Feast of the Most Holy Trinity (C)

Pv 8:22-31
Ps 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Rm 5:1-5
Jn 16:12-15

We're told that the great Saint Augustine was once walking along the seashore trying to figure out the mystery of the Trinity. He came upon a child filling a hole with bucket after bucket of water from the ocean. "You can't empty the whole ocean into that hole," the saint laughed. Looking at the learned Augustine the child replied, "And neither can you ever completely understand the mystery of the Trinity."

Today's feast invites us to reflect on one of the most profound truths of our faith—that God is three—and one. Three equal persons, one God. If even Saint Augustine couldn't exhaust that mystery in thousands of words—what can I hope to do in just ninety seconds?

Perhaps we can allow our Sunday Gospel to instruct us: Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will teach us what we need to know. The Spirit, Jesus says, works in union with Jesus and with the Father. These words come from Jesus' discourse at the Last Supper, when the disciples were troubled about their future. The Lord wanted to console them, that he and the Father would remain present to them through the working of the Spirit. There is consolation in those words for us as well, as we face the fears and questions of our time in the Church and in the world.

Scripture:

•Thus says the wisdom of God: The LORD possessed me, the beginning of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; (Proverbs 8:22) and I was his delight by day; … and I found delight in the human race. (Proverbs 8:30)

•You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:6)

•…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,… because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:1,5)
•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. (John 16:15)

Reflection:

•Is there anything of God that is not accessible to you?

•Is God’s Love, as experienced in the Trinity, active or passive?

•What does God offer to you?


God expects but one thing of you, and that is that you…let God be God in you.