Year A
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.
See our music recommendations for the liturgy.
Preaching on the Most Holy Trinity is a daunting task. A mystery that human minds will never be able to comprehend. Human analogies have been used throughout the centuries, and although they may help us a little bit, they will never do justice. We profess a belief in a God is that totally transcended, yet at the same we profess that he is very immanent. Part of the aspect of the immanence of God is the in dwelling of God within us. There is a prayer of St Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity which highlights this reality – “O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.” The indwelling of the Holy Trinity within us, or ‘at the very centre of the soul’, as Carmelite spirituality would teach us, is something we reflect upon this Trinity Sunday. We have an intimate relationship with God. It is truly an immense gift each one of us has. Let us foster this relationship by time in prayer, our full and active participation in the liturgy and the sacraments. Let us also share this joy of our friendship with God to the people around, especially to the poor and needy. The divine life begins here and now through this indwelling of the Holy Trinity and it will come to full fruition in the next life, in the eternal life, in the Beatific vision, that is Heaven. We are now in this liturgical period of Ordinary Time where we make use of the colour green. Green is a colour of hope and of renewal. May this period for us be a time of a deepening presence of the Holy Trinity in our lives. As St Elizabeth remarked, “Let us lose ourselves in this Holy Trinity, in this God Who is all love and let Him carry us away into those regions where there is no longer anyone but Himself, Himself alone.”
There’s always a temptation to think of this Sunday in terms of theology. Those preparing to preach often struggle to present the concept of the relationship of the three persons of the Trinity, their three-in-oneness, in terms that lay people can comprehend.
We might find a helping hand in the term perichoresis, not so much in the image of the Trinity as a circle-dance, exemplified in a Gothic window triskele, but in the notion of co-interdependence. A three-legged stool requires this quality from all the legs at the same time in order to function. To look at it another way, what is required is total collaboration of the “members”.
This is why in a number of parishes Trinity Sunday is also “Ministry Sunday”. The collaboration of different members of the community in building up the Body of Christ, not intent upon preserving their own fiefdoms but on working together for the good of the whole, is not only mentioned but promoted. A ceremony of affirmation of all those who minister in different ways in the parish can be helpful —a simple prayer of blessing would be sufficient. Parishes also use this day as an occasion to recruit new people to assist with all the ministries, encouraging them to sign up, whether it be for cleaning, or flowers, or Liturgy of the Word with Children, or serving, reading, music ministry, ministry of welcome, soup kitchen, ministers of the Eucharist, working with young people, visiting the sick and housebound, finance, parish pastoral council, liturgy working group….. - the possibilities are almost endless.
When the ministerial load is spread wide, not only is it less burdensome for all those involved but it demonstrates more effectively that the entire community is engaged in working together for the coming of the Kingdom.
Of course, it is not just a question of willingness to help, but of being prepared to undergo training and formation where required. It’s therefore important not only to campaign for more ministers but to have available the means to initiate them properly into their ministries when they offer themselves, and to discern when another ministry might be more appropriate (often the case with readers).
These hymns have been picked and chosen from different sources.
Father, Lord of all Creation (CFE161)
Father Lord of earth and heaven (L314)
Firmly I believe and truly (CFE173, L962, LHON258, TCH217
Holy God, we praise thy name (CFE247, L708, LHON333, TCH222)
I bind unto myself today (CFE274, L312, TCH97)
Let all mortal flesh keep silence (CFE355, L607, LHON418, TCH120)
Praise to the holiest in the height (CFE606, L788, LHON582, TCH260)
Thou whose almighty word (CFE738, L887, LHON689, TCH269)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
