Trinity Sunday

 

Happy Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  This week we return to the liturgical season of Ordinary Time. This Sunday and next Sunday, however, are designated as solemnities, special days that call our attention to the central mysteries of our faith. Today, on the first Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. This feast invites us to consider what we believe about God, who has revealed himself to us in the Trinity, one God in three Persons.  The Gospel for this Solemnity is taken from the Gospel of Matthew.

The final commission of the disciples is given on the mountaintop.  In today’s Gospel, the eleven disciples go the mountaintop in Galilee, as Jesus had instructed them through Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. They see Jesus, and they worship and doubt at the same time. Jesus approaches them and commissions them to baptize and teach.  In this final commission, the eleven are told to go to all nations. The mission of Jesus is now to be taken to all people, and the task is to baptize and to teach.  As baptized Christians, we share in the life of the blessed Trinity and seek to invite others to share in God’s love.

Many people have attempted over the years to explain the Trinity – three persons in one God.  St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain it to the people of Ireland.  Others have used the image of the three musketeers.  Their life mantra was “one for all and all for one!”  However, we are able to understand the concept let us be faithful to our baptismal call and live as disciples called by Christ to be there for one another.

A song which has always helped me to understand the Trinity is All Haile Adored Trinity.  I have included the text of it below.  I invite you to spend some time reflecting on the words and the message behind it.

All hail, adored Trinity; All hail, eternal Unity; O God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, ever One.

Three Persons praise we evermore, One only God our hearts adore;
In Thy sure mercy ever kind May we our true protection find.

O Trinity! O Unity! Be present as we worship Thee; And with the songs that angels sing
Unite the hymns of praise we bring.

John David Chambers(1805-1893)