A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 29)
Trinity Sunday, Year B – June 11, 2006
“There Is No Other God”
BIBLE READINGS
Dt 4:32-34, 39-40 // Rom 8:14-17 // Mt 28:16-20
N.B. This new series of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY presents a biblico-liturgical study of the First Reading of each Sunday Mass to serve as background for a better understanding of the Gospel proclaimed in the liturgy. For a biblico-liturgical study of the Gospel for each Sunday, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
Here is a charming story for Trinity Sunday: A priest went into a second-grade classroom of the parish school and asked, “Who can tell me what the Blessed Trinity means?” A little girl lisped, “The Blethed Twinity meanth there are thwee perthonth in one God.” The priest, taken aback by the lisp, said, “Would you say that again? I don’t understand what you said.” The little girl answered, “Y’not suppothed to underthtand; ‘t’th a mythtewy.” The little girl is right: we cannot grasp with our mortal minds the infinite mystery of God, but we can try to “stand under” the mystery of the loving triune God.
And here is a prayer, entitled “To the Most Holy Trinity”, composed by Blessed James Alberione, which can help us to “stand under” the mystery of the Trinity, or better, to be immersed more deeply into the life of the ineffable triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in imitation of Mary who dwells in the presence of the Blessed Trinity.
Divine Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, present and active in the Church and in the depths of my soul, I adore you, I thank you, I love you! And through the hands of Mary most holy, my Mother, I offer, give and consecrate myself entirely to you for life and eternity.
To you, Heavenly Father, I offer, give and consecrate myself as your son/daughter. To you, Jesus Master, I offer, give and consecrate myself as your brother/sister and disciple. To you Holy Spirit, I offer, give and consecrate myself as “a living temple” to be consecrated and sanctified.
Mary, Mother of the Church and my Mother, who dwells in the presence of the Blessed Trinity, teach me to live, through the liturgy and the sacraments, in ever more intimate union with the three divine Persons, so that my whole life may be a “glory to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit”. Amen.
The basis of Blessed Alberione’s concept of the Trinity and that of the Church is experiential and relational. Indeed, the Church has experienced the one and only God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit through the various events of salvation history, especially the Paschal Mystery that Jesus Lord, the Son of God, has brought to fulfillment. The Christian experience of the triune God leads to an impelling yearning to a deeper communion with the caring God the Father, his redeeming Son, and the sanctifying Holy Spirit.
The biblical scholar, Eugene Maly remarks: “History speaks … In the events that occur in our lives we can detect the voice of God revealing his will. True, the Scriptures are the inspired interpretation of these events and of his will. But God speaks in history. This means, among other things, that even such a profound doctrine as the Trinity, which we celebrate this Sunday, is the result of the divine activity in human events. The triune God, revealed himself as such, not primarily in a proposition, but in the things that occurred to his people.”
This Sunday’s first reading (Dt 4:32-34, 39-40) speaks resolutely of the unique character of Israel’s God and asserts that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below, and there is no other. Eugene Maly comments: “This reading from Deuteronomy does not, of course, speak of Trinity. But it does lay down the foundation for such truth … This says monotheism, one God. Without that conviction the later revelation of three Persons in the one God would make no sense. Polytheism, or many gods, would exclude a Trinity. But notice how the uniqueness of this one God was made known. It was by the things this God did for his people, in leading them out of the land of Egypt by testing, by signs and wonders, by war, with his strong hand and outstretched arm …Did anything so great ever happen before? This God is unique; he is one; he is the only one.”
Through the Paschal Mystery and consequential events, the Church came into contact with the stupendous revelation that God is a trinity of Persons in his deepest nature: the loving Creator Father, the font of redemption; the obedient Son of God who accomplished the Father’s saving plan by his death on the cross; and the Spirit of love, proceeding forth from the Father and the Son, who powers and energizes the Church in its life of mission and service in the world. Indeed, Trinity Sunday invites us to celebrate the marvelous work of the triune God in salvation history, through every time and space. This Sunday’s liturgy helps us to reflect prayerfully on the triune character of God, to contemplate what his threefold nature means to each one of us, and to reflect on our vocation to an intimate relationship with the triune divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Harold Buetow exhorts us: “We should continuously deepen our relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our heavenly Father sometimes seems far away, yet Jesus has made God visible to us. Jesus seems so “long ago”, but the Holy Spirit lives and moves among us now to make us one in Christ. In both heat and cold, on the mountain and at the shore, may we meditate deeply about our triune God and get to know Him better. And may we reflect in our community the love and unity we find there. We come together in the name of the Trinity, and in the name of the Trinity we shall go forth to love and serve one another.”
PERSONAL REFLECTION
“The Dignity of Being God’s Children”
By Rev. Fr. Mario Giachino SSP
SSP Community, Los Angeles CA-U.S.A.
We do not have a precise revelation of the Holy Trinity in the Old Testament. The rigorous monotheism of the Israelites made practically impossible the revelation to them of this mystery. But in professing the existence of one only God, they did not think of God as being solitary and aloof. He was always perceived as a God in dialogue – with the world, with the individuals and particularly with the People that he held as his “chosen”.
Through the power of the risen Christ, the New Testament Christians came to know the mystery of the intimate life of God. “All power is given to me both in heaven and on earth.” With these words the early Church understood that God the Father, in raising Jesus and elevating him to his right side, established him over all creation and recognized him as divine. Baptism would be the decisive step for passing from the profession of faith in one only God and Jesus Christ to the profession of faith in God “One in Three”. The early Christians understood Christian baptism to be different from John’s baptism in that is was a baptism “in the spirit”, and that led them to believe that God the Father and Jesus (God the Son) were joined by a third Person, God the Holy Spirit. So the baptism instituted by Jesus was understood to be given the name of the three persons.
The early Church also understood that the life and work of Jesus were the life and work of the Holy Trinity.
Following the tradition that extends back to the Apostles, the Christians assembled regularly to remind themselves that they were the Church, born of the Holy Trinity. They believed that they were sons and daughters of God and that they should live their lives accordingly.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. Do we believe that God speaks in history? In the events that occur in our lives, can we detect the voice of God revealing his will? Do we perceive and recognize the Trinitarian action of God in salvation history?
B. What is the significance of the action of the One and Triune God in our life as Church and in my personal life? How do I participate in the life of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit? How do I deepen my relationship with God the Father, the Creator; with Jesus Lord, our Savior; and with the Holy Spirit, font of grace and sanctification?
C. Do I live my baptismal consecration as a true immersion into the life of the One and Triune God? Do I put into action the mandate received from Jesus: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19)? How does the promise of Jesus, “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20) give me strength, courage and assurance?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Cf. Prayers of Hildegard of Bingen)
Assembly: Praise be to you, Holy Trinity,
for you are sound and life.
The choirs of angels praise you.
Wonderful, mysterious radiance,
hidden from humankind,
you are life in everything.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“You must know and fix in your heart that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and there is no other.” (Dt 4:32-40)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. Pray the Prayer, “To the Most Holy Trinity” composed by Blessed Alberione, with attention and devotion. Proclaim the Creed at the Sunday liturgy with renewed awareness of its Trinitarian content and with faith and conviction. In honor of the most Holy Trinity, carry out a good deed on behalf of a needy neighbor.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help us experience more deeply the presence and action of the Blessed Trinity in our lives and in the Church, 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. 2, n. 29): 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