The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Readings

The first dogma or belief of the Catholic Church and all Christian Churches is the existence of the Blessed Trinity; namely, One God and three persons in One God. At the beginning of time, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were present as all things were loved into existence. The Father chose to reveal Himself through Abraham and his descendants. Later the Son of God would take on our human existence and reveal to humankind the knowledge of the Trinity. The dogma of the Trinity is total mystery and beyond our human comprehension. However, we can have an understanding and a relationship with God and with each person in the Most Holy Trinity.

God the Father was present to His people in the Old Testament, as He guided them in faith and the building of a community of believers who would give praise and glory to His most holy name.

The New Testament is devoted to Jesus’ public ministry as written by the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, along with Jesus’ teaching of a relationship with Him and the Father. Late in His public ministry, Jesus reveals the promise of the Holy Spirit to come after Jesus has completed His mission on earth and returned to the Father.

During two thousand years of history, the Western Church had been somewhat silent on who the Holy Spirit is and His interaction with the faithful. In the twentieth century, the movement of the Spirit in the life of the Church became more noticeable beginning with the Second Vatican Council and the many movements in the Church that stirred hearts to allow the love of God to enjoin them to Himself.

The Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of all life. By life, I do not just mean our existence, by the positive actions of our being that allow us to imitate of Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the sanctifier who makes all things new, recreated in the glory of God and brought to maturity through the continual action of the Spirit. The very prayer of humankind is so flawed as to not be acceptable to God the Father unless offered to Him through the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit does not only sanctify our prayers but gives us the grace to live in the freedom of God and to offer a continual litany of prayers and supplications on behalf of ourselves and for the entire human race.

The Blessed Trinity is the perfect community and within our little churches, the family, and in our larger Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit we too form community that is imperfect but a reflection of the community of Trinity.

On this Sunday, we are called to be holy as our God is holy. We are called to form community built upon love that mirrors the community of the Blessed Trinity. We are called to bear much fruit and live happy and holy lives, building up the body of Christ and loving one another through the grace given us. Today, we walk free, with think good thoughts, we perform works of faith hope and charity, and we do all of this because through Baptism we are adopted sons and daughters of the living God and mirrors of divine love so the world will come to love God more.

Deacon Phil