Introduction: Holy Trinity: May you continue to be drawn into the relationship of our GOD Who is Abba-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Our GOD is primarily a relationship. GOD relates within GODhead. GOD is similar to a healthy family of parents and child(ren). Each member interacts with each other. Although distinct, there is also a profound oneness that is indivisible. A college classmate wrote about the Trinity, he jokingly turned in this paper with two words: “GOD are.” Our one and only GOD is truly singular as a subject. Yet within the GODhead, there are three distinct Persons (Abba, Son, and Holy Spirit) Who are relationally one. We are called and invited to participate in the life of the Triune GOD by being in relationship with The Relationship of the Three-in-One.
Our readings present to us a view of the Most Holy Trinity, whose solemnity we celebrate today. The First Reading enables us to see the actions that could be attributed GOD the Abba-Father. The Second Reading focuses on the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel, Jesus commissions His disciples to carry on His work. Yet in all the readings there is evidence of the Triune GOD in action.
First Reading, Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40: The Lord is God indeed: he and no other
Commentary: The Book of Deuteronomy is primarily about the love of God, the revelation of God’s awesome, forgiving love to his people. Love is the nature of God. We can never understand God, or what we mean by three Persons in one nature. Rather than the Church giving us a reading which might get us a tiny step nearer understanding what we might mean by that, the Church gives us the heart of the revelation to Jews and Christians that God is love. Other religions feel their way towards this staggering and daunting truth, but to us it has been revealed. The revelation of God as love is a personal revelation, inviting us to a response in love, inviting us into a personal relationship with God as love. All the instructions that God gives us are simply meant to show us what that love means and how we can respond to it and stay close to God as own God’s people. In the beginning man and woman were made in the image of God, and if I am to remain close to God I must shape my desires, my activities, my relationships to be like those of God.
Responsorial Psalm 33:4-6,9,18-20,22: Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.
Psalm 33 exalts God's creative power, righteousness, justice, steadfast love, and providential care for His people. The psalmist's words inspire confidence in God's sovereignty and goodness, encouraging believers to place their trust in Him and find refuge in His unfailing love.
Second Reading, Romans 8:14-17: The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God
Commentary: The Trinity is often treated like a mathematical and philosophical problem. No attempt to understand the intra-trinitarian relationships of the three Persons can get very far. The reading which the Church gives us, instead, gives an inkling of our triple relationship with God. The basis is Jesus’ own prayer, in which he called God ‘Abba’, the dignified and affectionate word in Jesus’ own language by which a son addressed his father. The staggering next move is that Jesus told us that we might use the same form of address; so we use it, even in Aramaic. It is, however, only because Christ has given us his Spirit as our spirit that we can do so. This Spirit is also the Spirit of the Father. Sometimes in the gospel it is Jesus, sometimes it is the Father who sends the Spirit. We can say that the Spirit gives us access to the Father and to the Son, or that the Father gives the Spirit of the Son, or that the Son gives us his Spirit. In this way the Trinity, each Person in a different way, imparts to us the love of God and draws us into God’s own love.
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20: Go and make disciples of all nations
Commentary: For Matthew this is a momentous climax. Jesus is on the holy mountain, Where is this mountain? We do not know; nor does it matter. The importance is that Jesus is commissioning his followers as the Second Moses. Just so he taught the Sermon on the Mount on the holy mountain, as Moses had given the Old Law on the mount of Sinai. He is the glorious Son of Man of the prophecy of Daniel, to whom all authority on earth was given; but to him is given all authority in heaven and on earth. As Jesus sends them out, he promises that his divine presence will be always with them. It is in the strength of that presence that they will pursue their task. This promise provides the final bracket of the Gospel, as the name given to Jesus by the angel provided the opening bracket: ‘They will call him “Emmanuel”, a name which means “God is with us”.’ The divine presence of God in Jesus and in his community is the clue to the whole Gospel of Matthew. In the centre of the Gospel it is again stressed, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’
On a superficial level this gospel reading seems chosen because of the Trinitarian baptismal formula. It is the only time this formula comes in the scripture, and it is remarkable that the Trinitarian liturgical formula was already developed while the New Testament was being written. At a deeper level this reading of the final five verses of Matthew gives a wonderful Trinitarian view of the work of salvation. The words of the Risen Christ, ‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’ are reminiscent of the vision of the exalted Son of Man in Daniel, who comes to the One of Great Age, seated on his throne, and receives from him all power on earth. Only Christ receives all power in heaven too, as ‘the Son of God in power’. In this power he sends out his disciples, promising his divine presence always. The promise of Christ’s divine presence in his Church now, at the end of the gospel, balances the promise at the beginning in the name Emmanuel, given by the angel for the child. Emmanuel means ‘God with us’. So the permanent presence of Christ is the message of the whole gospel.
Reflection: How can we know who God is? Jesus revealed to his disciples the great mystery of our faith - the triune nature of one God in three persons and the inseparable union of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus' mission is to reveal the glory of God to us - a Trinity of persons - God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and to unite us with God in a community of unbreakable unity and everlasting love. The ultimate end, the purpose for which God created us, is the entry of God's sons and daughters into the perfect unity of the blessed Trinity.
Jesus, the Son of God, reveals the Father's true nature
The Jews understood God as Creator and Father of all that he made (Deuteronomy 32:6) and they understood the nation of Israel as God's firstborn son (Exodus 4:22). Jesus reveals the Father in an unheard of sense. He is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son, who, reciprocally, is Son only in relation to his Father (see Matthew 11:27). The Spirit, likewise, is inseparably one with the Father and the Son.
Through baptism we share in the life of the Trinity
The mission of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit are the same. That is why Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit will reveal the glory of the Father and the Son and will speak what is true. Before his Passover, Jesus revealed the Holy Spirit as the "Paraclete" and Helper who will be with Jesus' disciples to teach and guide them "into all the truth" (John 14:17,26; 16:13). In baptism we are called to share in the life of the Holy Trinity here on earth in faith and after death in eternal light.
Clement of Alexandria, a third century church father, wrote: "What an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of the universe, one Logos (Word) of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; there is also one virgin become mother, and I should like to call her 'Church'."
We can have a personal relationship with the Father and the Son through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit
How can we personally know the Father and his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ? It is the Holy Spirit who reveals the Father and the Son to us and who gives us the gift of faith to know and understand the truth of God's word. Through the Holy Spirit, we proclaim our ancient faith in the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ until he comes again. The Lord gives us his Holy Spirit as our divine Teacher and Helper that we may grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God. Do you seek the wisdom that comes from above and do you willingly obey God's word?
Jesus' departure and ascension into heaven was both an end and a beginning for his disciples. While it was the end of Jesus' physical presence with his beloved disciples, it marked the beginning of Jesus' presence with them in a new way. Jesus promised that he would be with them always to the end of time. He assured them of his power - a power which overcame sin and death. Now as the glorified and risen Lord, ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, Jesus promised to give his disciples the power of the Holy Spirit, which we see fulfilled ten days later on the Feast of Pentecost (Luke 24:49 and Acts 2:1-4). When the Lord Jesus departed physically from the apostles, they were not left alone or powerless. Jesus assured them of his presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our mission is to proclaim the love of God our Father who saved us through his Son, Jesus Christ, and who unites us in his Holy Spirit
Jesus' last words to his apostles point to his saving mission and to their mission to be witnesses of his saving death and his glorious resurrection and to proclaim the good news of salvation to all the world. Their task is to proclaim the "good news" of salvation, not only to the people of Israel, but to all the nations. God's love and gift of salvation is not just for a few, or for a nation, but it is for the whole world - for all who will accept it. The Gospel (the Good News of Jesus Christ) is the power of God, the power to forgive sins, to heal, to deliver from evil and oppression, and to restore life. Do you believe in the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
May the Lord Jesus put his hands on our eyes also, for then we too shall begin to look not at what is seen but at what is not seen. May he open the eyes that are concerned not with the present but with what is yet to come, may he unseal the heart's vision, that we may gaze on God in the Spirit, through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, whose glory and power will endure throughout the unending succession of ages. (prayer of Origin, 185-254 AD)
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The pledge of the Holy Spirit, by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.
"Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God's presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with His sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed His pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts" (excerpt from De Mysteriis 7, 42).
FATHER’S DAY: “Make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name ‘of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ ” —Matthew 28:19
We have been created to be baptized “in the name ‘of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ ” The word “baptized” means “to be immersed in.” The meaning of life is to be immersed in, that is, preoccupied with and consumed by the Holy Trinity (see Heb 12:29).
We enter into Trinitarian love and life through Jesus, the only Way to the Father (Jn 14:6) and the One Who baptizes us in the Spirit (Mk 1:8). Then the Father reveals the Son (see Lk 10:21-22), and the Spirit witnesses for Jesus (Jn 15:26) and proclaims Jesus as Lord (1 Cor 12:3). We are then immersed within a crossfire of Trinitarian love.
To be drawn even more deeply into the mystery of Trinitarian love, one of the most important events which must occur is for the Spirit to cry out in our hearts “Abba,” that is, “Father” (Rm 8:15; Gal 4:6). When we know the Father’s love so personally, we are usually immersed in the Trinity forever. However, we may withdraw from Trinitarian love if we quench the Spirit by refusing to trust God the Father, forgive our earthly fathers, or repent of our sins of selfishness and self-reliance.
Are you going to remain with the Trinity or back out? The Holy Spirit is crying “Abba.” Fall into your Father’s arms.
Prayer: Abba... “And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!” —Mt 28:20. All praise and glory is yours, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.
The personal question for today: What is my understanding of the Blessed Trinity? How do I relate to the three person of the One GOD? Does my prayer life reflect my belief in the Abba, Son, and Holy Spirit as distinct persons, but still united in one Being? How do I proclaim my relationship with and understanding of the Triune GOD to others? Am I able to praise and give glory to the GOD Who is Abba - Creator and Loving Parent; Jesus, Son, Savior, and Brother; and Holy Spirit, Eternal Power and Giver of spiritual life and love?