Reflections on Sunday Readings    

The Trinity Shows us the Model of Communion

Reflections by
Fr. Stephen OMI


My dear parishioners today we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Today is not a day that we try to understand "the mystery of the Holy Trinity", because this mystery can never be understood—but only be felt within our hearts. The Holy Trinity is not something that we can figure out with our reasoning and intellect, but can only be experienced within our hearts.

In today's Gospel (John 3:16-18), Saint John speaks of the deep bond of love existing between the Father and the Son which became the ONLY REASON for the Father to send us His Son that the world might be saved through Him. The feast of the Holy Trinity gives us a MODEL of sharing our love and affection with our brothers and sisters, not only in the best of times but even in the toughest times—just like the Father and the Son who were in communion even when the Son was in agony at His hour.

Thus my dear friends, today's feast challenges us to reflect deeply on:

1. My interior self—Am I in communion with my own self? Do I enjoy my own company? Do I say what I feel in my heart and feel what I say in my words? Am I still upset with my past and ruin my beautiful present regretting too much my past life?

2. My exterior self—Am I in communion with others? Do I appreciate the people whom God has given me to live with? Do I live with them in peace, or have troubles relating to them? DO I forgive their mistakes, or bank them in my heart?

My dear brothers and sisters, on this Trinity Sunday let us focus on God's infinite and generous love shown to us through Jesus His Son. Without keeping Jesus His only begotten Son safe and cared for Himself, God gave Jesus to the world for our salvation. When Jesus was crying to Him in pain "My God my God why have you abandoned me", it must have been immensely painful for God not to intervene at that moment. But later on the third day, God raised Jesus back to His life; and His tortured and bruised physical body was glorified to be assumed into Heaven. That is how God showed the entire world His deep communion and love for His only begotten Son. The Holy Spirit is the LOVE that flows from that bond between the Father and the Son. That is what we celebrate today on Trinity Sunday.

Dear friends, our selfishness and ego often separate us, not only from one another but also from our own selves. But today, the communion of the Holy Trinity shows us how to be united, first to my own self and then to others. It also shows us how to be united as "One, Holy, Catholic Church".


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Last Update: June 3, 2023