Reflections for Sunday, June 16, 2019: The Most Holy Trinity
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion
Mass Readings:
1st Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31 Responsorial: Psalm 8:4-9
2nd Reading: Romans 5:1-5 Gospel: John 16:12-15
Deepening Your Relationship with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit
Everything that the Father has is mine. (John 16:15)
What if someone asked you to explain the doctrine of the Trinity? You’d probably say that Christians believe in one God who is three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But then you might add that the Trinitarian God is a mystery that no one can ever truly understand. And you would be right!
Here’s what is so amazing about God: you don’t have to understand everything about him in order to have a personal relationship with each of the three Persons of the Trinity. God longs to share his life with you, and he comes to you in his three Persons to play many roles in your life.
As the Father and Creator, God loves you as the apple of his eye. He wants to relate to you as your Abba, a “Daddy” who teaches you and cares for you. As God the Son, Jesus died for you and rose from the dead so that you could have new life in him. Even when you sin, he wants nothing more than to place you on his shoulders like a lost lamb and carry you home. And as the Holy Spirit, he wants to inspire you, guide you, and empower you with gifts to help you serve his people.
So how is your relationship with the Holy Trinity? Do you tend to focus only on one Person and “forget” to deepen your relationship with the others? If you want a better relationship with the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, just ask God to reveal himself to you more deeply. You might just discover some new facet about him! Then try to maintain an ongoing conversation with him throughout the days and weeks ahead.
Three Persons in one God. Three Persons who love you with an indescribable love and who want to do a great work in your life. Three Persons who want to draw you into their communion of love. What a great God we have!
“God, I believe that you are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Help me to know you in a more personal way!”
Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion:
1. The first reading begins with these words: Thus says the wisdom of God: “The LORD possessed me, the beginning of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; from of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water; before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet the earth and fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world. When the Lord established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep; when he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth; when he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command; then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, (Proverbs 8:22-30).
- In what ways do these words reflect the trinitarian nature of God?
- How does this reading also give us a glimpse into the relationships and intimacy within the Trinity, especially between the Father and Jesus?
2. The Responsorial Psalm opens with these words: When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place — What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet (Psalm 8:4-7).
- In what ways do these verses show the primacy of man in God’s creation?
- Why should this motivate us to be good stewards over God’s creation?
- How well would you rate your own stewardship? What steps can you take to improve it?
3. The Second Reading begins with these words: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2). It ends with these words: hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (5:5).
- What do the beginning words mean to you? In what way should they affect how you live out your life each day?
- Has there ever been a time in your life when you have personally experienced the love of God poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit, not merely known about it? How would you describe that moment?
4. In the Gospel, we also get another glimpse into the Trinity through these words of Jesus to his disciples: I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you (John 16:12-15).
- What do these verses tell us about the relationships between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
- How would you describe the meaning of these words? But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. How has the Holy Spirit guided you to all truth and declared to you the things that are coming?
5. The meditation ends with these words: “So how is your relationship with the Holy Trinity? Do you tend to focus only on one Person and “forget” to deepen your relationship with the others? If you want a better relationship with the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, just ask God to reveal himself to you more deeply. You might just discover some new facet about him! Then try to maintain an ongoing conversation with him throughout the days and weeks ahead. Three Persons in one God. Three Persons who love you with an indescribable love and who want to do a great work in your life. Three Persons who want to draw you into their communion of love. What a great God we have!”
- What do the following words from the meditation mean to you? “If you want a better relationship with the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, just ask God to reveal himself to you more deeply.”
- What does it mean to you that the Holy Trinity consists of “Three Persons who want to draw you into their communion of love”? How can you use the truth of these uplifting and encouraging words regarding God to “maintain an ongoing conversation with him throughout the days and weeks ahead,” and to increase your faith and trust in his plan for your life?
Take some time now to pray and ask for the grace to know and experience more deeply the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Use the prayer below from the end of the meditation as a starting point.
“God, I believe that you are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Help me to know you in a more personal way!”
