Theme of the Feast: In What Kind of God Do You Believe? All three readings teach us today something about the nature of God. The first tells us that the biblical God is quite different from the god worshipped by people of other religions. God does not become angry, is not wilful, does not punish us and is not spying on us. The gospel tells us that he has not moved away from us, but has joined his life to the world and to ours. The second reading teaches us that God is family, a family open to us all.
Entrance Antiphon
Blest be God the Father, and the Only Begotten Son of God, and also the Holy Spirit: for he has shown us his merciful love.
Collect
God our Father, who by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification made known to the human race your wondrous mystery; 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. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
FIRST READING
“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious.”
A reading from the Book of Exodus (Exodus 34:4b-6.8-9)
In those days: Moses rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” And Moses made haste to bow his head towards the earth, and worshipped. And he said, “If now I have found favour in your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I beg you, go in the midst of us, although it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Daniel 3:29-30.31.33.32.34 (R. cf. 29b)
R/. You are to be praised and highly exalted forever.
Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our fathers,
and to be praised and highly exalted forever;
and blessed is your glorious, holy name
and to be highly praised and highly exalted forever. R.
Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory
and to be extolled and highly glorified forever. R.
Blessed are you upon the throne of your kingdom
and to be extolled and highly exalted forever. R.
R/. You are to be praised and highly exalted forever.
Blessed are you, who sit upon cherubim and look upon the deeps,
and to be praised and highly exalted forever. R.
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven
and to be sung and glorified forever. R.
SECOND READING
“The grace. Of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
A reading from the second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 13:11-13)
Brethren, rejoice. Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
The word of the Lord.
ALLELUIA Cf. Revelation 1:8
Alleluia. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: to God who is, who was, and who is to come. Alleluia
GOSPEL
“God sent his Son that the world might be saved through him.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 3.16-18)
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Today’s Reflection
The Most Holy Trinity, the communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the source of all creation, Redemption and Sanctification and the origin and culmination of love, is the mystery of mysteries. Human beings have toiled in vain to comprehend, interpret and explain the mystery of the Trinity but have humbly accepted the truth that it is beyond their comprehension and understanding. God’s unconditional love for his children made him to send his only Son to us, the Son committed to follow and live the Father’s will sacrificed himself to redeem us, and the spirit who teaches us to call God, Abba, Father sanctifies us. God’s love goes beyond all human conditions and realms and penetrates into each fiber of our existence to grant us his gift of salvation.
The Trinity is a mystery to be believed and lived and a not a concept to be explained. The Trinity invites us to live the virtues of faith, hope and love and practice values of self-sacrifice and self-giving. The Trinity teaches us that there is but One, Absolute and Eternal being from whom all things proceed, and auto whom all shall return. May the Father who created us in his own image and likeness, Jesus who redeemed us on the cross, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us, make us truly children of God!