May 31, 2026
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Lectionary: 164
Reading 1
Early in the morning Moses went
up Mount Sinai
as the LORD had commanded him,
taking along the two stone tablets.
Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses there
and proclaimed his name, "LORD."
Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,
"The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity."
Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.
Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord,
do come along in our company.
This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins,
and receive us as your own."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (52b) Glory and
praise for ever!
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;
And blessed is your holy and glorious name,
praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.
R. Glory and praise for ever!
Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,
praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.
R. Glory and praise for ever!
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
R. Glory and praise for ever!
Blessed are you who look into the depths
from your throne upon the cherubim,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
R. Glory and praise for ever!
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters,
rejoice.
Mend your ways, encourage one another,
agree with one another, live in peace,
and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the holy ones greet you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
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
God so loved the world that he
gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/053126.cfm
Commentary on Exodus
34:4-6,8-9; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18
We have now come to the end of the many weeks which were
taken up with the celebration of and reflection on the ‘Paschal Mystery’. It
began with Ash Wednesday, went through Lent, the celebration of Holy Week and
Easter, the weeks following Easter and culminating in Pentecost and the handing
on of Jesus’ mission to his Church.
We return now for the rest of the liturgical year—the
‘Ordinary’ Sundays of the year—and they will bring us right up to Advent and
the beginning of another liturgical cycle. But traditionally this transition is
commemorated each year by our celebration of the Feast of the Holy Trinity.
The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most fundamental
in our Christian faith, but it is also a doctrine which many of us have
difficulty coming to terms with. We often refer to it as a ‘mystery’ and
therefore something which can be affirmed, but is not to be understood and need
not be explained. “Just believe it,” is something people may be told.
In the New Testament, the word ‘mystery’ (Greek, mysterion)
refers primarily to some truth which God has made known to us and which we
otherwise would not have discovered. The Trinity, that in God there are three
Persons, really is a mystery in this sense. It is also, of course, difficult
for us to understand how one being can be three persons just as it is difficult
for us to understand how Jesus can be both God and human (the mystery of the
Incarnation).
Three possible reactions
We can react to this situation in three ways:
- by
saying it is all rubbish anyway;
- by
not thinking about these things at all;
- by
trying to reduce them to categories which are within our human
comprehension.
None of these approaches is very helpful. Rather, we should
try to understand as much as we can, and say as much as we can while acknowledging
that we can only go a certain distance. However, we can go far enough to
satisfy our hunger for truth and to have some understanding of our God. One
thing we can say right at the beginning. We are not dealing with outright
contradictions or trying to believe the impossible. We are not being asked to
believe that 3=1.
We are asked to believe that in the one being we call God,
there are three Persons, who are, in the words of today’s Preface to the
Eucharistic Prayer,
…three Persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendour,
yet one Lord, one God, ever to be adored.
Rather than getting ourselves tied up in theological knots,
we would do far better by reading prayerfully over the beautiful Scripture
readings of today’s Mass. Here there are no abstruse theological explanations
or speculations. Rather the emphasis is not on what, or how, or why, but in
very practical language, on the tangible way the Persons in the Trinity relate
to us.
A God who is very close
The message coming loud and clear through these readings is that our God is not
far away, that he is not ‘up there somewhere’, a kind of scary, long-bearded
policeman in the sky. The message coming through is that our God is close by
and he cares. In the First Reading (from Exodus) Moses is told that God is:
The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…
Oh, we really need to hear that and to become utterly
convinced of it, especially when we find times rough and painful.
In Greek drama of classical times, one could recognise the
character being played by the mask the actor wore. As well, in Chinese opera,
there is something similar where the faces of the players are elaborately
painted so that one can know which role is being played—a king, a general, a
concubine, a soldier and such. The mask was called a prosopon. In
Latin this word was translated as persona.
Even today in programmes of plays we may still see the
actors listed under the heading dramatis personae, the characters
or the roles in the drama. So in a certain sense, there are three personae or
roles in our one God. The difference is that in a play, the role is assumed for
the duration of the drama, while in God, the roles are permanently identified
with God himself.
It might be helpful to us to look at these three roles of
God as they are presented to us in Scripture.
God the Father*
While traditionally Scripture speaks of God as Father, we know that in God there
can be no gender differences. We call God Father in the sense of the Parent who
gives life and nurture. God as Father is the originator, the source, the
conserver of all life, of all that exists. The Acts of the Apostles explains:
In him we live and move and have our being… (Acts
17:28)
God as Father is no puppet operator in the clouds, but an
indwelling Lord. God is in all his creation, but is not
identified with it. The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said that “the world
is charged with the grandeur of God”. Through the Father, our God is to be
sought and found in all things, which he has created and keeps in being. These
go from the simplest minerals which are alive with atomic energy, to the most
gifted and creative human being, to the outermost galaxy. And so we have the
lovely prayer of Moses in today’s First Reading:
…I pray, let my Lord go with us.
God the Son*
If we can speak of God as Father or Mother, then the ‘only begotten son’ must
equally be spoken of as Son or Daughter. The ‘only begotten’ as such, can be
neither male nor female even though incarnation de facto took place in a male.
However, the Creed which we will soon recite says of the Son or Daughter
that homo factus est. This should be translated as “was made human”
or “became human”. The word homo- in Latin, like anthropus in
Greek, does not specify gender; both men and women are homo.
Of course, we know the Son best through Jesus, born of Mary in
Bethlehem. In him, there was the mysterious combination of the divine and the
human in one Person. Jesus was totally God and totally human—not half and half.
This is a truth as far beyond our comprehension as the Trinity itself.
Jesus is the revelation—unveiled in human form—of our God.
The message of this revelation is purely and simply to let us know that God,
that the Father, loves us with an overwhelming love. John tells us in today’s
Gospel passage:
For God [Father] so loved the world that
he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but
may have eternal life. Indeed, God [Father] did not send the
Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be
saved through him.
In this manner, God is not concealed behind
the humanity of Jesus, but is seen precisely in that humanity. When is Jesus
most clearly revealing of the Father? In his miracles? Certainly, but surely
Jesus is most clearly revealing the heart of the Father when he is at his most
human. We see the Father God most clearly in Jesus in his compassion for the
weak, the needy, the sinner; in forgiving the sinner and his enemies; in
healing the physically and mentally sick; in integrating the social outcast
back into the community; and in his unconditional acceptance of all
irrespective of class, religion, or gender. Yes, our Father God really loves
the world and that has been shown to us by the ‘Only Begotten’ in Jesus.
God the Spirit
Finally, we see God as indwelling Spirit. The Spirit is described first as the
subsisting Love that is generated between the Father and the Son. Again, of
course, we cannot speak of either ‘he’ or ‘she’, still less of this Love as
‘it’.
The meaning of the Spirit in practice means that God is
indwelling in all creation and revealing himself through it. Wherever there is
Truth or Love or Beauty, there is God. Every act of truth and integrity, every
act of love and compassion, every act of human empathy, every act of
solidarity, forgiveness, acceptance or justice in people is the Spirit of God
working in and through us.
When such actions appear in us, they are a sign that we are
open to the Spirit and that he is working in us and through us. Let us pray
today with Paul in the Second Reading:
Try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; live in
peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you…
And Paul concludes with the lovely greeting we often use at
the beginning of the Eucharist:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God [Father],
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
One last word
The two great mysteries of our faith are the Trinity and the Incarnation. They
are combined in a marvellous simplicity in the Sign of the Cross with its
accompanying words. Let us try to say this simple prayer with ever greater
meaning and awareness and form the cross on our bodies with care and dignity.
St Ignatius of Loyola had such a love of the Trinity (as the
result of some mystical experiences) that every time he began celebrating the
Eucharist with the Sign of the Cross he broke down in tears and could hardly go
on. Let us, too, rediscover the Sign of the Cross as a means of getting in
touch with the God who loves us so much that he sent his Son and fills us with
his Spirit.
______________________________________________________
*There is no sexual differentiation in God, so we can speak
with equal validity of the First Person as Father or Mother and of the Second
as Son or Daughter. The Spirit, too, is both male and female. This is the
language of the Scripture texts reflecting the times in which they were
written. It is not the words that are important, but their meaning.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/ea091/
Sunday,
May 31, 2026
Most Holy Trinity
Opening Prayer
Lord
Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind
that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the
Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in
the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed
to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of
resurrection.
Create silence in us so
that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events
and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so
that we too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience the
force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our
midst as source of fraternity, justice, and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus,
son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.
Reading
A Key to Guide the Reading
•
These few verses are part of a reflection of John
the evangelist (Jn 3: 6-21), where he explains to his community of the end of
the first century, the meaning of the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus (Jn
3: 1-15). In this dialogue, Nicodemus finds it difficult to follow Jesus’
thinking. The same happened to the communities. Some of them, still under the
influence of the criteria of the past, could not understand the newness that
Jesus brought. Our text (Jn 3: 16-18) is an attempt to overcome this
difficulty.
•
The Church too has chosen these three verses for
the feast of the Blessed Trinity. In fact, they are an important key that
reveals the importance of the mystery of the Triune God in our lives. When
reading, let us try to keep in mind and in our hearts that in this text God is
the Father, the Son is Jesus and love is the Holy Spirit. So, let us not try to
penetrate the mystery. Let us halt in silence and in wonder!
A Division of the Text to Help
with the Reading:
•
Jn 3: 16: Says that the love of God that saves
manifests itself in the gift of the Son.
•
Jn 3: 17: The will of God is to save, not to
condemn.
•
Jn 3: 18: God demands of us that we have
the courage to believe in this love. Gospel Text – John 3: 16-18:
16: For this is how God loved the
world: He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not
perish but may have eternal life.
17: For God sent His Son into the
world not to judge the world, but so that through Him the world might be saved.
18: No one who believes in
Him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because
that person does not believe in the Name of God's only Son.
A Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may enter
into us and enlighten our life.
Some Questions
to help us in our personal
reflection
•
What pleased or touched you most?
•
After a careful examination of this brief text,
what are the recurring key words?
•
What is the central experience of the community
by the evangelist that reveals itself in the text?
•
What does the text tell us about the love of
God?
•
What does the text tell us about Jesus?
•
What does the text tell us about the world?
•
What does the text reveal to me?
A Key to the Reading
for those who wish to go deeper
into the text.
a) The Context Within Which the Words of Jesus
Appear in the Gospel of John:
•
Nicodemus was a doctor who thought he knew the
things of God. He watches Jesus with the book of the Law of Moses in his hand
to see whether the new things announced by Jesus were in accordance with the
book. In the conversation, Jesus points out to Nicodemus (and to all of us)
that the only way one can understand the things of God is to be born again! The
same thing happens today. Often, we are like Nicodemus: we accept only those
things that agree with our ideas. We reject all else, thinking it contrary to
tradition. But not all are like this. There are those who allow themselves to
be surprised by events and who are not afraid of saying to themselves, "Be
born again!"
•
When recalling the words of Jesus, the
evangelist has before his eyes the situation of the community towards the end
of the first century, and it is for them that he writes. Nicodemus’ doubts were
also those of the community. Thus Jesus’ reply was also a reply to the
community. Quite probably, the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus was
part of the baptismal catechesis, because the text says that people have to be
reborn of water and the Holy Spirit (Jn 3: 6). In the brief commentary that
follows, we focus on the key words that appear in the text and that are central
to the Gospel of John.
They serve as key words for the reading of the whole
Gospel.
b) Commentary on the Text:
•
John 3: 16: To love is to give oneself for the
sake of love. The word love, first of all, points to a deep experience in the
relationship between persons. It includes feelings and values such as joy,
sorrow, suffering, growth, giving up, giving oneself, realization, gift,
commitment, life, death, etc. In the OT these values and feelings are
summarized in the word hesed, which,
in our Bibles, is usually translated as charity, mercy, fidelity or love.
In the NT, Jesus revealed this love of God in His meetings
with people. He revealed this through feelings of friendship, kindness, as, for
example, in His relationship with Martha’s family in Bethany: "Jesus loved
Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” He weeps at Lazarus’ tomb (Jn 11: 5,
33-36). Jesus faces His mission as a manifestation of love: "having loved
His own….He loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1). In this love, Jesus reveals
His deep identity with the Father: "As the Father has loved Me, so I have
loved you!"(Jn 15: 9). He also says to us, "Love one another as I
have loved you!" (Jn 15: 12). John defines love this way: "This has
taught us love – that He gave up His life for us; and we, too, ought to give up
our lives for our brothers" (1Jn 3:16). There was no other commandment
apart from this for the community, "living the same kind of life as
Jesus" (1 Jn 2: 6). Those who live love and reveal it in their words and
attitudes, become Beloved Disciples.
•
John 3: 17: He loved the world and gave His life
to save the world. The word world is found 78 times in John’s Gospel, but with
different meanings. First, "world" may mean the earth, the space
inhabited by human beings (Jn 11: 9; 21: 25) or the created universe (17: 5,
24). In our text, "world" means those who inhabit this earth, the
whole of humanity, loved by God, who gave His Son for its sake (cf. Jn 1: 9; 4:
42; 6: 14; 8: 12). It may also mean a large number of people, in the sense of
"the whole world" (Jn 12: 19; 14: 27). But in John’s Gospel the word
"world" means, above all, that part of humanity that is opposed to
Jesus and so becomes his "adversary" or "opposition" (Jn 7:
4,7; 8: 23, 26; 9: 39; 12: 25). This "world,” contrary to the liberating
practice of Jesus, is dominated by the Adversary, Satan, also is called
"prince of the world" (14: 30; 16: 11), who persecutes and kills the
communities of the faithful (16: 33), creating injustice, oppression, kept up
by those in authority, by those who rule the empire and the synagogue. They
practice injustice in the name of God (16: 2). The hope that John’s Gospel
offers to the communities is that Jesus will conquer the prince of this world
(12:31). He is stronger than the "world.” "In the world you will have
trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world" (16: 33).
•
John 3: 18: The Only Son of God who gives
Himself up for us: One of the most ancient and most beautiful titles that the
first Christians chose to describe the mission of Jesus is that of Defender. In
Hebrew it is Goêl. This term used to indicate the closest relative, the oldest
brother, who had to redeem his brothers who might be threatened with the loss
of their properties (cf. Lev 25: 23-55). At the time of the Babylonian exile,
everyone, including the closest relative, lost everything. Then God became the
Goêl of His people. He redeemed His people from slavery. In the NT, it is
Jesus, the only son, the firstborn, the closest relative, who became our Goêl.
This term or title is translated diversely as savior, redeemer, liberator,
advocate, oldest brother, consoler, and so on (cf. Lk 2: 11; Jn 4: 42; Acts 5:
31, etc.). Jesus takes on the defence and the redemption of His family, of His
people. He gave himself entirely, completely, so that we, His brothers and
sisters, may live again in fraternal love. This was the service He gave us. It
was thus that the prophecy of Isaiah that announced the coming of the Servant
Messiah was fulfilled. Jesus Himself said, "For the Son of Man Himself did
not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom (goêl) for
many!" (Mk 10: 45). Paul expresses this discovery in the following
sentence: "He loved me and sacrificed Himself for me!" (Gal 2: 20).
c) The Mystery of the Trinity in the Writings
of John:
Faith in the Most Blessed
Trinity is the beginning and end of our belief. Whatever we say today with so
much clarity about the Most Blessed Trinity, may be found in the New Testament.
It is found there in seminal form and was developed over the centuries. Of the
four evangelists, John is the one who helps us most to understand the mystery
of the Triune God.
John emphasizes the deep
unity between the Father and the Son. The mission of the Son is to reveal the
love of the Father (Jn 17: 6-8). Jesus comes to proclaim, "The Father and
I are one" (Jn 10: 30). There is such unity between Jesus and the Father,
that those who see the face of the one see also the face of the other. By
revealing the Father, Jesus communicates a new spirit, "the Spirit of
Truth who proceeds from the Father"
(Jn 15: 26). At the Son’s request
(Jn 14: 16), the Father sends to each one of us this new
Spirit to stay with us.
This Spirit, who comes from the Father (Jn 14:16) and from the Son (Jn 16:
7-8), reveals the deep unity that exists between Father and Son (Jn 15: 26-27).
Christians looked to the unity in God in order to understand the unity that
should have existed among them (Jn 13: 34-35; 17: 21).
Today we say, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. The Apocalypse says, He who is, who was, and who is to come,
from the seven spirits in His presence before His throne, and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings
of the earth (Rev 1:4-5). With these names, John tells us what the communities
thought about and hoped for from the Father, in the Son and in the Holy Spirit.
Let us see:
i)
In the
name of the Father: Alpha and Omega, Is, Was, Will be, Almighty
Alpha and
Omega. We would say A to Z (cf. Isa 44: 6; Rev 1: 17). God is the beginning and
end of history. There is no room for another God! The Christians could not
accept the pretence of the Roman Empire that divinized its emperors. Nothing
that happens in life can be interpreted as simple coincidence outside the
loving providence of this God of ours.
Is, Was, Will
be (Rev 1: 4, 8; 4: 8). Our God is not a distant God. He was with us in the
past, is with us now, will be with us in the future. He guides history, is in
history, walks with His people. The history of God is the history of His
people.
Almighty.
This was an imperial title of kings after Alexander the Great. For Christians,
the true king is God. This title expresses the creative power with which He
guides His people. The title strengthens the certainty of victory and urges us
to sing, even now, the joy of the New Heaven and of the New Earth (Rev 21: 2).
ii) The name of the Son: Faithful Witness, First-born
among the dead, Prince of the kings of the earth
Faithful
Witness: Witness means the same as martyr. Jesus had the courage to witness to
the Good News of God the Father. He was faithful until death, and God’s answer
was the resurrection (Phil 2: 9; Heb 5: 7).
First-born
among the dead: First-born is like saying oldest brother (Col 1: 18). Jesus is
the first-born who rises again. His victory over death will also be ours, His
brothers and sisters!
Prince of the
kings of the earth: This was a title given to Roman Emperors as official
propaganda. The Christians gave this title to Jesus. To believe in Jesus was an
act of rebellion against the empire and its ideology.
These three
titles come from the messianic psalm 89, where the messiah is called Faithful
Witness (Ps 89:38), First-born (Ps 89: 28). The Most High above the kings of
the earth (Ps 89: 28). The first Christians took their inspiration from the
Bible in order to formulate their doctrine.
iii) The Name of the Holy Spirit: Seven Lamps,
Seven Eyes, Seven Spirits.
Seven
Lamps: In Revelation 4: 5, it is said that the seven spirits are the seven
lamps burning before the Throne of God. There are seven because they represent
the fullness of the action of God in the world. There are seven burning lamps,
because they symbolize the action of the Spirit who enlightens, refreshes and
purifies (Acts 2: 1). They stand before the Throne always ready to respond to
any request from God.
Seven Eyes: In Revelation
5: 6, it is said that the Lamb has seven eyes, symbol of the seven spirits of
God sent throughout the earth. What a beautiful image! Suffice it to look at
the Lamb to see the Spirit working there where the Lamb looks, for his eyes are
the eyes of the Spirit. It is He who always looks at us! Seven Spirits: The
seven evoke the seven gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the prophet Isaiah and
that will rest on the Messiah (Isa 11: 2-3). This prophecy comes true in Jesus.
The seven Spirits are, at the same time, of God and of Jesus. The same
identification of the Spirit with Jesus appears at the end of the seven
letters. It is Jesus who speaks in the letters, and at the end of each letter
we read, “He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.”
Jesus speaks, the Spirit speaks. They are one.
Psalm 63: 1-9
O God, My Soul Thirsts for Thee
O God, Thou art my
God, I seek Thee, my soul thirsts for Thee; my flesh faints for Thee, as in a
dry and weary land without water.
So I have looked upon Thee in the
sanctuary, beholding Thy power and glory.
Because Thy steadfast love is
better than life, my lips will praise Thee.
So I will bless Thee as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on Thy name. My soul is feasted as with
marrow and fat, and my mouth praises Thee with joyful lips, when I think of
Thee upon my bed,
and meditate on
Thee in the watches of the night; for Thou hast been my help, and in the shadow
of Thy wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to Thee; Thy right hand upholds me.
Final Prayer
Lord Jesus,
we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of
the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to
practice what Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not
only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the
Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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