A Reflection on the Readings for Holy Trinity Sunday, June 12, 2022
Reading I: Proverbs 8:22-31
Responsorial Psalm: 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Reading II: Romans 5:1-5
Gospel: John 16:12-15
Reading I
How impossible is it for man to comprehend the ways of God. He created the earth and all it contains by “speaking” it into existence. With our advances in science, we can begin to comprehend the processes that brought about our existence, but science can never explain “why” we exist. In this Proverb, we see how God’s “wisdom” was present from the beginning of creation and even before. This imagery of “wisdom” is often seen as the creative force we have come to know as “the Word of God.” That creative “Word” that spoke all of creation into existence – the second person of the Blessed Trinity. It is God’s wisdom that placed all of the elements and laws of nature into motion so that through it, all creation is established by God’s wise design. Our world and all of humanity poured forth from the “mind of God” in the most perfect way possible for us to exist.
The Wisdom of God, we see in verse 31, “found delight in the human race.” This creative force would one day become like one of us, in human form, to reveal God’s plan for our salvation. Wisdom became the designer for how God’s plan of creation was going to be played out and fulfilled, ultimately, in Jesus Christ. I often stand in awe and wonder when I look up into the starry night and ponder the immense mystery of how small we are compared to the universe and how small the universe is compared to God. I feel like we need to spend more time pondering the mystery of God so that in contemplating him, we may penetrate, ever so slightly, the inestimable mystery of our God.
Reading II
St. Paul reminds us several times in the book of Romans that the New Covenant in Jesus Christ is now established through faith and not by the legalistic ritual of circumcision, as was given to the Jews. A covenant through faith that believes and trusts in his ever-present grace in the gift of himself – the Eucharist. A faith that knows Jesus can be trusted to fulfill the promises he made to us of never abandoning us, filling us with his Spirit, and gaining eternal life if we live as children of God, trusting in the salvation he has provided for us.
No one has access to the Father without the Son. It is through Jesus that we now have access to the Father (Eph 2:18) through grace, which is given by faith. This faith is fully manifested in the great and powerful Sacraments of the Church. Thank the Lord for these great gifts that are a sign of our faith that bring about a true outpouring of the Spirit of God.
The Gospel
This Sunday’s readings seem to focus more on the Spirit of God even though it is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. So much has been written and said about the Father and the Son in the scriptures and in the historical writings of the Christian faithful. It is the notion of the Holy Spirit that we seem to find less attention to when we talk about the Christian faith. The Holy Spirit almost seems to be the “forgotten” person of the Blessed Trinity. Often when we pray, we focus on Jesus and pray that he may give us the graces to accomplish our vocation in this life. But these graces are applied to us by the Spirit, because that is his role . . . to guide us, to speak for us and to fill us with the glory of God. In a certain sense, it is not Jesus that is empowering us to love our neighbor, keep his commandments and live a life of holiness. It is the Spirit that “proceeds from the Father and the Son” that works in us to have faith and love God. This grace is the very life of God, dwelling in us – it is the Holy Spirit.
I have grown to address the Spirit of the Lord more often in my prayer life and in doing so, I believe that I have grown to embrace the notion of the Holy Trinity in a manner greater than before. The Trinity is the fundamental mystery of our Christian faith, and in being so, it must have a preeminent place in our hearts and our prayer life. If you don’t already, I encourage you to address the Holy Trinity in your prayers. Invoke the Holy Trinity by starting all prayer with the Sign of the Cross and ending with the same. There is nothing more fundamental about our religion than that of the Most Holy Trinity. Embrace the mystery, embrace the life.
Peace be with you,
Henry Avila
Reference: Copyright © 2022 Diocesan
