The Holy Trinity
June 16, 2019
Proverbs 8:22-31; Psalm
8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
The events that began at Easter
have come to completion at Pentecost, and this feast that celebrates the
Trinity is designed to share with us our union with God. We celebrate that we
have multiple ways of relating to God, but the message is clear: God is one and
God draws us close to God’s heart. During Passover, we celebrated how God
remained steadfast to us during adversity; we then shared in the victory with
the God who redeemed us; now we live in the reality of a God who sustains us. We
are assured that nothing can separate us from the reach of God.
Each time we gather for the
Eucharist, we bring to mind the Passover meal Jesus celebrated. This meal was traditionally
marked by a quiet joy because God remained faithful from the beginning of the
covenant and because faith believes that God will always remain with the people
at all times. The work of Jesus was to break any perceived barriers we held that
separated us from God, and the Spirit works to sustain this friendship and to
enlighten our minds.
The symbol of the Holy Spirit
reminds us of our foundational aid, our breath, that is designed to reconnect
us to God and to the world around us. Suffering isolates us and makes us feel
as if we are alone, and we often live isolated from one another. It causes
loneliness, but when we touch the earth, we are no longer alienated from our
bodies or from the earth. Our mindful breathing is the first step in bringing
us back to our place in the world. Simply walking while breathing heals our
alienation and we become aware of the feelings of suffering we have been ignoring.
Our suffering has been trying to communicate with us, to let us know it is
there, but we have spent a lot of time and energy ignoring it. When we
acknowledge our feelings and suffering, it is the work of the Holy Spirit
assisting us to clear any barriers that keep us from alienated from God. The
Spirit is present to unite us.
We know the Spirit intercedes
for us and even groans for us when we do not have the right words to pray, and,
through Jesus, brings our needs and concerns to God. Why do we pray? Why do we
make retreats? We know that we need to reconnect with God, to be intimately
understood, and to try to understand a bit of God’s will for ourselves. Time is
prayer is spent being quiet and trying to understand each other more fully, and
when we are heard with compassion, love is nourished. The foundation of love is
understanding, which mans to understand suffering. We spend time with God so we
can know that God understands our suffering. To really love someone and to make
them happy is to understand the person’s suffering. This is what God does for
us in prayer. After we know that God has heard our pleas, we feel lighter, even
happy while in the midst of pain because God understands. With this
understanding, our love for God can deepen and become the true love we seek.
God gives us happiness, which is our capacity to understand and to love
ourselves, our neighbors, and God as well.
This happiness is what we celebrate
today. God is doing what is possible to keep us united, nourished, and
sustained. Everywhere we turn, we have glimpses of God’s activity. God draws us
into the relationship that existed with the Wisdom of God, for she was with God
from the beginning, shared everything, and delighted in each other’s presence.
The Trinity helps us achieve the same type of relationship. The Spirit will
make us one with God just as God is one with Godself and can never be divided.
Scripture for Daily Mass
First
Reading:
Monday: (2 Corinthians 6) Behold, now is a very
acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We cause no one to
stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry; on
the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through
much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings,
imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts; by purity, knowledge, patience,
kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the
power of God.
Tuesday: (2 Corinthians 8) We want you to know, brothers
and sisters, of the grace of God that has been given to the churches of
Macedonia. for in a severe test of affliction, the abundance of their joy and
their profound poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. Now
as you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness,
and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also.
Wednesday: (2 Corinthians 9) consider this: whoever sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver.
Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.
Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.
Thursday: (2 Corinthians 11) For if someone comes and
preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different
spirit from the one you received
or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough. For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these "superapostles." Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough. For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these "superapostles." Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
Friday (2 Corinthians 11) Three times I was beaten with
rods, once I was stoned,
three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race,
dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea,
dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights,
through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.
And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race,
dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea,
dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights,
through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.
And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Saturday (2 Corinthians 12) Therefore, that I might not
become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to
beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about
this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient
for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." I will rather boast most
gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore,
I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and
constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Gospel:
Monday: (Matthew 5) You have heard that it was said, An eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to
one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other
one to him as well.
Tuesday: (Matthew 5) You have heard that it was said, You
shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your
heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes
rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
Wednesday (Matthew 6) Take care not to perform righteous
deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense
from your heavenly Father.
Thursday (Matthew 6) In praying, do not babble like the
pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not
be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Friday (Matthew 6) Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and
steal. But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
Saturday (Matthew 6) Therefore I tell you, do not worry
about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will
wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the
birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet
your heavenly Father feeds them.
Saints of the Week
June 19: Romuald, abbot (950-1027), was born into a family of dukes from
Ravenna and became known for founding the Camaldolese Benedictine order that
combined the solitary life of hermits into a monastic community life. He
founded other hermitages and monasteries throughout Italy.
June 21: Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J., priest (1568-1591), gave up a great
inheritance to join the Jesuits in 1585 in his dreams of going to the missions.
However, when a plague hit Rome, Gonzaga served the sick and dying in hospitals
where he contracted the plague and died within three months. He is a patron saint
of youth.
June 22: Paulinus of Nola, bishop (353-431) was a prominent lawyer who
married a Spaniard and was baptized. Their infant son died while in Spain. He
became a priest and was sent to Nola, near Naples, where he lived a
semi-monastic life and helped the poor and pilgrims.
June 22: John Fisher, bishop and martyr (1469-1535) taught theology at
Cambridge University and became the University Chancellor and bishop of
Rochester. Fisher defended the queen against Henry VIII who wanted the marriage
annulled. Fisher refused to sign the Act of Succession. When the Pope made
Fisher a cardinal, the angry king beheaded him.
June 22: Thomas More, martyr (1478-1535) was a gifted lawyer, Member of
Parliament, scholar, and public official. He was reluctant to serve Cardinal
Woolsey at court and he resigned after he opposed the king’s Act of Succession,
which would allow him to divorce his wife. He was imprisoned and eventually
beheaded.
This Week in Jesuit History
·
Jun
16, 1675. St Margaret Mary Alacoque received her great revelation about
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
·
Jun
17, 1900. The martyrdom at Wuyi, China, of Blesseds Modeste Andlauer and Remy
Asore, slain during the Boxer Rebellion.
·
Jun
18, 1804. Fr. John Roothan, a future general of the Society, left his native
Holland at the age of seventeen to join the Society in White Russia.
·
Jun
19, 1558. Fr. Lainez, the Vicar General, summoned the opening of the First
General Congregation, nearly two years after the death of Ignatius. Some
trouble arose from the fact that Fr. Bobadilla thought himself entitled to some
share in the governance. Pope Paul IV ordered that the Institute of the Society
should be strictly adhered to.
·
Jun
20, 1626. The martyrdom in Nagasaki, Japan, of Blesseds Francis Pacheco, John
Baptist Zola, Vincent Caun, Balthasar De Torres, Michael Tozo, Gaspar
Sadamatzu, John Kinsaco, Paul Xinsuki, and Peter Rinscei.
·
Jun
21, 1591. The death of St Aloysius Gonzaga, who died from the plague, which he
caught while attending the sick.
·
Jun
22, 1611. The first arrival of the Jesuit fathers in Canada, sent there at the
request of Henry IV of France.
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