Sunday, 15 June

The building of Basic Ecclesial Communities is one of the major pastoral priorities of the Philippine Church (2002).

Readings: Prv. 8:22-31; Ps. 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Rom. 5:1-5; Jn. 16:12-15.

Some Notes on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

1. Last Monday, 9 June, we began Ordinary Time, a time when we are called to live the Gospel in the ordinariness of everyday life. Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Pope John XXII established the feast for the universal Church in 1334. Trinity Sunday directs us toward the goal of our journey — eternal life in the One and Triune God.

2. The word "Trinity" does not appear anywhere in the Bible.

The Councils of Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople in 381 were providential in spreading the doctrine of the Trinity. The two Councils condemned the Arian heresy that denied the divinity of Jesus, effectively denying that God is One and Triune.

3. The doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity, in whose name we are baptized, is the fundamental dogma of our faith. The Feast makes us aware of God's provident and faithful love for us. Indeed, God is Love. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share one divine nature in a "relationship" of mutual and eternal love. The Feast reminds us that our relationships with others must similarly be characterized by love.

4. 1st Reading, Prv. 8:22-31 — Thus says the wisdom of God: "The Lord begot me, the beginning of his works.... From of old I was formed, at the first, before the earth" (vv. 1-2). Wisdom is here personified. She is of divine origin. She exists before all things (vv. 24-29). "Then was I beside him as artisan; I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing over the whole earth, having my delight with human beings" (vv. 30- 31).

5. The early Church Fathers correlated Wisdom with Jesus, the Word of God, as in Jn. 1:1-3 — "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be" (see also Col. 1:15-20). Proverbs 8 has other correlations with Jesus. Jesus is the wisdom of God, especially in his work on the Cross — "Christ the power and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1: 20- 24). Jesus became for us wisdom from God (1 Cor. 1:30). In Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom (Col. 2:3).

6. Resp. Ps. 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 — Divine Majesty and Human Dignity . "O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!" (v. 2). "When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers... what is man that you are mindful of him? Yet you have made him little less than a god" (vv. 4-6). "You have given him rule over the works of your hands, put all things at his feet" (v. 7). St. Paul applies v. 7 to Christ (1 Cor. 15: 27).

7. 2nd Reading, Rom. 5:1-5 — Because we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Pardon by our Lord Jesus has given us access to grace. Therefore, we can boast of God's glory (vv. 1-2). We can even boast of our afflictions, for we know that affliction begets endurance, proven character, and hope. Our hope does not disappoint, because the Spirit of hope dwells in us and imbues us with God's love (vv. 4-5). This recalls the biblical theme of the 2025 Jubilee Pilgrimage of Hope, "Spes non confundit," Hope does not disappoint.

8. Gospel, Jn. 16:12- 15 — "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now" (v. 12). Moreover, the disciples have not been able to understand his words and actions prior to his glorification (see Jn. 2:22; 12:16; 13:7). "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth." The Spirit will guide the community to the truth that Jesus is the sole revelation of God and the one who speaks the words of God (see Jn. 3:20, 33; Jn. 8:40, 47).

9. "He will tell you of the things to come." The future role of the Holy Spirit will be to guide the community in what they need to know and do in the new apostolic era. The Holy Spirit will bear witness to Jesus (see Jn. 15:26). He will glorify Jesus and take what the Father has given Jesus and declare it to his disciples. As missionary disciples, we continue to be guided by the Holy Spirit towards wisdom and holiness, fearlessly proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior, and praying humbly with patient endurance and confident hope.

10. Prayer — God our Father, you made known your wondrous mystery to the human race by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification. Grant us, we pray, that in professing the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory, and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty. This we pray, through Christ, our Lord. Amen (Collect of today's Mass).

Prayers, best wishes, God bless!