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Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - Cycle B

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The celebration of the fifty days of Easter may be over, but as is often the case the church isn’t quite ready to leave the party.  As we begin this long period of Ordinary Time the church takes these next two Sundays after Easter to reflect on two of her most sacred mysteries.  This Sunday, with the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and next Sunday with the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

The Word for Trinity Sunday
Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Psalm 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
Romans 8:14-17
Mathew 28:16-20

We open with a reading from the book of Deuteronomy – the 5th and final book of the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible – the Torah).  Our passage has Moses speaking to the people of the wonders of the Lord; of a God who chose them, Israel, a captive nation under Egypt, for his own.  The continuation of this special relationship, however, has a performance clause for the people of God:  In order to receive the grace of the Lord, one must also follow his commandments.  It is a two-way relationship.  Our Psalm echoes this arrangement – God has chosen his people, but only those who follow him will be delivered from death.

Our second reading form St. Paul to the Romans reminds us that we are children of God.  That spirit of adoption allows us to call God “father.”  This short passage shows the evolution of our understanding of God from the previous passage from Deuteronomy.  Here Paul reveals our understanding of the interconnected nature of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, working together to bring us to him and to be glorified by him.

Our Gospel for this solemnity is the conclusion to Matthew’s gospel.  Some might say this is Matthew’s ascension moment, only without the actual ascension.  Instead it is a “commissioning” of the Apostles.  Just as Matthew’s gospel taught us to pray with the “Our Father” (chapter 6), here Matthew gives us our most common prayer – as well as the proper form for Baptism – “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Final Thoughts:
While our understanding of this Trinitarian nature of God has its roots in the Scriptures, it still took the Apostles and their successors nearly four centuries to fully understand and define this nature of God into our Nicene Creed.  Three unique personas yet each being consubstantial, one in the same to God.  Yet even after the Creed was set theologians then and through to this day continued to wrestle with a way to lend definition and understanding to the Trinitarian nature of God.  But for all this work, it still remains a mystery of faith.  And faith is the key.  Even without hard, physical evidence, we take that leap, and believe as Christ himself taught us, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  Amen!

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