Prov. 8:22-31; Ps. 8:4-9; Rom 5:1-5; Jn. 16:12-15
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, one God in three Persons. In God the Father we also celebrate the gift of Fatherhood as Father’s Day. God the Father is above all things, God the Son is through all things, and God the Holy Spirit is in all things. Father’s Day is a call to Father’s to also rise above all things with the love of a father in order to lead by witness and sacrifice his domestic church at home united in body to his family. A father’s love of sacrifice is never done, so every day is a Father’s Day in heaven and on earth.
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is a mystery which we cannot fully bear now but the “Spirit of truth (that) he will guide us to all truth” is already at work uniting us to this mystery of faith. “When the Lord established the heavens, I was there”. Who is this “I” who is like a child “playing before him”? It is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God who “found delight in the human race”. It is the Holy Spirit that then glorifies Jesus because it guides us to all truth, the truth that Jesus is Lord. It is the Holy Spirit that is our guardian through the gifts of the Spirit to lead us in right path.
Jesus not only found delight in the human race but he comes into the human race to offer his sacrifice for us that we may be saved. Imagine a time of war and the son comes to his father to join in the service and go to war knowing the possibility that this son may die in war as a sacrifice to a greater cause of freedom. The love of the Father accepts the will of the son and gives him his blessing in the agony and sorrow that a sacrifice has to be done if we are to live in freedom. We are at war against the sin of the world even as the Son has given his life for the love of humanity. The battle continues calling other sons and daughters to offer themselves for the cause of freedom. Who is willing to offer themselves up to serve God?
An article on Catholicvote.org (Why young adults are finding the Catholic faith irresistible; June 9, 2025) was describing the rise of young people “flocking” into the Catholic Church, especially Gen Z and it is not just in the U.S. but also in Europe. In a survey seeking to find out what is driving this movement two examples seemed stand out. For a female it was the solemnity of the Mass with its music, architecture, and beauty that gave her a sense of “peace”. For a male it was the “brotherhood” that sense of freedom to be men among men in what is our current woke culture where “masculinity is under attack”. In other words, it is a sense of love of God being manifested in his church appealing to the senses of men and women in different ways but still the same God. They are seeking something greater than themselves but it is not “something” but “someone”.
Those coming into the church who seek will find that the call to love is also the call to serve and the call to serve is a call to sacrifice. We all must grow from infant faith to mature faith, from believing to living daily the faith. We are all at different stages on this journey but with the same Triune God at work in all of us. Daily life is filled with sacrifice that builds endurance, character, and hope in the best and worst of circumstances. As the Father has given the Son to humanity and the Son has sent us the Holy Spirit, we must all make an offering of ourselves as the greatest sacrifice of love to the Trinity. The reward in heaven is greater than any sacrifice we make. We live in the present with the end in mind for eternity.
Can we say “The Lord possessed me” and we are doing the will of the Father? If we can say the Lord has taken possession of us then we are living in the wonder and miracle of the Trinity. With the eyes of faith, we can behold the working of the Spirit in our lives, in our relationships, even in our suffering there is peace because something greater is present in our lives and we have nothing to fear. As is often stated, “when one door closes another one opens” and not just any door but the right door for our lives. This is following in the spirit the will of the Father and gives glory to the Son who makes all things possible.
We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ through whom we gain grace. We are not justified by our own works but the grace that comes from Jesus which validates our justification in which we are able to accomplish our works. In the love of Jesus we sometimes forget to call on the Holy Spirit who is the one at work to strengthen us by the gifts of grace ready to be poured into our souls. Our prayer, “Come Holy Spirit, take possession of our hearts and strengthen us by your grace” is this intimate union with the Holy Spirit that transformed the disciples from student interns into apostles of authority through the gifts of the Spirit. We too are to pray for these gifts that our lives may be transformed.
The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is that we have but one God in three persons united by the same will that is bound in love. Marriage is to be a unity of one man, one woman and one God bound in love to fulfill a greater good. It is sacramental meaning sacred as two human hearts receive God in a covenant of love to do the will of God. When we are open to the will of God then God reveals himself through each other in marriage. God speaks the language of love to raise each other up and help each other get to heaven. This is the closest to understanding the Trinity we can compare to for now until God reveals himself to us in eternity.
Recent Comments