Jun 7 2020 Reflection

Sunday 7 June 2020

First Reading: EX 34:4B-6, 8-9
Responsorial Psalm:
Glory and praise for ever!
DN 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56
Second Reading: 2 COR 13:11-13
Gospel Reading: JN 3:16-18

Today’s Note: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Gospel Reading:

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Reflection:

The Lord . . . proclaimed his name. (Exodus 34:5) 

Have you ever wondered why the Church chooses some readings for its special feast days? Take today’s feast, for example. It’s dedicated to the Holy Trinity, but nowhere in these readings do we have a clear spelling out of this crucial doctrine of our faith. 

In the first reading, for instance, Moses actually gets to see God and hear him proclaim his name: Yahweh. He also learns who this God is: “a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness” (Exodus 34:6). Beautiful truths, but nothing about the Trinity.

Granted, the three Persons of the Trinity do appear in the second reading, but only in the form of a final blessing from the apostle Paul. And the focus seems to be on grace, love, and fellowship more than on the truths of three divine Persons in one God.

Then in today’s Gospel, the apostle John tells us about the way God loves his people—through humility, sacrifice, and self-giving. He tells us of a God who “did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

So why do we have these readings for this feast? Because at the heart of today’s feast is not a solution to a mathematical puzzle of how God could be three in one. Rather, it’s a divine mystery, that our God, who is a Trinity of divine Persons, loves us and longs to reveal himself to us. It’s the promise that his revelation has the power to melt our hearts and heal our souls. 

A God of mercy and kindness. A God of constant blessing. A God who saves and doesn’t condemn. These are the Trinitarian truths he wants to reveal to you on this marvelous feast day. These are truths that can become the foundation for every aspect of your life. Let him proclaim his name to you.

“Lord, help me to live every day in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”