First reading: Ex. 34: 4b-6, 8-9
“Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai as the Lord
has commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets.
“Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with Moses
there and proclaimed his name, ‘Lord.’
Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a
merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.’ Moses at once bowed down to the ground in
worship. Then he said, ‘If I find favor
with you, O Lord, do come along in our company.
This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and
sins, and receive us as your own.”
Second reading: 2 Cor. 13: 11-13
“Brothers and sister, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, 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 holy ones greet you.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”
Gospel reading: Jn. 3: 16-18
“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 believed in him has already been condemned,
because he has not believe in the name of the only Son of God.”
Introductory theme summary:
As one would expect, the common theme from today’s readings
is as the title for this Sunday indicates; the Trinity, with each reading
representing one of the three Divine Persons.
Reflection:
The subject of a triune God has been a divisive issue for non-Christian
religions for centuries. Not
surprisingly because the concept itself is extremely difficult to
understand. The more one seeks to
penetrate the mystery, the more difficult the subtleties become. Since this Sunday is named for the theological
perspective, some effort should be made to expound on the mystery in a
simplified manner anyway.
The Trinity is one by sharing in the same divine substance. The One God is triune by consisting of three
persons who share equally in the one divine substance. These three Persons are distinguished by their
unique relationship to the other two, which are not interchangeable. Those three relationships are: Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit; which are characterized by the two acts or processions of
begetting and spiration. The Father only
does that which pertains to begetting (source of all things), the Son only does
that which pertains to having been begotten (submissive to in the reception of all
things), and the Holy Spirit only does that which pertains to a purely passive
procession (able to influence and cause affect without interfering in the
freewill or taking possession of all things).
So what does all this mean to us in our day to day
lives? Well, surprisingly, quite a
lot. Most people consider the complex
issues of theology as irrelevant to us in any practical sense, but in the case
of the Trinity that is far from the truth.
We who become children of God through our faith in and conversion to
Christ find ourselves in the place of Christ when we share in His
divinity. In the place of Christ we inherit
a Father who possess all things and lovingly desires to give all things to
us. In the place of Christ we receive
all things from the Father through humility and obedience. In the place of Christ we participate in the
passive effect accomplished by the Holy Spirit in and throughout the world.
By applying this reality of faith to our daily lives means;
we become able in all things. There is
nothing that God desires from us that we cannot do. The most obvious of which is the one thing
most Christians don’t want to be held accountable for: NOT SINNING. In fact this condition is stipulated as
necessary to validate truly remaining in him and thus actually participating in
His divinity, in the present or the future.
Sadly, most Christians today want to presume a dispensation
from the obligation to reform their lives away from sin completely, and thus live
their lives in the state of grace. As a
result, though they may not necessarily be jeopardizing their salvation, which
could still be a possibility, what they do for certain is deny themselves the opportunity
to participate in the divine nature of Christ.
No one who will not conform themselves to the likeness of Christ will
participate in His divinity, in time or eternity.
And those who say this is not a possibility, do not believe
in the Eucharist for all that it truly is.
The Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ. By receiving the Eucharist we receive Christ
in totality; and by that reception we become able to fulfill this preliminary
condition for sharing fully in His divinity.
And from there, there are no limits!!!
Love for life should not deter us from death. To one’s self we must die in order to live as
Christ himself lived. This is what
becoming born (again) of Spirit means in actuality.
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