Fix This in Your Heart (Trinity Sunday)
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May 26, 2018Have you ever felt a tug to do something out of the ordinary?
Maybe say something to someone you’ve never met before or call up an old friend to check in? This tug can make us feel uncomfortable; we aren’t sure why we have this feeling we need to act, but we feel almost disobedient if we don’t follow through. Oftentimes, these promptings are from the Holy Spirit, who puts things on our hearts in order for us to be Christ to others. Through Baptism and Confirmation, the Holy Spirit dwells in us. The next time you feel prompted to reach out, be bold in love and ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of courage.
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First Reading Reflection
Deuteronomy 4:32−34, 39−40"Ask now of the days of old: Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of?"
Deuteronomy is Moses’s re-explanation of the Law shortly before the Israelites enter the Promised Land. His audience consists of the second generation since the departure from Egypt. Although Moses himself will not be allowed to enter into the Promised Land, he is concerned that they know how to conduct themselves in their new home. His words in this reading provide a compelling reminder of the concern God has for them. They are his people, and he is eminently worthy of their trust and obedience. And thus they are called to make an act of faith: to acknowledge that “the Lord is Lord alone” and to never turn to other gods. This becomes a central part of the Shema, a prayer repeated daily by devout Jews.
On this feast of the Trinity, it is well to recall this important point: God is one, and he is the only God. No power can compare with his. The doctrine of the Trinity, that there are three Persons in one God, does not change this ancient affirmation of faith. Rather, it points believers to the source of God’s oneness and might: the communion of Persons, equal in essence and power, who radiate the truth that God is love. And the love God shows for his people comes straight from his being.
Second Reading Reflection
Romans 8:14−17"You received a Spirit of adoption through whom we cry, "Abba, Father!""
This reading shows what it means to live the life of grace—the life of the Trinity. We might sum it up in one word: trust, for trust is the reversal of Adam’s sin. To be led by the Holy Spirit is to live in trust. With this trust we are able to call upon the Father, to turn to him with a cry of love, not fear: “Abba, Father!” We obey his will in trust following the example of Christ’s life. We share in Jesus’s trusting relationship with the Father, particularly by embracing the Cross in our lives and also by being responsive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
The life of grace allows us to surrender all in trust to God in all circumstances, no matter how bad they seem. In this way we are united ever more closely to God, becoming his children in deed and truth. As we surrender to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the plan of the Father through the Cross of Christ, we also participate in the saving action of God. All our actions become holy and take on an eternal significance.
Gospel Reading Reflection
Matthew 28:16−209–10"I am with you always, until the end of the age."
This scene from St. Matthew’s Gospel is the conclusion of the whole Gospel and the culmination of the Evangelist’s Resurrection account. In obedience to the directive of the Risen Christ, the eleven have come to the mountain in Galilee, where they see Jesus alive again. Here they exhibit a conflict that almost every follower of Jesus can sympathize with: “They worshipped, but they doubted.” Jesus’s response is consoling: he draws near to them, assures them of his power and divinity, and gives them their apostolic commission. They are to carry on his work in the world: to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to observe what he has commanded. In other words, they are to reunite the fallen world with God, drawing men back into the life of the Trinity.
Some might object that Jesus did not baptize, as another Evangelist notes. However, it is his own “baptism” (see Luke 12:50), that is, his Death and Resurrection, which is communicated in the Sacrament. Hence it brings about an existential change in those who receive it, a truly new mode of being: divine adoption.
“Teach them to observe all I have commanded you,” says Our Lord. This is the formation that follows Baptism. Children who come into a family must learn how to participate in the life of the family, Jesus’s final words, “I am with you always,” manifest the tenderness of God. God wants union with his children. All the effort, the sacrifice, the suffering, the establishment of the Church, has this one goal: to bring about God’s glory by his children living in joyful, fruitful union with him.
DIGGING DEEPER:
Modeling the Trinitarian LifeThrough the revelation of the Holy Trinity, we are invited to a deeper participation in the life of God. We are made in God’s image and likeness, which means that we have the gifts of free will and intellect, and also a tendency and a calling to live in a community of love and truth. This community models God’s communion of Persons revealed to us in the Trinity. We can see this most clearly lived out in a marriage and family. A husband and wife, equal beings, love one another and give their lives for the other in union with God’s will. In addition, through God’s grace, they have the power to come together and through their gift of self, bring forth new life. This life-giving love is a powerful example to us of God’s life as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
PRAYER:
On the mountaintop, Jesus commands his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Imagine yourself receiving this command along with the disciples. How do you react to his words? What does his command mean? How will you prepare youself for this task? Take comfort in Jesus’s words: “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
RESOLUTION:
Make a personal mission statement. Include in it your gifts that you can use in evangelizing others and how you will use those gifts in your daily encounters with people around you to bring them closer to Christ. Make a commitment to start each day asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit throughout your day
Reprinted from Opening the Word at Formed.org .
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