ONE IN THREE - TRINITY SUNDAY (5/30/21)

Deut. 4:32-34, 39-40
Psalm 33
Romans 8:14-17
Matthew 28:16-20

ONE IN THREE

One of the very first religious lessons that we all learned as children: There is one God in three Divine Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I grew up and received my early religious instruction in a parish staffed by priests who came directly from Ireland, so you better believe that we heard the story of St. Patrick teaching about the Trinity by using a shamrock…more than a few times!

The Trinity is a key to help us better get a grasp on the whole mystery of our salvation. God the Father is emphasized in the Old Testament; Jesus in the gospels; the Holy Spirit in Acts.

In Advent the emphasis is generally on the Father. In the Christmas, Lenten and Easter seasons, it is generally on Jesus. On Pentecost we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And today, on Trinity Sunday, we honor the mystery of God – One in Three and Three in One.

DEUTERONOMY

Because the Israelites lived around and amidst pagan nations who worshipped a multiplicity of gods and goddesses, there was an ever-present danger of God’s chosen people falling into idolatry. Therefore, the Old Testament prophets constantly emphasized that there is only one God, Yahweh, and he is Lord of all.

This first reading recounts all the favors God had shown to the children of Israel: speaking to them from the fire, choosing them from the other nations, fighting for them and defending them against the Egyptians. The reading closes with Moses’ exhortation to “keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today…”

The Responsorial, Psalm 33, reinforces God’s special choice and favor of Israel: “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”

ROMANS

The second reading is a classic Trinitarian passage. If we have received the Spirit of God, we are sons of God, not slaves who cower in fear. The Spirit of adoption “makes us cry out, ‘Abba Father.’”

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs with God and joint heirs with Christ…” All the persons of the Trinity are named in this selection.

GOSPEL

Today’s gospel reading is the conclusion of Matthew’s entire gospel, with Jesus meeting the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee. Although they worshipped, the gospel makes a point of stating that some doubted. Apparently, doubt dies hard!

Jesus tells them, “All power in heaven and earth has been given to me.” The word translated here as “power” is most often rendered as “authority.” Jesus commissions the disciples to make other disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – the Trinitarian baptismal formula.

There is also a command to “teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Jesus’ final words in Matthew concern being faithful to teaching and passing on the word of God as it was received – what is called the “deposit of faith.” Finally, Jesus promises to be with them until “the end of the age.” Jesus continues to live, teach, act, and sanctify in the Church through the Holy Spirit in fidelity to the written word of God in the Scriptures.

THREE IN ONE

The Trinity is a mystery, of course, but at the same time is an important truth to ponder in order to better understand the mystery of salvation and our whole spiritual life. The grace of the Holy Spirit leads us to recognize and acknowledge God as our Father and Jesus as Lord and Savior. That is why it is vitally important to call upon the Holy Spirit…as we pray in the Veni Creator Spiritus:

O may Thy grace on us bestow
The Father and the Son to know,
And Thee through endless time confessed
Of Both the eternal Spirit blest.

Come Holy Spirit and reveal to us the Father and the Son. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.