Daily Readings Reflection for 5/30/10

Reflection on Today’s Daily Readings by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Today’s Readings




Scripture: Trinity Sunday, May 30th.Lectionary # 167. Proverbs 8:22-31.
Psalm 8:4-5,6-7,8-9. Romans 5:1-5. John 16:12-15.

We believe that God is one and that God is Triune, that is, there are three
Persons in the Godhead. This mystery is called the Trinity and no matter
how deeply we ponder it over through the gift of faith, it is the most
unfathomable of mysteries.  Rather than trying to figure how this is
possible, it is best to return to the origin of our faith based on the
Scriptures of the New Testament and to the teachings of the Church. On a
Sunday the Scriptures are a best source during the liturgy and are really
the most important source for the Trinity.  One of the greatest of the
missionary saints, St. Francis Xavier. loved to teach the simplest children
the creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the doxology or Glory be
to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. His own response was one
of awe when it came to his faith in the Trinity. He would pray simply
saying, "O Most Holy Trinity."

Scholars and theologians have the responsibility and more time than we do
in searching out more on the Trinity in the history of the theologians of
the past like St. Hilary of Poitiers or St. Basil the Great in exploring
the mystery through theological thought.  We, the ordinary faithful, go to
the Scriptures to think and pray about this revelatory gift of God through
the writings of Paul and the Gospel evangelists.  They give us a glimpse
and a foundation for our liturgical celebration of this Solemn Feast of the
Church.  Bound up with the three Persons is the two great overarching
graces we all experience, that of creation and redemption.

In two of the readings that we have for the day, the three Persons are
mentioned. The reading from Proverbs and Psalm eight talk about the gift of
creation--a gift related to the Father or the "first Person of the Blessed
Trinity."  In the reading from Romans and the Gospel of John we have the
explicit mention of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.   Theologians
would speak of the Trinity relating to us as ad extra, that is, outside of
the mystery of their relationship to one another. The readings help us to
spell out some of the "ad extra" in relationship to each Person.

Paul, in Romans 5:1-5 teaches that we are justified by the grace of faith
and we are at peace with God (a way of speaking about the Father or first
Person of the Blessed Trinity).  Then through Jesus (the second Person of
the Blessed Trinity) we have access to God through the gifts of faith,
hope, and charity given to us in a redeeming way by Jesus our one Mediator
between God and ourselves. Paul then tells us that the Holy Spirit (the
third Person of the Blessed Trinity) gives us the fire of divine love which
is poured out in our hearts.

In the Gospel of John the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are mentioned
explicitly.  The Father gives to the Son all that he has as the Christ. The
Spirit of truth gives us divine truth (emeth in Hebrew) which is the
foundation for our faith. The Spirit shows us the meaning of our
relationship with God through God's Son, Jesus Christ.

On this day dedicated to the Trinity, we could take a few moments outside
of the Eucharistic celebration to recite our Creed, or the doxology (The
Glory be...).  Or even more simply we could imitate St. Francis Xavier and
simply pray while saying several times, "O Most Holy Trinity."  Amen. Holy,
Holy, Holy.