A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 6, n. 25)
Most Holy Trinity, Year A – May 18, 2008
“The Triune God Acting On Our Behalf …”
BIBLE READINGS
Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9 // II Cor 13:11-13 // Jn 3:16-18
N.B. Series 6 of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy of Year A from the perspective of the First Reading. For another set of reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year A, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US and open Series 3.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
With the feast of Pentecost, we concluded the Easter season of the Church’s liturgical year. Having celebrated the saving activity of God the Father, actualized in the Paschal Mystery of his beloved Son through the power of the life-giving Spirit, the worshipping community now focuses its global attention on the Triune God who acts benevolently on our behalf. With the feast of the Most Holy Trinity there is a desire to sum up the cycle of activities of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in a single celebration.
The feast of the Holy Trinity is a celebration of our belief in God as the Creator God, as the Redeeming Son and the Sanctifying Spirit. The liturgy of this Sunday emphasizes the significance of the saving actions of the Triune God for us and what this encounter with the Triune God demands of us. The Old Testament reading (Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9) tells us that the merciful and compassionate God deals with his chosen People Israel with benevolence. The Gospel reading (Jn 3:16-18) delineates the reality of God’s unmitigated benevolence by presenting the Father’s sacrificial action in sending his only begotten Son to redeem us. The Son of God - Jesus Christ - gave his life for us on the altar of the cross. He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and anointed the missionary Church with the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Easter gift of the sanctifying Spirit “christifies” us – forming the image of the Son in us, so that as the Father looks at us, he sees Christ living in us. In the Second Reading (II Cor 13:11-13), Paul invokes the Triune God to come down as a blessing upon the Church: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (v. 13). To God the Father belongs love, the principle of his creative action. The Father’s creative love begets “grace” – his only begotten Son Jesus – his precious gift to us. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, the loving Father and the gracious Savior Son enable the believers to participate intimately in their inmost life as the Triune God. Indeed, our personal encounter and communion with the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit demands from us the total response of faith and love.
The Triune God touches our heart to the core and is woven into every fiber of our human life. Immersed into the life of the Blessed Trinity, we – the baptized Christians believers - are made into the image of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As the human image of the Blessed Trinity, we are called to mirror in our lives the workings of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. By our efforts to awaken and cherish new life, to fashion and mold the environment, to preserve the integrity of creation, to promote the culture of life and beauty, etc., we participate in the Father’s work of creation, generation, and maintenance. By our human works of healing, reconciling, serving, promoting the cause of justice and right, etc., we reflect the divine Son’s own work of reconciliation and redemption. By pursuing the wisdom of heart and good inspiration, by responding to the call of holiness, by promoting community-communion, etc. we give witness to the animating movement of the Holy Spirit. The functions of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity intertwine, influence and complement each other.
Harold Buetow remarks on how the life of the Triune God could shape and inspire our personal lives: “In these times, when so many people feel fragmented and divided within themselves and find it difficult to recognize or work to any clear pattern of life, there are here suggestive hints and glimpses of the contact between the Trinity’s life and our own: hints of the unity in the Triune God that should characterize us who are made in his image; glimpses of his love that overflows and touches the whole creation but especially human beings; hints of the ways we should illustrate the lovely qualities of our God; glimpses of the Gospel values that should permeate our lives; and a shape and direction to all our human activities.”
I was a teenager when I went with my first cousin Virgie to spend a few days of vacation in a small fishing village by the Pacific Ocean in Barrio Telegrafo, Camarines Sur in the Philippines. One day after breakfast, my cousin Virgie and I headed off to the beach and spent the whole day swimming, walking on the sand, conversing, resting under the shade of the upturned fishing boats and the nets hanging on bamboo poles, and snacking on some wonderful treats like boiled bananas and fried “camotes” (sweet potatoes). In the afternoon my face was as red as a lobster. I had a terrible sunburn that scarred me for months and months. That was the price I paid for a wonderful, wonderful day spent by the water. As we celebrate today the feast of the Blessed Trinity, the image of being immersed in the ocean comes back vividly. I could not fathom the immensity of the ocean and did not even attempt it. I simply allowed myself to be enveloped by the ocean and to swim leisurely in it. In the process, I experienced its benevolent movements and had a glimpse of its unfathomable riches. Similarly, the saving mystery of the One and Triune God is not something that could be fathomed or conquered by the human mind. We experience its beauty and grace by humbly surrendering to infinity and by immersing ourselves into the mystery.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
What role does the Blessed Trinity play in salvation history, in the Church and in the world?
What role does the Blessed Trinity play in your personal life?
What is your response to the workings of the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in salvation history, in the Church and in your personal life?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: O compassionate and benevolent Triune God,
- Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are present and active in salvation history,
in the Church
and in the depths of my soul.
We love and adore you, God the Father, our Creator.
We love and serve you, Jesus Christ,
the Son of God and our Redeemer.
We love and honor you, O divine Holy Spirit,
the life-giving power who “christifies” and sanctifies us.
Grant that our human endeavors
to generate goodness and promote the culture of life
may mirror the creative love of God the Father.
May our efforts to bring healing and reconciliation
in today’s distressed world and fragmented society
radiate the renewing love of God the Son.
Help us to be sensitive to the needs of the poor
and to obey the promptings of charity
that we may contribute to the building up of a community-communion
that is the sealed by the sanctifying Holy Spirit.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
O divine Trinity,
Grant that our life may be
a “Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit”,
now and forever.
Assembly: Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“The grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (II Cor 13:13)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Meditate on the personal implication of being an intimate participant in the life of the Blessed Trinity through the baptismal consecration. In your creative action to promote the culture of life, in your redemptive actions on behalf of the poor, and in your endeavors to live a life of holiness, let your life be a “glory to the Blessed Trinity”.
ACTION PLAN: To help us experience more deeply the intimate love and immense power of the Blessed Trinity, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (Vol. 4, n. 25): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US