Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, three persons in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This mystery of religion is revealed to man by God Himself in the Holy Scriptures, in His Word.
The Church teaches that the Son is generated from the Father and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. That He is spirited. The Father is pure spirit as is the Holy Spirit. But the Son, a divine Person, is God and man. Mary was over shadowed from on high, by the power of the Holy Spirit, she conceived and bore a Son who was the Son of God.
Through the most Holy Trinity and their works and interventions mankind has the house of God brought near and opened up to Him. “No one knows the Father but the Son and Him to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him”.
For us men, we are brought to know and to love the Holy Trinity by and through the Son of God, the second Person of that Trinity. But it must be understood that we could not have that knowledge if it was not facilitated by the Holy Spirit, the third Person, the spirit of love and truth.
On Mount Sinai the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob spoke to Moses, the God in whom dwelt the second and third persons. Moses asked His name and God answered, “I am who Am.”
Jesus in speaking of Abraham to the Pharisees said, ‘“Abraham saw my day and was glad: they thinking in human terms replied, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham? Jesus answered, “Amen I say to you, before Abraham came to be, “I am”.’
In Jn14:8 it says, ‘Philip said to him,” Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him,” have I been with you so long, and you have not known me? Philip he who sees me sees also the Father. How can you say show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I speak not on my own authority, but the Father dwelling in me, it is He who does the works.”’…
Where ever one of the Trinity is the other two are also present. But this great mystery extends to each of us who have been baptized into Christ. For when we received Him we also received the Father and the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. For you bear Him in your body.”
In the offertory of the Mass the priest or deacon, when pouring a few drops of water in the wine in the chalice says: “Through this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” The incarnation, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. God became man so that we could become like God.
It is Christ Jesus, God Himself, who has revealed the mystery of the Holy Trinity to us through divine grace. At His baptism in the River Jordan by John, we see that as Jesus rose from the waters a dove appeared, the biblical sign of the Holy Spirit, and from the cloud was heard a voice saying, “ thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased.”
Before Jesus would ascend to His Father from whence He had come, He commanded His apostles, “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
In the Catholic faith there are three absolute divine mysteries, the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation and Divine grace.
What is the meaning and the purpose of what the Holy Trinity was revealed to man? It is that man’s immortal soul, made in the image and likeness of God and defaced by sin, can be restored and his eternal destiny fulfilled. How?
By a simple fiat, like that spoken by Mary, “Be it done to me according to your word.” God’s Son took on Himself our flesh and the sins of the world and made recompense to God the Father by sacrificing Himself and dying that man might again live. And live eternally body and soul in that flesh which Christ called His own.
In Acts 4: 10, 11, 12 we read that after Jesus resurrection and ascension when Peter had cured a cripple he said, “Be it known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, even in this name does he, the crippled man, stand here before you sound, this is the stone rejected by you the builders, which has become the cornerstone. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
St. Paul in 1Thes 3, writes, “This is the will of God your sanctification. What is easier to say, take up your mat and walk or your sins are forgiven. What Christ has done is open the door, the channel of grace, the life and very being of God for this sanctification. But we must cooperate with this gift which is called sanctifying grace. Without which we cannot achieve eternal life, the gate, the door is the cross from which all grace flows.
The sacrifice of the Mass is that door. And in it we encounter the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son offers Himself to the Father in the exact same sacrifice of Calvary in an unbloody manner. All present offer themselves as well. The priest at the Epiclesis extends both hands over the gifts, the substances of bread and wine, and calls down upon them the Holy Spirit so that they may be changed and made Holy at the words of consecration, which are Christ’s words spoken through His priest, “This is my body.” … “This is the cup of my blood of the new and everlasting covenant.”
We do honor today and everyday to God who is a trinity of three Persons. Particularly through the blood of Christ which opens the door to eternal life and bids us enter by way of divine grace. St. Paul in Eph 6:12 reminds us however that we are engaged in Christian warfare and says “Put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood. But against the principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness on high”… And take unto you the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, that is, the word of God.”
Continuing in Ephesians St. Paul reminds us that sin is the cause of death for He says, “For I know that, in me, that is in my flesh, no good dwells, because to wish is within my power, but I do not find the strength to accomplish what is good.” This is an acknowledgement that rests in the words of Christ, “Without me you can do nothing.”
And then Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 4:23, “be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which has been created according to God in justice and holiness of truth.”
In Romans today St. Paul reminds us that we boast in hope of the glory of God. But, we also even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance and endurance proven character and proven character hope, and hope does not disappoint.”
Glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was and is to come.
The Church teaches that the Son is generated from the Father and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. That He is spirited. The Father is pure spirit as is the Holy Spirit. But the Son, a divine Person, is God and man. Mary was over shadowed from on high, by the power of the Holy Spirit, she conceived and bore a Son who was the Son of God.
Through the most Holy Trinity and their works and interventions mankind has the house of God brought near and opened up to Him. “No one knows the Father but the Son and Him to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him”.
For us men, we are brought to know and to love the Holy Trinity by and through the Son of God, the second Person of that Trinity. But it must be understood that we could not have that knowledge if it was not facilitated by the Holy Spirit, the third Person, the spirit of love and truth.
On Mount Sinai the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob spoke to Moses, the God in whom dwelt the second and third persons. Moses asked His name and God answered, “I am who Am.”
Jesus in speaking of Abraham to the Pharisees said, ‘“Abraham saw my day and was glad: they thinking in human terms replied, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham? Jesus answered, “Amen I say to you, before Abraham came to be, “I am”.’
In Jn14:8 it says, ‘Philip said to him,” Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him,” have I been with you so long, and you have not known me? Philip he who sees me sees also the Father. How can you say show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I speak not on my own authority, but the Father dwelling in me, it is He who does the works.”’…
Where ever one of the Trinity is the other two are also present. But this great mystery extends to each of us who have been baptized into Christ. For when we received Him we also received the Father and the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. For you bear Him in your body.”
In the offertory of the Mass the priest or deacon, when pouring a few drops of water in the wine in the chalice says: “Through this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” The incarnation, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. God became man so that we could become like God.
It is Christ Jesus, God Himself, who has revealed the mystery of the Holy Trinity to us through divine grace. At His baptism in the River Jordan by John, we see that as Jesus rose from the waters a dove appeared, the biblical sign of the Holy Spirit, and from the cloud was heard a voice saying, “ thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased.”
Before Jesus would ascend to His Father from whence He had come, He commanded His apostles, “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
In the Catholic faith there are three absolute divine mysteries, the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation and Divine grace.
What is the meaning and the purpose of what the Holy Trinity was revealed to man? It is that man’s immortal soul, made in the image and likeness of God and defaced by sin, can be restored and his eternal destiny fulfilled. How?
By a simple fiat, like that spoken by Mary, “Be it done to me according to your word.” God’s Son took on Himself our flesh and the sins of the world and made recompense to God the Father by sacrificing Himself and dying that man might again live. And live eternally body and soul in that flesh which Christ called His own.
In Acts 4: 10, 11, 12 we read that after Jesus resurrection and ascension when Peter had cured a cripple he said, “Be it known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, even in this name does he, the crippled man, stand here before you sound, this is the stone rejected by you the builders, which has become the cornerstone. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
St. Paul in 1Thes 3, writes, “This is the will of God your sanctification. What is easier to say, take up your mat and walk or your sins are forgiven. What Christ has done is open the door, the channel of grace, the life and very being of God for this sanctification. But we must cooperate with this gift which is called sanctifying grace. Without which we cannot achieve eternal life, the gate, the door is the cross from which all grace flows.
The sacrifice of the Mass is that door. And in it we encounter the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son offers Himself to the Father in the exact same sacrifice of Calvary in an unbloody manner. All present offer themselves as well. The priest at the Epiclesis extends both hands over the gifts, the substances of bread and wine, and calls down upon them the Holy Spirit so that they may be changed and made Holy at the words of consecration, which are Christ’s words spoken through His priest, “This is my body.” … “This is the cup of my blood of the new and everlasting covenant.”
We do honor today and everyday to God who is a trinity of three Persons. Particularly through the blood of Christ which opens the door to eternal life and bids us enter by way of divine grace. St. Paul in Eph 6:12 reminds us however that we are engaged in Christian warfare and says “Put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood. But against the principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness on high”… And take unto you the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, that is, the word of God.”
Continuing in Ephesians St. Paul reminds us that sin is the cause of death for He says, “For I know that, in me, that is in my flesh, no good dwells, because to wish is within my power, but I do not find the strength to accomplish what is good.” This is an acknowledgement that rests in the words of Christ, “Without me you can do nothing.”
And then Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 4:23, “be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which has been created according to God in justice and holiness of truth.”
In Romans today St. Paul reminds us that we boast in hope of the glory of God. But, we also even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance and endurance proven character and proven character hope, and hope does not disappoint.”
Glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was and is to come.
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