June 15, 2025
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Lectionary: 166
Reading I
Thus says the wisdom of God:
"The
LORD possessed me, the beginning of his ways,
the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;
from of old
I was poured forth,
at the
first, before the earth.
When there
were no depths I was brought forth,
when there
were no fountains or springs of water;
before the
mountains were settled into place,
before the
hills, I was brought forth;
while as yet
the earth and fields were not made,
nor the
first clods of the world.
"When
the Lord established the heavens I was there,
when he
marked out the vault over the face of the deep;
when he made
firm the skies above,
when he
fixed fast the foundations of the earth;
when he set
for the sea its limit,
so that the
waters should not transgress his command;
then was I
beside him as his craftsman,
and I was
his delight day by day,
playing
before him all the while,
playing on
the surface of his earth;
and I found
delight in the human race."
Responsorial Psalm
R (2a) O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name
in all the earth!
When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and
the stars which you set in place —
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son
of man that you should care for him?
R O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned
him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all
things under his feet:
R O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the
beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever
swims the paths of the seas.
R O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions,
knowing that affliction produces endurance,
and endurance, proven character,
and proven character, hope,
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;
to God who is, who was, and who is to come.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
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."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061525.cfm
Commentary on
Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
Today’s feast is one which many preachers would prefer not
to have to talk about. What can one say that is meaningful about such an
abstract concept as the Holy Trinity? In one sense, of course, they are right.
It was the great St Thomas Aquinas who said that it was much easier to say what
God was not than what he is. In other words, every positive statement made
about God has to be immediately denied. If we say God is ‘good’, it is
obviously true but our concept of ‘goodness’, however exalted, is so limited
that God’s ‘goodness’ cannot be remotely described by our concept of it. And
the same is so of every other attribute applied to God.
So when it comes to speaking of the meaning and inner
relationship of three “Persons” in one God we are floundering in territory
where ordinary human language is totally inadequate to express the reality. Our
God can only be reached in the “cloud of unknowing”, as Julian of Norwich so
beautifully expressed it. God is not any of the things we say he is. It is, as
Fr Anthony de Mello used to put it, something like “trying to explain the
colour green to a person who has been totally blind since birth.”
In search of an understanding
However, we should not try to get off the hook too easily and decide to speak
or think about something altogether different on this Sunday. Provided we are
aware of God’s basic unknowability by our limited minds, there are still many
helpful things we can consider about our God and the inner relationships which
are part of his being. While it is of the utmost importance that we realise
this, there are many statements we can make which will help in our relationship
with God.
To go back to Thomas Aquinas again, one of his basic
principles was that “Behaviour is determined by the nature of things”
(Latin, Agere sequitur esse). From the way things act we know
something about what they are. We can thus distinguish the different natures of
minerals and other non-living substances, plant life, bacterial and viral life,
animal life or human life from the different ways in which each is able to
function and react. We normally will not confuse a cow and a horse, a bird or a
bat, a shark or a whale, a gorilla or a human being. It is not simply their
appearances that are different. We realise that each has certain capabilities
and that those capabilities arise from the way they are essentially constituted
in their inner being. We don’t expect animals to talk as humans do (except in
TV cartoons). We don’t expect snails to run in the Derby or the Grand
National—or tortoises to outstrip hares, except in fables.
And, in our daily rubbing shoulders with other people, the
only way we can know them is by what they reveal of themselves through their
behaviour and interactions. When we say they are kind, it is
because they consistently behave in a way that is kind. Or when we say
they are cruel, again it is because of what we perceive as
consistently cruel behaviour. Jesus said:
You will know them by their fruits…A good tree cannot
bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (Matt 7:16,18)
And this is because agere sequitur esse.
Limited understanding
At the same time, while we may think we can know a lot about people from their
behaviour (and do not hesitate to pass judgement!), we can by no means know
everything. Every human being, indeed as science constantly discovers, every
created thing is a mystery whose innermost reality is really impossible for us
to penetrate totally. And that even applies to our own selves. We do not know
ourselves totally. We are a mystery to ourselves—and, a fortiori,
to others!
If this is true of created reality, we should not be
surprised to face the same dilemma with the Creator. God, in his deepest being,
is a mystery we cannot ever fathom. This is not just a ‘cop out’; it is a fact.
Nevertheless, on the basis of what God does, we do get some very
clear indications of what he is. Agere sequitur esse applies
to God also.
What the Christian Testament tells us
And it is in the Christian Testament especially that we get the first hints of
there being more than one way of understanding God, although the full theology
of the Trinity was only developed later. What it means to have three Persons in
one Being is something we do not even try to understand. But we can get some
inkling if we confine ourselves to seeing what each of the persons does as
a clue to what they are.
In Greek classical drama in the time of Jesus and earlier,
the actors put on a mask to indicate the role they were playing (not unlike the
elaborate painting of the face in Chinese opera for the same purpose). The
Greek word for this mask was prosopon (literally, ‘in front of
the face’) and the Latin translation is persona (that through
which the sound of the voice came).
So, speaking analogically, we can say that in our God there
are three masks, three personae, three roles pointing to three separate sources
of action. This is not an explanation. It is a groping effort to get some
understanding. Those three roles are that of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Father
We see God as Father, a loving and compassionate Father. Not a daunting patriarchal
figure, but one that is easily approached and who can be addressed by the
familiar and intimate term “Abba” (similar the English ‘Papa’, or ‘Ah-Ba’ in
Chinese and other languages). He is the Creator and giver of all life.
Everything good that can be discerned in the world around us comes from him and
through him. In him, through him and with him all things exist.
He is the one who cares, the one who waits for the Prodigal
to return and forgives completely and immediately. He is the Father of truth,
the Father of love and compassion, the Father of justice. The whole of this
beautiful world in which we live is a testimony and, at the same time, only a
faint indication of what he really is. If we really look at the world he has
made (and not at the one we have unmade), our hearts can only be overcome with
praise and thanks.
Son
We see God as Son, who in an extraordinary way came to live among us, and whom,
in a paradox beyond all understanding, we humans killed. In the Son as a human
being, we can see, hear and touch God. We see something of the nature of our
God as Jesus heals the sick, identifies with the weak and socialises with the
sinful. We see him challenge the dehumanising values that form the fabric of
most of our lives and, in the process, he is rejected by those he loves. Though
he is God, he empties himself of all human dignity that he might open for us
the way to true and unending life.
Spirit
We see God as Spirit, becoming, as it were, the soul of his people. All the
good that we do, all our evangelising work, our hospitals, schools, works of
social development and social welfare, our care of the sick, the weak, the
oppressed and the outcast—all are the work of God’s Spirit working in and
through us. Wherever there is love, there is the Spirit of God at work.
Models for our life
And yet, being aware of all this, we still cannot say that we know our God. But
there is enough here—if we pray and reflect on it—that is already overpowering
in its significance.
We need to remember that we have been called to be and to
grow into the image of God himself. In what has been revealed to us through
Jesus and the Scriptures, we have more than enough to challenge us and to help
us to approach closer to our God. Our ultimate goal, and it is the only goal for
all the living, is to achieve perfect union with him. We do that, above all, by
loving as he loved—by loving unconditionally and continuing to love where no
love, and even hate, is returned.
For this we need the creative power of the Father, the
compassion of the Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They are all
available to anyone who opens their heart to receive.
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Sunday,
June 15, 2025
Most Holy
Trinity
LECTIO
Opening Prayer:
O God, who in sending Your Son Jesus have
revealed abundantly Your love for the salvation of all people, stay always with
us and continue to reveal Your attributes of compassion, mercy, clemency and
fidelity. Spirit of Love, help us to grow in the knowledge of the Son so that
we may have life.
Grant that, by meditating Your Word on this feast day,
we may become more aware that Your mystery is a hymn to shared love. You are
our God and not a solitary God. You are Father, fruitful source. You are Son,
Word made flesh, close and fraternal love. You are Spirit, all-embracing love.
Gospel Reading - John 16: 12-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "I have
much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the
Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are
coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare
it to you. 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."
A Time of Prayerful Silence:
With St. Augustine we say, “Grant me time to meditate
on the secrets of your law, do not shut the door to those who knock. Lord,
fulfill your plan in me and unveil those pages. Grant that I may find grace
before you and that the deep secrets of your Word may be revealed to me when I
knock.”
Meditatio
Preamble:
Before we start the Lectio, it
is important to pause briefly on the context of our liturgical passage. Jesus’
words in Jn 16: 12-15 are part of a section of the Gospel known by exegetes as
the Book of Glory (13: 1-17: 26). In His farewell discourse, Jesus reveals His
intimate self, calls the disciples friends and promises them the Holy Spirit
who will accompany them as they accept the mystery of His person.
The disciples, then, are invited
to grow in love towards the Master who gives Himself to them completely.
In this section, we can distinguish three well-defined
sequences or parts. The first includes chapters 13-14 and treats of the
following theme: the new community is founded on the new commandment of love.
Through His instructions, Jesus explains that the practice of love is the way
that the community must walk in its journey to the Father. In the second part,
Jesus describes the position of the community in midst of the world. He reminds
them that the community He founded carries out its mission in the midst of a
hostile world and can only acquire new members if it practices love. This is
the meaning of “bearing fruit” on the part of the community. The condition for
a fruitful love in the world is: remain united to Jesus. It is from Him that
life flows – the Spirit (Jn 15: 1-6); union with Jesus with a love like His so
as to establish a relationship of friendship between Jesus and His disciples
(Jn 15: 7-17). The community’s mission, like that of Jesus, will be carried out
in the midst of the hatred of the world, but the disciples will be strengthened
by the Spirit (Jn 15 :26-16: 15). Jesus tells them that the mission in the
world implies pain and joy and that He will be absent-present (Jn 16: 16-23a).
He simply assures them of the support of the Father’s love and His victory over
the world (Jn 16: 23b-33). The third part of this section includes Jesus’
prayer: He prays for His present community (Jn 17: 6-19); for the community of
the future (Jn 17: 20-23); and expresses His desire that the Father glorify
those who have known Him and, finally, that His mission in the world may be
fulfilled (Jn 17: 24-26). Meditation
• The
voice of the Spirit is Jesus’ voice
Previously, in Jn 15: 15, Jesus had told His disciples what
He had heard from the Father. This message was not nor could it have been
grasped by the disciples in all its force. The reason is that the disciples,
for the present, ignored the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross and the
substitution of the new way of salvation for the old. With His death, a new and
definitive saving power comes into the life of humanity. The disciples will
understand Jesus’ words and actions after the resurrection (Jn 2: 22) or after
His death (Jn 12: 16).
In Jesus’ teaching there are many matters and messages to
be understood by the community as it gradually faces new events and
circumstances; it is in daily life and in the light of the resurrection that it
will understand the meaning of His death-exaltation.
It will be the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ prophet, who will
communicate to the disciples what they have heard from Him. In the mission that
Jesus’ community will carry out it will be the Holy Spirit who will communicate
to them the truth in that He will explain and help them to apply that which
Jesus is and means as the manifestation of the Father’s love. Through His
prophetic messages, the community does not transmit a new doctrine but
constantly proposes the reality of the person of Jesus, in the witness to and
orientation of its mission in the world. The voice of the Holy Spirit, which
the community will hear, is the voice of Jesus Himself. In the wake of the Old
Testament prophets who interpreted history in the light of the covenant, the
Holy Spirit becomes the determining factor in making Jesus known, giving the
community of believers the key to an understanding of history as a continual
confrontation between what the “world” stands for and God’s plan. The starting
point for reading one’s presence in the world is Jesus’ death-exaltation, and
as Christians grow in this understanding they will discover in daily life “the
sin of the world” and its harmful effects.
The role of the Holy Spirit is a determining factor for the
interpretation of the mystery of Jesus’ life in the life of the disciples: He
is their guide in undertaking a just commitment on behalf of humanity. To
succeed in their activities for humankind, the disciples have to listen to the
problems of life and history, and be attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit,
the only reliable source for getting a real sense of the historical events in
the world.
•
The Holy Spirit’s voice: true interpreter of
history
Then Jesus explains how the Holy Spirit interprets human
life and history. First, by manifesting His “glory”, that He will take “what is
Mine.” More specifically, “what is Mine” means that the Holy Spirit draws His
message from Jesus, whatever Jesus said. To manifest the glory means
manifesting the love that He has shown by His death. These words of Jesus are
very important because they avoid reducing the role of the Holy Spirit to an
illumination. The Spirit’s role is to communicate Jesus’ love and places Jesus’
words in harmony with His message and also with the deeper sense of His life:
Love expressed in giving His life on the cross. This is the Holy Spirit’s role,
the Spirit of truth. Two aspects of the role of the Holy Spirit that enable the
community of believers to interpret history are: listening to the message and
understanding it and being in harmony with love. Better still, Jesus’ words
mean to communicate that only through the communication of the love of the Holy
Spirit is it possible to know who a person is, to understand the purpose of
life, and to create a new world. The model is always Jesus’ love.
•
Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit and the
community of believers (v.15)
What does Jesus mean when He says “everything the Father has
is Mine”? First that what Jesus has is shared with the Father. The first gift
of the Father to Jesus was His glory (Jn 1: 14), or more precisely, faithful
love, the Spirit (Jn 1: 32; 17: 10). This communication is not to be understood
as static but rather as dynamic, that is, on- going and mutual. In this sense
the Father and Jesus are one. Such mutual and constant communication permeates
Jesus activity so that He is able to realize the designs of the Father and His
plan for the whole of creation. So that believers may be able to understand and
interpret history, they are called to live in harmony with Jesus, accepting the
reality of His love and making this love concrete for others. This is the
Father’s plan that the love of Jesus for His disciples may be realized in all.
God’s plan as realized in Jesus’ life must be realized in the community of
believers and guide the believer’s commitment in their endeavor to improve
everyone’s life. Who carries out the Father’s plan in Jesus’ life? It is the
Holy Spirit who unites Jesus and the Father and carries out and fulfills the
Father’s plan and makes the community of believers partakers in this dynamic
activity of Jesus: “will be taken from what is Mine.” Thanks to the action of
truth of the Holy Spirit, the community listens to Him and communicates Him
concretely as love.
•
The Holy Spirit communicates to the disciples
all the truth and wealth of Jesus; He dwells in Jesus; “comes” into the
community and when He is received renders the community partakers in Jesus’ love.
Some Questions:
•
A serious danger threatens the Christian
community today. Are we not tempted to divide
Jesus, following either a human Jesus who through His actions has changed
history, or a glorious Jesus detached from His earthly existence and thus also
from ours?
•
Are we aware that Jesus is not just a historical
example but also and above all the present Savior?
That Jesus is not just an object of contemplation and joy, but the Messiah whom
we must follow and with whom we must collaborate?
•
God is not an abstraction, but the Father made visible in Jesus. Are you committed to
“seeing Him” and recognizing Him in Jesus’ humanity?
•
Do you listen to the voice of the Spirit of
truth who communicates to you Jesus’
whole truth?
Oratio
Psalm 103: Send Your Spirit, Lord, to Renew
the Earth
This is a
joyful hymn of thanksgiving that invites us to meditate on humanity’s fall and
God’s eternal mercy. After sin, sickness and death, comes the kind and loving
action of God: He fills us with good things all our lives.
Bless Yahweh, my soul, from the
depths of my being, His holy name; bless Yahweh, my soul, never forget all His
acts of kindness.
He forgives all your offenses, cures all your diseases,
He redeems your life from the abyss,
crowns you with faithful love and
tenderness; He contents you with good things all your life, renews your youth
like an eagle's. Yahweh acts with uprightness, with justice to all who are
oppressed;
He revealed to Moses His ways,
His great deeds to the children
of Israel. Yahweh is tenderness and pity,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love; His indignation does
not last for ever, nor
His resentment remain for all time;
He does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us as
befits our offenses.
As tenderly as a father treats his children, so Yahweh treats
those who fear Him;
But Yahweh's faithful love for those who fear
Him is from eternity and for ever; Bless Yahweh, all His angels, mighty
warriors who fulfill His commands, attentive to the sound of His words. Bless
Yahweh, all His armies, servants who fulfill His wishes. Bless Yahweh, all His
works, in every place where He rules. Bless Yahweh, my soul.
Closing Prayer:
Spirit of truth
You make us children of God,
so that we can approach the Father in trust.
Father, we turn to You with one heart and one soul and we ask
You:
Father, send Your Holy Spirit! Send Your Spirit upon the
Church.
May every Christian grow in
harmony with Christ’s love, with the love of God and of neighbor.
Father, renew our trust in the
Kingdom that Jesus came to proclaim and to incarnate on earth. Let us not be
dominated by delusion or be conquered by weariness. May our communities be a
leaven that produces justice and peace in our society.
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