It’s all about Love Trinity Sunday 2021

                                                          It’s all about Love

Trinity Sunday 2021

May 30, 2021

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Deuteronomy 4:32-40; Psalm 33; Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28:16-20

 

We are made by God so that we cannot live, develop, and find fulfillment except as we offer ourselves as genuine gifts to others. We discover who we are when we have an encounter with other persons, and we cannot experience the true beauty of life without relating to others. Relationships are always part of our real existence, and we cannot live fully without others. We experience a vibrant life when there is bonding, communion, and social engagement, and that is what this feast today is about: coming together in relationship with God and with one another. The mystery of the Trinity is explained through the mysteries of human relationships and the advent of love. 

 

We cannot exist without love, even if we don’t feel it at times in our central relationships, but it is the force that draws us out of ourselves, so that we become a ‘people for others.’ God created us for love, so that when we go out of ourselves, we find a fuller expression of who we are. Love impels us to move outwards, and it is within love that we discover more deeply who we are. 

 

As life gets complicated, we may retreat so that we can live a simple, small life that is fairly contained and without demands, but we recognize that we always belong to a much broader network of relationships, and we cannot stay long in a contained world. Our relationships open us to others who expand and enrich us, and this is what makes life interesting, where we find ourselves vitally engaged and open to miracles and mysteries. Authentic, maturing love and true friendship take root in hearts that are open to growth through healthy relationships with others. Our hearts have to keep expanding, even when they are full and there is no room left for more, and it gives us the impulse to embrace others and the possibilities they bring to us. In all things, our hearts must be open so we can welcome others without fear or worry; Openness of heart allows us to find great happiness.

 

Love unites. It brings us to greater communion, and when we find that we are withdrawing from someone or certain situations, we are distancing us from our own ability to love. St. Ignatius of Loyola would tell us to go agere contra, to go against how we feel, so that we can reposition ourselves again within the possibilities of charitable love. This onward and outward movement towards an increase of love calls for our growth in openness and the ability to accept others as part of a continuing adventure that brings all things, even those that are on the margins or frontiers, into a greater sense of mutual belonging.

 

Our spiritual state depends solely upon our movement towards or away from greater love. When we are out of balance, we talk with someone who can help us move back towards a sense of love. It restores us to union of relationships where we can practice a love that respects others for who they are and not for who we want them to be. Our practice of love seeks the best for another person’s life. We want to go to bed each night knowing that we have loved well and received love, and we know we never want to put love at risk, because our greatest danger lies in failing to love. We know from experience that love is stronger than death, and our deepest yearning and our greatest satisfaction is to know we have loved well. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (Zephaniah 3) The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, He will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals.

Tuesday: (Tobit 2) On the night of Pentecost, after I had buried the dead, I, Tobit, went into my courtyard to sleep next to the courtyard wall. My face was uncovered because of the heat. I did not know there were birds perched on the wall above me, till their warm droppings settled in my eyes, causing cataracts. 

 

Wednesday: (Tobit 3) At that very time, the prayer of these two suppliants was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God. So Raphael was sent to heal them both:
to remove the cataracts from Tobit’s eyes, so that he might again see God’s sunlight; and to marry Raguel’s daughter Sarah to Tobit’s son Tobiah, and then drive the wicked demon Asmodeus from her.

 

Thursday: (Tobit 6) “Brother Azariah, ask Raguel to let me marry my kinswoman Sarah.” Raguel overheard the words; so he said to the boy: “Eat and drink and be merry tonight, for no man is more entitled to marry my daughter Sarah than you, brother.

 

Friday (Tobit 11) Raphael said to Tobiah before he reached his father: I am certain that his eyes will be opened. Smear the fish gall on them. This medicine will make the cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes; then your father will again be able to see the light of day.”

 

Saturday (Tobit 12) I was sent to put you to the test. At the same time, however,
God commissioned me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord.” 

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 1) When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

 

Tuesday: (Mark 12) Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?” Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.”

 

Wednesday (Mark 12) Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’

 

Thursday (Mark 12) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 

Friday (Mark 12) David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’ David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” The great crowd heard this with delight.

 

Saturday (Mark 12) A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury.

 

Saints of the Week

 

May 31: Visitation of the Virgin Mary commemorates the visit of Mary in her early pregnancy to Mary, who is reported to be her elder cousin. Luke writes about the shared rejoicing of the two women - Mary's conception by the Holy Spirit and Elizabeth's surprising pregnancy in her advanced years. Elizabeth calls Mary blessed and Mary sings her song of praise to God, the Magnificat.

 

June 1: Justin, martyr (100-165), was a Samaritan philosopher who converted to Christianity and explained doctrine through philosophical treatises. His debating opponent reported him to the Roman authorities who tried him and when he refused to sacrifice to the gods, was condemned to death. 

 

June 2: Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs (d. 304) died in Rome during the Diocletian persecution. Peter was an exorcist who ministered under the well-regarded priest, Marcellinus. Stories are told that in jail they converted their jailer and his family. These men are remembered in Eucharistic prayer I. 

 

June 3: Charles Lwanga and 22 companion martyrs from Uganda (18660-1886) felt the wrath of King Mwanga after Lwanga and the White Fathers (Missionaries of Africa) censured him for his cruelty and immorality. The King determined to rid his kingdom of Christians. He persecuted over 100 Christians, but upon their death new converts joined the church. 

 

June 5: Boniface, bishop and martyr (675-754), was born in England and raised in a Benedictine monastery. He became a good preacher and was sent to the northern Netherlands as a missionary. Pope Gregory gave him the name Boniface with an edict to preach to non-Christians. We was made a bishop in Germany and gained many converts when he cut down the famed Oak of Thor and garnered no bad fortune by the Norse gods. Many years later he was killed by non-Christians when he was preparing to confirm many converts. The church referred to him as the "Apostle of Germany."

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• May 30, 1849. Vincent Gioberti's book Il Gesuita Moderno was put on the Index. Gioberti had applied to be admitted into the Society, and on being refused became its bitter enemy and calumniator. 
• May 31, 1900. The new novitiate of the Buffalo Mission, St Stanislaus, in South Brooklyn, Ohio, near Cleveland, is blessed. 
• June 1, 1527. Ignatius was thrown into prison after having been accused of having advised two noblewomen to undertake a pilgrimage, on foot, to Compostella. 
• June 2, 1566. The Professed House was opened in Toledo. It became well known for the fervor of its residents and the wonderful effects of their labors. 
• June 3, 1559. A residence at Frascati, outside of Rome, was purchased for the fathers and brothers of the Roman College. 
• June 4, 1667. The death in Rome of Cardinal Sforza Pallavicini, a man of great knowledge and humility. While he was Prefect of Studies of the Roman College he wrote his great work, The History of the Council of Trent. 
• June 5, 1546. Paul III, in the document Exponi Nobis, empowered the Society to admit coadjutors, both spiritual and temporal.