Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, June 15, 2025

Julie Storr shares a reflection on the Collect for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.

This week we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.

In the early 4th century, a heresy was spreading that denied the divinity of Jesus. The Arian heresy claimed that Jesus was a finite creature with some divine attributes, but He was not eternal and not divine in and of himself. The early Church then prepared canticles, prayers and hymns for the Office of Readings to proclaim the Holy Trinity. In the 14th century, Pope John XXII instituted the Most Holy Trinity as a feast for the entire Church. This celebration was elevated to a solemnity after the reforms of Vatican II.

This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Collect for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.

God our Father, who by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification made known to the human race your wondrous mystery, grant us, we pray, that in professing the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

United with Jesus

To be honest, when I started praying with this prayer this week, I really only got through the first half. In it, we find some amazing descriptors of each person of the Trinity.

The prayer is addressed to God our Father. The “our” isn’t just a unity of all of us at Mass, we are united with Jesus in prayer. He is the one who taught us to pray addressing God as “Our Father” in Matthew 11 and in Luke 22 when He teaches us the Lord’s Prayer.

It’s hard to imagine having a father who is filled with unconditional love, or having a father who is for you and desires only your good, but that is who God is.

In the prayer, Jesus is addressed as the Word of truth. One of my favorite scriptures is the first chapter of John,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

As the Word of God, Jesus teaches us what is truth because He is the truth. (John 14:6)

Through Jesus we learn who God is and who we are. We learn that we are loved. We are worth saving. We are redeemed. Since the earth is our ship and not our home, Jesus teaches us how to love and how to live to reach heaven.

A Sanctifying Spirit

Next, we acknowledge the Spirit of sanctification. The Holy Spirit works in us and through us to make us holy. The Holy Spirit bestows grace and gives us a greater awareness of God’s presence. The Spirit empowers us to resist sin, is active through prayer and the Sacraments, as well as Scripture and mental prayer. The Spirit also bestows upon us gifts to equip us to grow in holiness and to serve the church. We are also made witnesses to Christ, telling others about the good things that God has done.

I know. It all sounds amazing, doesn’t it? We have been given so much from each Person of the Trinity, but the perhaps what matters most is the sending. The Father made His mystery known to us by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification.

God sent into the world, just like He sent Jesus into the world as a baby to save us, He sent the Holy Spirit to make us holy. Everything we need to become children of God and to grow in holiness has already been given to us. In thanksgiving for all we have been given, may we acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty and bring the good news of the Father to the world.

Lectio the Liturgy Sunday June 15, 2025