalm 33:4-6,9,18-20,22; Matthew 28:16-20)

1. In the first reading, Moses’ reminds the people of the great works that God performed to rescue them from slavery in Egypt and to form them into his people. God has done the same for us in rescuing us from slavery to sin and forming us into his people. How would you present these truths of God’s saving works through Jesus Christ? How would you present the incredible truth that God emptied himself and became man, suffered and died in our place, and sent his Spirit so that we could share his very life?

2. The Responsorial Psalm ends with, “Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield. May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us who have put our hope in you.” What part of your life do you give to God, “who is our help and our shield?” In what ways do you withhold part of your life from God’s help and protection?

3. The second reading says that we can call God “Abba,” the Hebrew word for “daddy,” a term of love and childlike familiarity. Do you view God the Father as a loving and tender father or as a strict enforcer of his commandments (like a cop in the sky)? What steps can you take to change your view of your Heavenly Father and develop a deeper and more intimate relationship with him?

4. The Gospel presents an expression of our faith in the triune God, in whose name we were each baptized. Have you ever reflected on the graces of God, received in the Sacrament of Baptism and through faith in Jesus Christ? In what ways should such reflections cause us to praise and adore God for showing us his mercy and giving us a share in his divine life? How much time each day do you spend praising and thanking God for what he has done for you?

5. The meditation summarizes key attributes of the Trinity. What has God been teaching you this Easter season about himself? What steps have you taken, or what additional steps can you take, to develop a more personal relationship with the Father who loves you? The Son who redeemed you? And the Holy Spirit present within you in power?

6. The meditation also encourages us to “Tell people who the Father is, who the Son is, and who the Holy Spirit is” and then ends with these words: “Immerse yourself in these truths today. Then go and teach them, remembering that Jesus is always with you!” What are the obstacles that keep you from telling people (family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc) about the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and how you have experienced it in your own life?

7. Take some time to pray for the grace to know and experience more deeply the love and life of the Trinity, and to say yes to the Lord’s call to proclaim it to others. Also ask the Lord to reveal to you those who most need to hear it. Use the prayer at the end of the mediation as the starting point.

1 and 1 and 1 Makes One. A meditation on the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

A Christian Pilgrim

I

N THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.

A biblical reflection on TRINITY SUNDAY – June 3, 2012)

Gospel Reading: Matthew 28:16-20

First Reading: Deut 4:32-34,39-40; Psalms: Ps 33:4-6,9,18-19,20,22, Second Reading: Rom 8:14-17

The Scripture Text

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Mt 28:16-20 RSV)

The Sign of the Cross is more than a routine procedure to begin and end a prayer. It is a prayer; a very profound one. This visible sign is a powerful profession of our faith in the existence of the Holy Trinity. In fact it is a mini-liturgy, doing and saying something that is distinctively religious.

One of the ways to augment today’s celebration of the Feast of the Holy Trinity is to concentrate on the reverent use of this sacred sign.

We touch our heads showing our assent of faith, as we pronounce the name of the Father, our divine Creator. It is a dedication of our minds to God. Our fingertips next come to rest at the base of our hearts, symbols of love. We speak the name of the great Lover, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God-Man and Savior. The sign is concluded as the fingers move from one shoulder to the other, signifying eagerness to give our arms and hands to good works under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Finally the hands interlock, showing we are united and sigle-minded in our efforts. With this conclusive gesture we say “Amen” – so be it.

In the name of the Trinity we were signed in baptism, have had our sins forgiven and received many blessings. Although basic to our faith, the Trinity is not to be understood but professed and admired. Some people, desirous of solving every mystery, overly simplify God and claim to know His intimate nature and thoughts. They “interpret” the Bible avoiding scholarly assistance, which they say only complicates matters. This approach may be attractive but is not honest, for God is not simple, nor is religion.

We believe God is one nature but three persons, but the full meaning of those words is far beyond our poor comprehension. However, the Trinity is a unique model and sign of harmonious unity – a unity God expects to see in the daily lives of His children.

Every blessing of the Church flows from the Trinity, traced out through the Sign of the Cross. Under that sign we sealed our wedding vows, and that same familiar sign will bid us safe passage to the eternal Kingdom. May the Trinity Sunday inspire each and everyone of us to manifest faith with our minds, love with our hearts, service with our hands, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Short Prayer: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

A Christian Pilgrim

FACES OF GOD

(A biblical reflection on TRINITY SUNDAY – June 3, 2012)

First Reading: Deut 4:32-34,39-40; Psalms: Ps 33:4-6,9,18-19,20,22, Second Reading: Rom 8:14-17; Gospel Reading: Mt 28:16-20

In 1961 Dr. Carl R. Rogers published a book called On Becoming a Person. Since that time it has come to be recognized as a classic in psychotherapy. Its popularity is due in large part to its positive approach.

While Dr. Rogers does not deny the disorders, maladjustments and neuroses that trouble people, he prefers instead to emphasize the immense potential we have as persons to develop, to adapt and to grow.

According to Dr. Rogers, to “become a person” we have to focus more on our possibilities than on our problems, more on our freedom than on our restrictions, more on our capacity to create than on our past mistakes.

Perhaps we can take our cue from Dr. Rogers in our approach to the mystery of the Holy Trinity. In the Creed we confess that there is one God, but three Persons. Too often we have negative feelings about our faith in this mystery because we can’t adequately comprehend it, let alone explain it.

But if we adopt Dr. Rogers’ positive approach on becoming a human person and apply it to our perception of the three divine Persons, then perhaps our attitudes and feelings about this mystery will change for the better.

Scripture certainly does all it can to help us take such a positive approach.

The first reading does not dwell on what we do not know about God. It states quite simply that God is Lord of all, that He created us and that there is no other God (Deut 4:32-34,39-40).

In the second readingSt. Paul refuses to get fixated on our fears and on those things that enslaves us. Instead, he gets all excited about how we are led by the Spirit into God’s family, into true freedom and ultimate glory (Rom 8:14-17).

Finally, in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus does not make a lengthy speech to the apostles about how they should explain the Trinity. He just tells them to proclaim this teaching and to baptize people in the name of that Trinity (Mt 28:16-20).

The sacred authors thus take a very positive approach to the Trinity. A modern spiritual writer who does the same is Romano Guardini. In his book The Life of Faith, he views the mystery of the Trinity as revealing to us different faces of God.

First, there is the face of God as Father – the beginning and the end of Commandments, but also the God we address as “Our Father.” He is not only the God to whom Jesus referred in the parables, but also the God about whom Jesus could say, “The Father and I are one.”

Second, there is the face of God as Son. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the divine Word of God who took on our human nature. On the one hand, Jesus shows us the God who heals us and forgives us. On the other hand, He shows us the God who challenges us to higher things and sends us out to do His work.

Third, there is the face of God as Spirit. He is the Comforter who is always with us, the Paraclete who teaches us. The Spirit is the very breath of God giving us new life, the love of God poured out into our hearts and the power of God enabling us to become His witnesses.

As we profess our faith today in the trinity of Persons in the one God, may we also pray to them to help us become the kind of person we are meant to be – a true child of God our Father, a living image of Jesus His Son and a consecrated temple of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God, give us miserable ones the grace to do for You alone what we know You want us to do and always to desire what pleases You. Inwardly cleansed, interiorly enlightened and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, may we be able to follow in the footprints of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and, by Your grace alone, may we make our way to You, Most High, Who live and rule in perfect Trinity and simple Unity, and are glorified God almighty, forever and ever. Amen. (St. Francis ofAssisi, “A Letter to the Entire Order”, 50-52).

Marriage = One Man and One Woman

Til' Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for June 3, 2012:

“(B)ehold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:20) No matter how old you are, ponder what it might be like to grow older with your beloved. None of us know the number of days we have. Cherish each other now.

Sunday Scripture Study

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - Cycle B

June 3, 2012

Click here for USCCB readings

Opening Prayer

First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 36-40

Psalm: 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22

Second Reading: Romans 8:14-17

Gospel Reading: Matthew 28:16-20

This Sunday the Church celebrates the one of the great truths of our Faith: the mystery of one God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The revealed truth of the Holy Trinity is at the very root of the Church's living faith as expressed in the Creed. The mystery of the Trinity in itself is inaccessible to the human mind and is the object of faith only because it was revealed by Jesus Christ, the divine Son of the eternal Father (CCC 232, 237, 249, 253-256).

Looking at the Old Testament with our knowledge of the New, we can see that the Trinity was foreshadowed, though it was not taught in terms of one God in three Persons. One of the most commonly cited intimations of the doctrine of the Trinity is that God speaks to himself in Genesis by using a plural: "Let us make man in our image," and then we read "in the image of God he created him" (Genesis 1:26–27). The triple cry of the seraphim in Isaiah—"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:3)—is also thought to reflect the Trinity.

This Sunday’s reading takes place after Jesus’ resurrection appearances of the first week, the last of which was to Thomas and the other Apostles a week after Easter (John 20:26-29).

Whereas during his earthly ministry Jesus limited his message to Israel (Matthew 10:5-6), he now charges his disciples to make disciples of “all nations” thus fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham that “all nations” would be blessed (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:80).

Note that in directing them to make disciples of all nations, administer the Sacraments, and to teach (verses 19-20), Jesus instructs them to do so in the “name” (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That one name is what we call the Most Holy Trinity.

QUESTIONS:

Upon seeing the resurrected Jesus, how do the disciples respond (verse 17)? Why is doubt mingled with their worship? What do they doubt?

Of the three actions commanded of the disciples by Jesus (verses 19-20), is there one that is central? How are they to make disciples? Of whom? With what resources? To what end?

How much authority does Jesus have to give to his disciples when they are commissioned? In what ways can you fill this commission in the context of your family? Work? Community?

What is your experience with evangelizing? What is your attitude toward doing it? What do you think Jesus wants you to do with any fears you may have?

In what manner is Jesus with the Church always (verse 20; CCC 1374)?

How do you recognize the on-going presence of Jesus in your life? What do you do to encourage his presence there?

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 189, 232—267, 1122, 1257

This Trinity is one God from Whom, through Whom, and in Whom all things exist. --St. Augustine

Am I a Disciple?

Pastor’s Column

Trinity Sunday

June 3, 2012

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations….

and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

(from Matthew 28:16-20 Trinity Sunday Gospel)

A follower at the time of Christwould have literally been someone who accompanied the teacher wherever he journeyed. When Jesus walked the earth, he had many followers. Today we think of learning in a classroom while a professor lectures, for example, but in New Testament times, an eminent teacher would speak as he walked; those who accompanied him would follow along as he discoursed.

A disciple would have been someone who was committed to his or her teacher as an understudy, striving to become like the person they were learning from. A disciple of Jesus will be one who is committed to a relationship of life-long learning from the Master. Disciples, in turn, are then instructed to go and teach others about Jesus from what they themselves have learned from the Master.

An apostle would have been one specifically chosen by Jesus from among the disciples to form the core of his church. Today we would say that the bishops are the successors of the apostles. The words apostle and disciple are used interchangeably in the New Testament, but although one other apostle was later chosen to replace Judas, as these original apostles died they were replaced by local bishops leading Christian communities in the expanding church.

What about me? Am I a disciple of Jesus? A disciple of Jesus will be a life-long listener and learner. A disciple of Jesus will strive to be wherever Jesus is. In practice, all of us are called by Christ to be both learners and teachers. In my home, work, school, church, or daily activities, I will be teaching primarily by my example to others.

All of us, therefore, as disciples, are called to be life-long listeners and teachers by both word and example. We each have our little corner of this earthly vineyard to work. God doesn’t expect any more from us than that we make use of the talents he gave us in the place we find ourselves in today! What has Christ, your teacher and Master, taught you today? In what way have you as a disciple been called to teach others today? As his disciples, Christ has a daily lesson and assignment for us all.

Father Gary

The Most Holy Trinity: All for one and one for all

The Most Holy Trinity

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/060312.cfm

Deut 4: 32-34, 39-40

Rm 8: 14-17

Mt 28: 16-20

French author Alexandre Dumas penned a famous novel in 1844 about three colorful royal guards of the French King Louis XIII entitled The Three Musketeers. Their adventures are legendary as they fight and fence their way across France and England with a young man by the name of Comte d'Artagnan. It is clear they recognized the value of a common purpose and mission and we hear that in their cry often stated as they gallop off on horses with swords raised: “All for one and one for all!”

On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity we mark the foundation belief of Christianity. That God is three in One – equality of persons (as St. Thomas Aquinas teaches) known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit with a unity in action. The “all for one and one for all” maxim may give us some understanding of our belief as we profess faith in this three in one God.

We traditionally see God the Father as Creator, the Son as Savior and the Spirit as the living presence of God which sustains us and protects the Church. As we profess in our Creed each Sunday: “. . . God from God, light from light, true God from true God . . . consubstantial with the Father through him (Jesus) all things were made . . . he is seated at the right hand of the Father . . . I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son . . .”

Our Creed proclaims a unity of purpose and mind; a unity of action – “All for one and one for all.” In fact as we begin the Creed we state: “I believe in one God . . .” Though we speak of three persons, we would never proclaim: “I believe in one gods . . .” Because it is “three yet one, one yet three.”

Clear as mud? Well our God language is always one of “mystery” or “ineffability” or “eternal glory.” God is first and foremost for us a mystery beyond our human comprehension. The Catholic Catechism states: “The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the ‘mysteries that lie hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God.” (CC 237). St. Augustine famously said: “If you understood him, it would not be God.”

Where does this leave us? With some sort of divine puzzle or riddle meant to frustrate our modern scientific mind which is uncomfortable with any claim not verified through material evidence? “Sooner or later, we’ll figure this out“or “If we have no certifiable proof, it does not exist,” might be the present day technology based mantra. Yet, it seems to me that while we may not be able to comprehend the great mystery of the “Godhead” we can experience at least a reflection of his presence among us. The proof of his existence is found in persons, places and things. In the wonder and complexity of creation, of human life, and in all that we see, feel and touch.

This God, though a distance from us, desires to communicate with us. Biblical history is the story of God’s gradual revelation. He longs to come out of the shadows and speak to us the desire of his heart – which is love itself. The ultimate expression of this love was the incarnation – God made human among us in the person of Jesus the Christ. In Christ we see God’s desire and invitation. That “all may be one” as we hear Jesus pray at the Last Supper from the Gospel of John.

“Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (Jn 14:10). It is not that difficult to recognize through whom this great mystery of God was revealed to us by God himself in the person of Jesus. In essence, in Jesus God lifted the veil off of his face.

So, Christianity is a revealed religion. God reveals his hidden plan through Law, Prophets and his own Son in our midst. In the year 324 a.d. the gathering of bishops at Nicea declared the doctrine of the Trinity once for all. They responded to false teaching that the Son and Spirit were merely creatures. The Council Fathers forever set in granite, as it were, the truth of the Trinity, which we proclaim each Sunday in the Creed.

The end result of all this, of course, is not only what we believe but more importantly how we live in response to God’s great revelation. The first question, of Baltimore Catechism fame, is “Why did God make me?” Those of us old enough to have been formed by the good Sisters learned the proper answer to that question is: “To know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him in the next.” (Do I get a holy card for remembering?).

As priest for these 30 plus years, I have seen that truth lived out time and again. The mission of the Church is given by Jesus in the Gospel today: “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you . . . I am with you always until the end of the age.” (Mt 28: 19-20).

The Church offers us knowledge of God and once we know of God, we learn to love him and once we love him we feel compelled to serve him in his name. All of the ministries of education, faith formation, prayer, worship, service to the sick, poor and disadvantaged must be rooted in this great truth. They mirror the very person of God who has revealed himself to us as Lord and Savior; as breath and life. As priest, the dedication, holiness and excitement of the layity inspires me to do no less. In this way our faith, by its very nature and God presence, creates a sense of community among us. We become a kind of “all for one and one for all.” The very purpose of our Eucharitic celebration is to recognize the unity we share in Christ Jesus.

To know God, to love God, and to serve God is a simple yet challenging plan for each of our lives. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, andof the Holy Spirit. And, the retirement benefits are great on this one!

God our Father, who by sending into the world

the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification

made known to the human race your wondrous mystery,

grant us, we pray, that in professing the tru faith,

we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory

and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

(Collect of Sunday)

Fr. Tim

Insight Scoop

The invitation of the Trinitarian mystery

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, June 3, 2012, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Dt 4:32-34, 39-40
• Ps 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
• Rom 8:14-17
• Mt 28:16-20

The popular television show “Unsolved Mysteries,” was a documentary-styled program pursuing answers to crimes and strange events that had yet to be solved and explained. As the saying goes, everyone loves a good mystery, as evidenced by the success of that show and the popularity of so many movies, books, and television programs about solving mysteries and crimes.

The Trinity is also a mystery, but not the sort that needs to be solved, or can be solved. The popular apologist Frank J. Sheed (1897-1981), author of the classic work, Theology and Sanity (Ignatius Press), explained that a theological mystery is not a puzzle, nor is it “something that we can know nothing about: it is only something that the mind cannot wholly know.” The mystery of the Trinity is beyond our understanding precisely because God is so beyond man, who is limited and finite.

Sheed used the analogy of an endless art gallery into which the visitor walks deeper and deeper—never reaching the end but finding the visit to be completely satisfying. Sheed also describes “a Mystery” as “an invitation to the mind.” The Trinity, in fact, is an invitation, not only to the mind but to every hidden part and deep longing of man.

Although the Trinity was not revealed until after the Incarnation, there are tiny hints in the Old Testament. Before God revealed himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he established that he is the one, holy, and personal Creator. The Israelites were surrounded by pagan tribes and groups believing in any number of gods. Many of those gods were bound to specific places and had only a capricious interest in the wellbeing of man

Moses asked the Israelites, in today’s reading from Deuteronomy, “Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live? Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation …?” The one, true God spoke to Moses and the people, and he formed a covenantal people for the good of the world. The significance of these two actions cannot be overstated; they are essential acts that ultimately lead to God speaking to man through the Word—the second person of the Trinity—and establishing a people of God, the Church, through a new and everlasting covenant.

That covenant, rooted in the Father’s love, the Son’s sacrifice, and the power of the Holy Spirit, is intensely familial, relational, and loving. We have received, St. Paul told the Christians in Rome, “a Spirit of adoption,” by which we are made sons of God who are able to cry, “Abba, Father!” This gift of sonship is to be shared with the entire world. “Go, therefore,” Jesus told his apostles as he commissioned them to be his spokesmen, “and make disciples of all nations.” And how are disciples made? By being baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and by following the rules of the family of God, the Church.

One of the most puzzling, even perverse, falsehoods of our age is the notion that the Christian belief in the Trinity somehow makes God too specific and exact, and that spiritual growth and enlightenment is best reached by speaking of God in vague and abstract ways. This is like saying that a child is harmed by personally knowing his two parents, and that he would better off believing any one of millions of adults just might be his father or mother.

The fear of so many, at the heart of it, is that an encounter with the true and living God will change them; it will require a transformation in what they do and think—and in who they are. That, of course, is true. But accepting the invitation of the Trinitarian mystery is not about solving God, but recognizing that the answers to our deepest questions are found within that mystery.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the June 7, 2009, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Insight Scoop

The Trinity: Three Persons in One Nature | Frank Sheed | From Theology and Sanity | Ignatius Insight

The notion is unfortunately widespread that the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is a mystery of mathematics, that is to say, of how one can equal three. The plain Christian accepts the doctrine of the Trinity; the "advanced" Christian rejects it; but too often what is being accepted by the one and rejected by the other is that one equals three. The believer argues that God has said it, therefore it must be true; the rejecter argues it cannot be true, therefore God has not said it. A learned non-Catholic divine, being asked if he believed in the Trinity, answered, "I must confess that

the arithmetical aspect of the Deity does not greatly interest me"; and if the learned can think that there is some question of arithmetic involved, the ordinary person can hardly be expected to know any better.

(i) Importance of the doctrine of the Trinity

Consider what happens when a believer in the doctrine is suddenly called upon to explain it — and note that unless he is forced to, he will not talk about it at all: there is no likelihood of his being so much in love with the principal doctrine of his Faith that he will want to tell people about it. Anyhow, here he is: he has been challenged, and must say something. The dialogue runs something like this:

Believer: "Well, you see, there are three persons in one nature."
Questioner: "Tell me more."
Believer: "Well, there is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit."
Questioner: "Ah, I see, three gods."
Believer (shocked): "Oh, no! Only one God."
Questioner: "But you said three: you called the Father God, which is one; and you called the Son God, which makes two; and you called the Holy Spirit God, which makes three."

Here the dialogue form breaks down. From the believer's mouth there emerges what can only be called a soup of words, sentences that begin and do not end, words that change into something else halfway. This goes on for a longer or shorter time. But finally there comes something like: "Thus, you see, three is one and one is three." The questioner not unnaturally retorts that three is not one nor one three. Then comes the believer's great moment. With his eyes fairly gleaming he cries: "Ah, that is the mystery. You have to have faith."

Now it is true that the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity is a mystery, and that we can know it only by faith. But what we have just been hearing is not the mystery of the Trinity; it is not the mystery of anything, it is wretched nonsense. It may be heroic faith to believe it, like the man who

Wished there were four of 'em
That he might believe more of 'em

or it may be total intellectual unconcern - God has revealed certain things about Himself, we accept the fact that He has done so, but find in ourselves no particular inclination to follow it up. God has told us that He is three persons in one Divine nature, and we say "Quite so", and proceed to think of other matters - last week's Retreat or next week's Confession or Lent or Lourdes or the Church's social teaching or foreign missions. All these are vital things, but compared with God Himself, they are as nothing: and the Trinity is God Himself. These other things must be thought about, but to think about them exclusively and about the Trinity not at all is plain folly. And not only folly, but a kind of insensitiveness, almost a callousness, to the love of God. For the doctrine of the Trinity is the inner, the innermost, life of God, His profoundest secret. He did not have to reveal it to us. We could have been saved without knowing that ultimate truth. In the strictest sense it is His business, not ours. He revealed it to us because He loves men and so wants not only to be served by them but truly known. The revelation of the Trinity was in one sense an even more certain proof than Calvary that God loves mankind. To accept it politely and think no more of it is an insensitiveness beyond comprehension in those who quite certainly love God: as many certainly do who could give no better statement of the doctrine than the believer in the dialogue we have just been considering.

Continue reading "The Trinity: Three Persons in One Nature" »

Regnum Christi

The Great Commission

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Father Matthew Kaderabek, LC
Listen to podcast version here.

Matthew 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, "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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I believe you have called me to the faith and to share that faith. I trust that you will fill me with your spirit of courage and truth, so that I might faithfully assimilate and transmit the faith. I love you. I want to love you more with my prayer and with my life, and so grow in the unity of the love you share with your Father and the Holy Spirit.

Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to understand better and adore this great mystery of the Holy Trinity.

1. Standing Between Heaven and Earth: Jesus Christ stands on the mountain of the Ascension, drawing all creation back to his Heavenly Father. He stands between heaven and earth as our God, our redeemer, our best friend, and as one who will walk with us every step of the way. Together with the disciples, let us adore him. Lord, we worship you, we thank you, we adore you. We thank you for your great goodness, burning love and unfathomable mercy. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory.

2. Go Therefore and Make Disciples of All Nations: What does Jesus do with his power over heaven and earth? He uses it to unite sinful men with the all-holy God. How almighty his power must be to transform sinners into children of God and heirs of heaven. And how does Jesus bring about this transformation? He empowers his apostles to teach his truth and transmit a participation in his divine life. Lord Jesus, thank you for the light of truth that dispels the darkness of our minds. Thank you for the life of grace bestowed upon us in baptism. And thank you, Lord, for the bishops and priests who bring us — through your divine power — God’s own truth and a share in the life of the most blessed Trinity. Thank you for St. Peter and all his successors who keep us united in one, holy and universal Church as we journey toward the heavenly kingdom.

3. Baptizing Them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: Without water, we would die of thirst. Without the Redemption, we would die in our sins, forever excluded from our destiny — union with God in the eternal happiness of heaven. How fittingly then, Jesus uses water to give us the fruits of his glorious Redemption. Not water alone, but water blessed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let us bow down in adoration before the infinite power of Our Lord. Through the ministry of his priests, Jesus raises the dead to the supernatural life of grace. Thank you, Lord, for the awesome gift of baptism and for adopting me as your child.

Conversation with Christ: Dear Heavenly Father, you are now my own Father. I am your beloved child in Christ. Holy Spirit of God, gift of the Father and the Son, make your home in my heart. Direct my every thought, word and deed to glorify the most Holy Trinity.

Resolution: I will often repeat with the holy children of Fatima: “O Most Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most Precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of thy dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world.”

The Most Holy Trinity

Faith
May 31st, 2012
Gayle Somers

On this first Sunday after Pentecost, the Church calls us to remember the Most Holy Trinity. Why is this perfect timing?

Gospel (read Mt 28:16-20)

Ever since the first day of Advent, the Church has been liturgically moving us through the history of the One Life that changes all our lives. Christianity is a religion with a footprint within human history. From the beginning, God revealed Himself to mankind in time and space. This revelation was slow, and it came in stages. The formation of the nation of Israel revealed that there was no other god in heaven or earth beside Yahweh, the God Who entered a covenant with flesh and blood people to make them His own. The history of Israel revealed that God’s people could not keep faith with Him. The Incarnation revealed that God has a Son Whom He sent to deliver from weakness both Israel and all of lost mankind. The Resurrection and Ascension revealed that the Son was victorious in His mission. Pentecost revealed that the purpose of the Son’s work of deliverance was to form a new humanity, born not of the will of the flesh but of God. The Son, ascended to the Father’s right hand, sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles to fully initiate them into the New Covenant—to live with God forever, in the same way the Father and Son abide together. Right away, the apostles began to extend to others what they had received. The Church was born.

Now, the historical revelation of God is complete. We don’t know all we want to know about Him, but we know all we need to know. That is why, today, we pause to contemplate a mystery that was revealed while all these historical events were unfolding, in time and space. That mystery is that God is a communion of Persons, the Blessed Three in One. What difference does this make to us?

To begin to answer that question, we should pay attention to our lectionary readings. First, we see that in the Gospel, Jesus’ commission to the apostles is, “Go… and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Because He completed the work His Father gave Him to do (making salvation possible for all humanity), the Father gave “all power in heaven and on earth” into His hands. Likewise, Jesus gives this same work over to His Church. On Pentecost, the apostles received the power to make salvation possible, by preaching the Good News of Jesus. What would be the content of that message? They would announce to the world that, because of Jesus, God’s original intention in creating mankind (“let Us make man in our image,” see Gn 1:26) can now be realized. By baptizing believers in the Triune Name of God, the Church declares that we can share the life of the “Us” who have always desired our fellowship. Mere mortals can now live divine life! That is why Jesus tells the apostles to teach the world “to observe all that I have commanded you.” The life Jesus teaches us to live is supernatural—a life of love lived in the power of Love Itself. This is what we were designed to do. The “Us” at Creation built this into us. Now, as we have liturgically remembered all the historical events making it possible, we spend this Sunday cherishing the revelation of the “Us,” and that we are “Us,” now, too.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Possible response: Blessed Trinity, thank You for all that You have done in history to welcome me into Your fellowship.

First Reading (Read Dt 4:32-34, 39-40)

Amazed is what we should be on Trinity Sunday, as we contemplate all that God has revealed to us about Himself in salvation history. In this reading, we have an opportunity to see another occasion of human amazement over revelation God has made to mortals like us. See how Moses can barely restrain himself as he expresses his amazement over the first stage of God’s revelation within time and space: “Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking… and live?” Moses simply can’t find words enough to describe the awe the Israelites should experience for God’s revelation of Himself in their midst. God had made it abundantly clear to His people that none of the so-called gods of Egypt could prevent Him from delivering His people from bondage there. Thus, the first stage of revelation was accomplished: “The Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below…there is no other.” Then, just as Jesus did when He confirmed the full revelation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our Gospel reading, Moses exhorted the people to live as God had directed in His “statutes and commandments.” That kind of life is the one that prospers. That is the life for which we are made.

So, long before Israel learned about the Trinity, they knew about God the Father—their Father. God is One. Nothing has changed that. In time, in space, mankind then learned that God is One in Three Persons. In ancient polytheistic religions, it was thought that many gods inhabited the universe, each with its own story and cultic following. There could be rivalry and petulant competition among them. The first stage of God’s revelation had to establish the Oneness of God. The final stage established the Three-in-Oneness of God, a perfect unity. He is a Communion Who invites us into communion.

Let’s use Moses’ words to respond to this: “Did anything so great ever happen before?”

Possible response: Blessed Trinity, to know that You are a Communion of love helps me understand why my own vocation is love, too. Please help me live it today.

Psalm (Read Ps 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22)

This psalm praises many of God’s characteristics, but one is especially evident: kindness. It is in three of its four stanzas. Interestingly, in the one stanza not containing the word “kindness,” we see a muted foreshadowing of the Trinity: “By the word [Jesus] of the Lord the heavens were made; by the breath [the Holy Spirit] of His mouth all their host.” The psalmist would not have known that he was actually describing the Three-in-Oneness of God. He simply wanted to extol God’s rich kindness to His people. Now, in our time, we can understand the full meaning of that kindness, revealed most vividly in the Trinity. Knowing this, we can say about ourselves what our responsorial acclaims: “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be His own.”

Possible response: The psalm is, itself, a response to our other readings. Read it again prayerfully to make it your own.

Second Reading (Read Rom 8:14-17)

St. Paul gives us a very simple, practical description of the believer’s relationship with the Trinity. It is one thing to know that God is Father, Son, and Spirit, but we might still wonder: how does that affect me? St. Paul says it is the Spirit Who makes us “sons of God.” We know He is present in us when, in times of trial or difficulty, we find that our deepest heart response is to cry out to God, “Abba, Father!” Without the Spirit, the same difficulty would make us shrink back away from God in fear, as a slave would fear his master. When we have been baptized into the Holy Spirit, we may still have fear, of course, but our fear drives us to and not away from God. The Spirit’s work is to assure us that we are God’s children, that He loves us, that we are as dear to Him as is Jesus. To confirm this, St. Paul says we are “joint heirs with Christ.” What did Christ, the Son, “inherit” from His Father? God gave all power in heaven and on earth to Him. In baptism, we, too “inherit” this kingdom from the Father. Here we see the whole Trinity at work in our lives: God (our Father), Jesus (our Brother), and the Spirit (making our “adoption” concrete and real in our souls).

Notice that St. Paul says that all this is ours “if only we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” What’s this all about? This exhortation is not much different in substance from what both Jesus and Moses said in our other readings. Upon acknowledging a revelation of truth about God, they urged God’s people to “observe the commandments” as a response to the great work of God on our behalf. Obedience to God is the key to a blessed life. We know that to obey God means not to obey ourselves. To do God’s will is not to do our own. Jesus invited His followers to take up their crosses and follow Him through self-denial (a kind of death, certainly a kind of suffering). Because of our baptism, we have the grace to actually do this now.

The path to life with the Trinity—the life for which we were designed, made possible for us through the loving work of the Trinity—is a path of dying and rising. Where does this path take us? Glory! Let us not shrink back in fear.

Possible response: Abba, Father! Into Your hands I commend my spirit.

Gayle Somers is a member of St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Phoenix and has been writing and leading parish Bible studies since 1996. She is the author of three bible studies, Galatians: A New Kind of Freedom Defended (Basilica Press), Genesis: God and His Creation and Genesis: God and His Family (Emmaus Road Publishing). Gayle and her husband Gary reside in Phoenix

Trinity Sunday

Many are ready to give a polite nod of some sort to Jesus of Nazareth. Most honor him as a great moral teacher. Many even confess him as Savior. But the Incarnation of the Eternal God? Second person of the Holy Trinity? God can’t be one and three at the same time. Such a notion is at worst illogical, at best meaningless. “This was all invented by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 AD,” scoff a motley crew ranging from the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the DaVinci Code.

Of course this charge has no historical leg to stand on. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote seven brief letters around 110 AD in which he called Jesus “God” 16 times.

True, the word “Trinity” is not in the bible. But everywhere the New Testament refers to three distinct persons who seem to be equally divine, yet one (see 2 Cor 13:13). So over 100 years before Constantine, a Christian writer named Tertullian coined the term “Trinity” as a handy way to refer to this reality of three distinct, equal persons in one God. It stuck.

But if the doctrine of the Trinity is authentically biblical, is it relevant? Does it really matter?

If Christianity were simply a religion of keeping the law, the inner life of the lawgiver would not matter. But if Christianity is about personal relationship with God, then who God really is matters totally. Common sense tells us that some supreme being made the universe and that we owe Him homage. But that this creator is a trinity of persons who invites us to intimate friendship with Himself, we never could have guessed. We only know it because God has revealed it.

God is love, says 1 John 4:8 (see too John 3:16). If God were solitary, how could he have been love before he created the world? Who would there have been to love? Jesus reveals a God who is eternally a community of three persons pouring themselves out in love for one another. The Father does not create the Son and then, with the Son, create the Spirit. No, the Father eternally generates the Son. And with and through the Son, this Father eternally “breathes” the Spirit as a sort of personalized sigh of love. “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.” That’s what the conclusion of the Glory Be really means, that the self-giving of the three divine persons did not begin at a moment in time, but was, is, and is to come.

If we are truly to “know” our God, we must know this.

But if we are ever to understand ourselves, we must also know this. For we were made in the image and likeness of God, and God is a community of self-donating love. That means that we can never be happy isolated from others, protecting ourselves from others, holding ourselves back selfishly from others. Unless we give ourselves in love, we can never be fully human. And unless we participate in the life of God’s people, we can never be truly Christian either. Because Christianity is about building up the community of divine love which is called the Church. If God is Trinity, then there really is no place for free-lance, lone-ranger Christians.

The family, the domestic Church, is a reflection of trinitarian love – the love of husband and wife, distinct and very different persons, generates the child who is from them but is nonetheless distinct from them, indeed absolutely unique.

And that is the final point. One of the greatest treasures of Western culture is the concept of the uniqueness and dignity of the individual person. You really don’t find this idea in the ancient societies of Greece and Rome or in other great world religions, such as Islam.

The concept of the irreplaceable uniqueness of each person came into Western culture straight from the doctrine of the Trinity, three who possess the exact same divine nature but who are yet irreplaceably unique in their personhood.

The irony? As it progressively abandons the triune God, the Western world is undermining the very foundation of personal dignity, individuality, and freedom.

So yes, the Trinity does matter.

Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio writes from Texas. For his resources on the divinity of Christ, the Creed, and the Trinity

Holy Trinity Sunday

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

Psalm: 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22

Second Reading: Rom 8:14-17

Gospel: Mt 28:16-20

This Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity celebrates the most fundamental mystery of our Catholic faith. It is the only day of the year when we stop to consider and meditate on who God is in Himself. Many times, we consider just our Lord or just the Holy Spirit but today, we think of God as three persons in one God. This idea was very difficult for the Jews to grasp. You see, the Jews believe in one God and that one God is one person. You and I, however, as Catholics, believe in one God as well but that one God is three persons. For the Jews, that sounds like polytheism, but it is not. We do believe in one God, just as we say in the Creed, but He is three persons. This is a deep, deep mystery.

So, how should we understand the Trinity? It’s a question many Christians ask. Catholic doctrine teaches that there are three persons in one God who all share the same nature. Remember that we are talking about three persons in one God; not three gods or three faces of one god. Three persons. Here are some ways of trying to understand the Trinity: St. Patrick of Ireland tried to explain it with a shamrock. The shamrock has three different sections that constitute one shamrock. Each section is distinct and yet is of the same nature of “shamrockness” as the other sections within the flower. Yet the analogy falls short because the shamrock can be divided into three parts and God cannot.

Here’s another analogy: You can have three business partners in one venture. Each has the ability of the other two – to sell, to hire, to lease, etc. Yet, each is distinct. This gives us the idea of how three persons can share the same abilities and do all things together and yet remain distinct. Yet, this analogy falls somewhat short as well for the partners existed before the partnership and could be without it, whereas the three persons of the Trinity could never be apart from each other and whereas business partners can do things on their own. The Trinity always acts together.

Even in our worship of the Eucharist – we say that Jesus is really and substantially present – body, blood, soul and divinity…There is a special dynamic at work here: Father loving Son; Son loving Father totally and unconditionally, from all eternity and the agent of love between them that is breathed forth is the Holy Spirit – not in time, but from all eternity. In prayer, we should be asking God for the grace to get caught up in the conversation between the three persons of the Trinity, to be more than a spectator, but rather – a participant in the very inner life of God.

By revealing Himself as three persons, God shows us who love is. When we say that God or the Trinity is love, what we are really saying is that love is not merely an aspect of God. Rather, love IS who God IS in Himself – three persons loving each other in totality. There is no in-fighting in God or dissent. There is only unity, peace, harmony and love. The Trinity reveals to us that love is at the essence of each person’s calling and our vocations to marriage, the single life or to the priesthood and religious life are the deepest way of living out that love. We should ask if we are imaging the Trinity in our loves: in our marriages and families; in our places of work; in our schools. Are we becoming persons of communion? This notion of communion is integral to Trinity.

Since we are created in God’s image, the Trinity reveals that we are meant to be in relation with other persons. We were created to love and to be loved. Being in relation is part of what it means to be human. I was at a Walmart store some months ago buying some supplies and I used the automatic checkout where I had to follow the instruction of this checkout machine who has that voice that you hear on every computer-generated answering machine. You know the voice. It’s haunting – she’s everywhere. I was at first thrilled by the fact that I could do this all by myself and yet I walked away feeling empty. I went through an entire Walmart without really having had any interaction with any other person.

I then proceeded to an ATM machine and then to buy gas by paying at the pump. Not once did I say anything to another person. When I return calls, I often speak to a voice mailbox and not a real person. How often am I tempted to use email instead of calling another person because I don’t want to “bother” them. While none of these things are inherently evil, we do need to guard against this de-personalization of modern living: the Trinity shows us that we were created to be in relation with each other. Even businesses know that one of the most important ways to retain customer loyalty is through personalized service. So often we see persons patronize a certain business because they are known there and they get that personal touch. Even if that business charges more than the competitor, the personal touch is often the reason they keep coming back.

And, even when we do have to interact with others, what has happened to common courtesy? How often must I remind our teens to greet their elders when they walk into a room? This is not just a matter of a lack of social graces – it’s a real lack of formation in knowing that we are made for communion with one another. How often do you see others avoid acknowledging you with eye contact? If you try to, in some places, people think you’re up to no good. Some feel as if eye contact is the same as stalking another person.

As we continue this celebration of the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, let us ask the Blessed Mother, she who is daughter of the Father, mother of the Son and spouse of the Holy Spirit to secure those graces for us to help us participate more fully in the inner life of the Trinity by our good works, prayers and worthy participation in the sacraments so as to enter more deeply into the very life of God who is love.

May the Blessed Mother, whose “yes” at the Annunciation set the work of our redemption into motion, remind us that we should have a deep and personal relationship with each person of the Trinity, just as she did and that it is in living in communion daily that we better image the inner life of God Himself. She is the fount through which all graces flow, as we sing in the hymn, Hail Holy Queen. May we more deeply trust in her maternal care, knowing that all of God graces flow to through her and all of our prayers flow back to God through her as she places them before His throne.

This homily has been edited for content.

One Bread, One Body

<< Sunday, June 3, 2012 >>

Trinity Sunday
Saint of the Day

Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Romans 8:14-17
View Readings

Psalm 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22
Matthew 28:16-20

THREE FOR ALL

"You did not receive a spirit of slavery leading you back into fear, but a Spirit of adoption through Which we cry out, 'Abba!' (that is, 'Father')." —Romans 8:15

Twenty-seven years ago, during Mass on Trinity Sunday, I had a profound and life-changing experience of the love of the Triune God. I had been worshipping God for years, but I had doubted (Mt 28:17). I believed that the Lord could change people's hearts, and had seen it happen to others. Yet subconsciously I didn't think He had enough power to change me. I believed more in the staying power of my fears and weaknesses than in God's power to change me.

During the homily, I was filled to overflowing with a new confidence in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I made the decision to begin publicly bearing witness to all the good things God had done for me (Ps 116:12), and carried that change permanently into my workplace the next day. This change wasn't forced; it just flowed naturally and easily from a deep gratitude to God (1 Thes 5:18).

Every year on Trinity Sunday, we are filled anew with that Spirit of adoption that leads us to lovingly cry out "Abba, Father!" (Rm 8:15; Gal 4:6). Today is the celebration of a joy which no one can take away from us (Jn 16:22). Today we realize all over again that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are with us always (Mt 28:20). Today we can give ourselves completely to God.

Christian brothers and sisters, rejoice today in "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" (2 Cor 13:13). Praise to the Holy Trinity forever!

Prayer: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit!"

Promise: "The Spirit Himself gives witness with our spirit that we are children of God." —Rm 8:16

Praise: "Praise the Holy Trinity, undivided Unity! Holy God, mighty God, God immortal, be adored."

Let God's will be done!

Allow all babies

in the womb to live!

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