{"id":776,"date":"2019-06-11T06:54:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T06:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=776"},"modified":"2019-06-11T06:54:12","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T06:54:12","slug":"16-june-2019-c-trinity-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=776","title":{"rendered":"16 June 2019 (C) Trinity Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as\nGuide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: <\/em>Mystery of the Blessed Trinity and Mystery of the Church<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and\nLiturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading<\/em>\n(Proverbs 8:22-31). Before the earth came\ninto being, Wisdom was born.<\/em> This reading is taken from one of the books of\nwhat is known as the Wisdom Literature of the Bible, probably the oldest book\nof this. Others, and later, books of this group are Ecclesiastes (Koheleth),\nEcclesiasticus (Sira) and the Book of Wisdom. Wisdom literature, or literature\nrelated to these Bible books, was common in the ancient Middle East, in\nparticular Egypt and Mesopotamia. This literature dealt with many aspects of\nhuman life. In Egypt\nand in early Jewish wisdom it gave instruction on how to live in family and\npublic life. A notable feature of early biblical wisdom is that it drew its\ninstructions and conclusions from experience, not from God\u2019s revelation to\nMoses. Early wisdom meant know-how in personal, family and public life, in the\narts and crafts. Wisdom was about plans and planning. It was a human\nattainment, possibly with a slight touch of craft or even craftiness about it.\nIn earlier times it was not predicated of God. However, with the destruction of\nstate institutions there was a new approach. Wisdom was applied to God, who\nalso was wise, had a plan for his people and humanity. There is a collection of\nthe older form of wisdom in Proverbs from chapter 10 onwards.  This is prefaced by texts on personified\nwisdom, the best known of them in today\u2019s first reading. Here Lady Wisdom sings\nher own praises, addressing all who wish to listen. She was with the creator\nfrom the very beginning, before the oldest of his works. We are familiar with\nthe creation account of the book of Genesis. But there were others, and that in\ntoday\u2019s reading is a poetic one of them. Lady Wisdom enjoyed God\u2019s creation and\nrelished conversation with humans on it. People naturally ask what precisely is\nmeant by wisdom.  Some think that the\ninternal divine plan of creation is intended. It proclaims God\u2019s glory and\nwisdom. In any event this Old Testament text is chosen because what is here\nsaid of Lady Wisdom is predicated of Christ in the New Testament: all things\nwere created by Christ, through him and for him.    <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm\n8).How great is your name, O Lord our\nGod, through all the  earth!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(Romans\n5:1-5). To God, through Christ, in the\nlove poured out by the Spirit.<\/em> This is Trinity Sunday and this particular\nreading is chosen by reason of its mention of God (the Father), Jesus Christ\n(the Son) and the Holy Spirit. Its rich content, however, merits our attention.\nHumanity is represented at enmity with God because of sin. Peace and friendship\nare restored through faith in Jesus Christ. Elsewhere in his letters Paul\nstrongly condemns human boasting, as if humans had reason to boast of their own\nmerits and virtue before God. Here, however, Paul boasts and advocates\nChristian boasting, but boasting based on God\u2019s work of grace and the hope it\nengenders, boasting not of human achievements but of our union with Christ\u2019s\nsuffering, of the cross. This suffering in union with Christ is part of a\nprocess; it brings patience, perseverance and a hope that does not deceive,\nbecause of the love of God given lavishly by the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gospel<\/em> (John 16:12-15).\nEverything the Father has is mine; all\nthe Spirit tells you is taken from what is mine. <\/em>This readingfrom Christ\u2019s Farewell Discourser is chosen\nfor this feast of the Blessed Trinity because of  the mention by Christ (the Son) of the Father\nand the Holy Spirit. Its message is that of the readings from this same Gospel\nof John for last Sundays of Easter and for Pentecost \u2013 which can still be profitably\nconsulted with the explanatory notes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: Mystery\nof the Blessed Trinity and Mystery of the Church<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Today we celebrate the feast of the Blessed Trinity, or in the formal\ntitle, \u201cThe Solemnity of the Holy Trinity\u201d. The Trinity is something of an\nabstraction. We rarely, if ever, hear of devotion to the Blessed Trinity. The\nTrinity is recognized as the greatest and deepest of the Christian mysteries.\nIt took centuries, with errors, heresies and bad formulations, for the Church\nto arrive at the formulation of or belief in the Blessed Trinity as we have it\nto day. Belief in the Trinity is belief in one God in three divine persons. As\nformulated in the latest Catechism of the\nCatholic Church<\/em> (paragraphs 253-260) the Trinity is One, We do not confess\nthree Gods, but one God in three persons, the \u201cconsubstantial Trinity\u201d. The\ndivine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them\nis God whole and entire. The divine persons are really distinct from one another.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

            A brief survey of the\ndevelopment of the doctrine will help us to understand somewhat the development\nof the Church\u2019s doctrine with regard to the mystery. Any development had to\ntake place within the strict Jewish doctrine of monotheism, namely that there\nis one God, and only one God. In the New Testament (as in Jewish piety) this\nGod could be referred to as \u201cFather\u201d. Then there was Jesus who preached the\nadvent of the kingdom. He once asked his disciples who people, and they\nthemselves, thought he was. Peter, on behalf of the Twelve, said they believed\nhe was the Christ, the Messiah (Mark; Luke, \u201cthe Christ of God\u201d; Matthew, \u201cthe\nChrist, the Son of the living God\u201d). The resurrection and the post-resurrection\nappearances opened a new period in Christian belief. Jesus was now seen as more\nthan human; he was seated at God\u2019s right hand, as Lord, that is the one who\nsends the Holy Spirit on the Church. By the end of the first century Jesus was\nworshipped as God. \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, … and the Word was God.\n… And the Word became flesh and lived among us\u201d. Jesus promised to send the\nHoly Spirit, the Paraclete, the Advocate, on the Church. The Holy Spirit was\nalso worshipped as God. To express its belief in this mystery, respecting\nChristian tradition and the underlying belief in one and only God, the Church\ndid not have adequate biblical language to do this. It resorted to the current\nGreek philosophical terms person, substance, nature (while recognising their\npartial inadequacy). The fourth-century formulation, still used, speaks of\nFather, Son and Holy Spirit as persons, really distinct from one another; not,\nhowever, three Gods, but each sharing the same divine nature or substance, and\nthough distinct, all three are active in all the works of salvation, even if a\ngiven activity is referred to just one of the three persons.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

            So much for the theology\nof belief in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as the Trinity, the one true God.\nSuch theology does not necessarily make for devotion, or a greater understanding\nof the mystery of the Trinity. This great mystery of Father, Son and Holy\nSpirit reveals the innermost nature and life of God to us: God as love, as\nsaviour, as unity. This mystery of the Blessed Trinity was revealed to us as\nsource and model of our Christian life. In his farewell discourse at the Last\nSupper Jesus prayed to his Father for his followers, in all ages to come: \u201cI\nask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe\nin me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me\nand I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that\nyou have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I\nhave given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, … that the world may\nknow that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.\u201d\n(John 17:20-24). This is practically what Paul says in writing to the Romans,\nsummarised in the heading to today\u2019s second reading: We go \u201cto God through Christ,\nin the love poured out by the Holy Spirit\u201d. The Holy Spirit in the hearts of\nbelievers makes them, makes us, aware of our dignity as children of God, called\nand enabled to live according to the pattern of the inner life of God himself,\nas revealed by Jesus, and continued in the mystery of the Church. The Church\nwill never be properly understood unless viewed as a mystery, the Body of\nChrist, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit called to live in accord with\nthat deep mystery which is the Blessed Trinity, and as a witness on earth to\nthe living God, the source of true life.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings) B. Reflection & Dialogue: Mystery of the Blessed Trinity and Mystery of the Church A. The Bible as Guide … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}