FIRST READING Proverbs 8: 22-31. Thus speaks the Wisdom of God. The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth; before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the sons of men. EXPLANATION: The Book of Proverbs, one of the sapiential books of the Old Testament, is a collection of wise saying and counsels. Its range covers human, as well as divine wisdom, and though intended primarily for the young and inexperienced, it can also help those in a more advanced state of education to wisdom. The section read to us today. is a eulogy of Wisdom personified, which existed as distinct from God before creation. It is a foreshadowing of what was fully revealed later, when Wisdom in the Person of Jesus Christ became incarnate. The Lord created me: Wisdom is speaking as a person and says he was begotten of God (the Father, as later revelation made clear).
beginning . . . his work: Preceded all other works or products of God, both in time and in excellence. St. Paul (Col. 1: 15) understands these words as said of Christ.
first . . . old: The Hebrew word "olam" means an indefinite period of time. They had no word for eternity, which is what "olam" stands for here.
before---the earth: This and the following three verses express in a poetic fashion the fact that personified Wisdom existed before any part of the universe was created.
When he established . . . I was there: He (Wisdom as a person) was present when God brought the world into being and not only present but
beside him . . . workman: He cooperated with God intelligently in the work of creation: He was the architect the designer (see Wis. 7: 21).
his delight . . . rejoicing before him: Wisdom is God's child, playing in his presence, a source of delight for his Father. St. John expresses this same idea: "the only Son ever at the Father's side" (1:18).
in . . . world: He delights in all created things but especially
delighting in the sons of men: Man is the master-piece of creation and would therefore be the source of greatest pleasure to the Architect, but there is also here perhaps a hint at least of the Son's part in men's salvation---the reason why man was the masterpiece in God's creative act. APPLICATION: The fact that there are three Persons in the one God has been clearly revealed by Christ himself. He spoke of being equal to the Father yet a distinct Person from the Father; then he spoke of the Holy Spirit as a Person with distinct actions of his own, whom he and the Father would send on earth, to complete the work of man's salvation. The Church accepted this fact and this doctrine without hesitation from its very beginning, as it was given to it on Christ's undoubted and undoubtable authority. This doctrine was not revealed to the Jews of the Old Testament, and for a very good reason. They were surrounded by pagan nations who had many gods, and anything that even remotely looked like polytheism was anathema to their strict monotheism. But there were many hints at the possibility of more than one Person in their God---one of which we have just read in Proverbs today---but the Jews did not see the hints for their minds were closed against any such idea. What is remarkable is the ease with which the Jewish converts of the early Church, and they were numbered in thousands, accepted this doctrine once they accepted the divinity of Christ. The one followed of necessity from the other. The Gentiles accepted it too without question, not because their former paganism allowed many gods, for Christianity had but one God (in whom there were three Persons), but because the authority from whom this truth came was none other than Christ who was one of the divine persons of the Triune God. The doctrine of the Trinity is the basic mystery of our religion. We too accept it, not because we can understand it but because we have it from Christ. Granted that we cannot understand how the one divine nature has three distinct persons in it, we can use our reason and see that, because our intelligence is so finite and limited, to comprehend or to understand the inner nature and qualities of the infinite is something entirely beyond us. In fact, if we could understand God and grasp his nature, fully, then he would not be God but something finite and limited like ourselves. Today, let us humbly adore the Blessed Trinity and let us thank the three divine Persons for all the knowledge concerning themselves which they have revealed to us. We know enough about the goodness and the love of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for us to make us want and wish to spend eternity thanking them. We know enough about the plans they have made for us, so that we can share in their eternal happiness. We know more than enough, to make any sensible human being do all in his power to cooperate with them in the work of his own salvation. We were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. If we strive to live lives faithful to our baptismal vows, we can be sure that the same Father, Son and Holy Spirit will receive us into the eternal mansions when we depart from this world.
SECOND READING: Romans 5:1-5. Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. EXPLANATION: These five verses of St. Paul's letter to the Romans bring out very clearly the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. Each of the three divine Persons has a part in our justification. We are at peace with God the Father through the death and resurrection of the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit continually lives in us, keeping the love of God alive and active in our hearts.
justified by faith: Through their belief in Christ who had become man in order to make them sons of God, all Christians are on the way to their justification, that is, to the eternal happiness with God for which they have been created.
peace with God: Friends, nay, sons of God, because of Jesus Christ our Lord, that is, because Christ who is God (our Lord) through his Incarnation, his gospel, his death and resurrection, has made us his brothers and therefore, God's sons.
the grace in which we . . . stand: The friendship, the new relationship with God which we now have, we owe to the Christian faith.
hope . . . the glory of God: We shall partake in God's glory in heaven if we follow this faith and live up to its teaching.
rejoice . . . sufferings: To St. Paul, and to every true Christian, to suffer for and with Christ was a privilege to be welcomed and boasted of.
endurance produces: Paul goes on to show how sufferings help to build up the true Christian virtues and form a solid basis for Christian hope.
hope . . . does not disappoint: This Christian hope---the firm assurance that we shall one day share in God's heavenly glory---will not prove false because
the Holy Spirit has been given us: At his baptism the Christian receives the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity, who continues to dwell within him, strengthening in him daily the gifts of faith, hope and charity. Love of God is the most important part of charity and where the love of God is strong and active, hope in the future reward is assured. Paul tells us the Holy Spirit, fruit of divine love, is filling our hearts daily with this love of God. APPLICATION: That there are three Persons in the one God, each one infinite in power, in glory, in wisdom, is a fact we accept because the Triune God has revealed it to us. No intelligent Christian, or for that matter, no intelligent human being, who hears of this mystery, can even think of questioning this truth once he admits its existence has been revealed by God "who cannot deceive or be deceived." The human mind, let it be that of the greatest genius the world has ever produced, is finite and limited; it cannot even begin to grasp or study the infinite, much less deny anything the Infinite tells us of itself. As Christians then we accept without question that there are three Persons in the One God and we bow down in humble adoration before them. But there is another mystery in the Blessed Trinity which can and should cause us wonder and amazement. It is, the mystery of this Triune God's love for us. St. Paul's words in today's reading shows us the three divine Persons cooperating on our behalf. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have each a part in the work of enabling us, finite, fragile and fickle creatures, to share in their infinite happiness. But why? They are infinitely perfect and infinitely happy in themselves, they need nothing from us. Here again is where our small, finite intelligence fails us. We can understand human love and human generosity which is hardly ever without a tinge of selfish interest, and which at its greatest is but a temporary and very limited quality and quantity. But God's love for us is infinite. It is completely and entirely without self-interest. It is not a limited gift but the promise of an unending state of happiness, if we do what is asked of us during our few years of probation in this world. We know the fact that it has been clearly and very definitely revealed to us---God loves us with an infinite love. The three Persons of the Blessed Trinity have proved and are still proving this fact to us. We cannot in this life understand why, but we can and we must show our gratitude for this fact of divine generosity and love. Today, the feastday of the Blessed Trinity, let us thank, from our hearts, the three divine Persons for all they have done and are continuing to do for us. Let us resolve to make ourselves less unworthy of their divine love, by doing what they ask of us, by living our faith in charity and by keeping ever before our minds the hope of the eternal reward, so generously offered to us. If we do this, one day soon, we shall meet the three divine Persons, we shall get to know them a little more intimately, and we shall share personally, joyfully and gratefully in their divine, eternal happiness.
GOSPEL: John 16:12-15. Jesus said to his disciples: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." EXPLANATION: During his discourse at the Last Supper, Christ had promised his disciples that he would send them the Holy Spirit---the Paraclete---(see Jn. 14: 16-26), to strengthen and console them and recall to their minds the truths he had taught them. In today's text, he repeats the promise and tells them the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and that the truths he will reveal to them will be those which the Father and the Son want revealed.
you cannot bear . . . now: Christ says he has much more to tell them, but their minds were so disturbed at the thought that he was very soon to leave them that they were unable to understand what he would have said. The Apostles who were not yet convinced that he was God as well as man, thought that death would end not only his life but all their hopes. They were in no state to hear of his resurrection and eternal glorification in his human nature.
When he . . . truth: When the Holy Spirit he had already promised would come.
he will guide you to all truth: Then they will learn the full truth of Christ's two natures in one Person, and of his mission on earth.
not speak on his own: As Christ's authority to speak came from the Father (Jn. 12:49), the authority of the Holy Spirit will be from the Son and the Father, who is in Christ the Son (Jn. 14:10). The truths he will announce will be spoken with the authority of the Three Divine Persons.
declare . . . things to come: He will foretell future events (see Acts 21:11; Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12; 10 etc.), but especially the Holy Spirit will explain the events that were to take place within the next three days, events which almost shattered the spirit and the faith of the Apostles.
will glorify me: By continuing the work of Christ and by consolidating it, the Holy Spirit will give glory to the Son Incarnate as he had given glory to the Father (Jn. 13:31 etc.).
will take . . . to you: The truths the Holy Spirit will announce, he will receive from the Son, who in turn had received them from the Father (Mt. 11:27 etc.)
All the Father . . . is mine: All three divine Persons cooperate in the salvation of man. The Son Incarnate established the Church through the power and authority of the Father. The Holy Spirit will continue to uphold and teach the Church through the power and authority of the Father and the Son. The One God, in three divine Persons, is the author of man's salvation and of all the necessary revelation and other aids which that salvation demands. APPLICATION: In St. Paul's letter to the Romans, read at today's Mass, we have a clear statement of the faith of the infant Church in the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. In these verses from St. John---a part of the discourse at the Last Supper---we have St. Paul's, and the Church's source of the truth of that doctrine, Christ himself, who was the second Person of the Blessed Trinity become man for our salvation. As regards this basic dogma of our Faith then, that there are three Persons in the One God, there is no room for doubt, we have it on the authority of Christ who is God. If we cannot understand how this can be, we need not be surprised---our human minds are very limited, they depend on our human senses for their images of things. A man, deaf from birth, has no image in his mind of sound, a man blind from birth has no mental idea of color, but it would be irrational of these to deny the existence of sound and color. We Christians, however, have no difficulty in admitting the existence of the Blessed Trinity, and today as we honor the three divine Persons, our central thought should concentrate on gratitude to each of the three; the loving Father who planned not only our creation but our elevation to adopted sonship; the all-obedient loving Son, who carried out the Father's plan, sharing with us our humanity so that we could share in the divinity; the Holy Spirit, fruit of the love of Father and Son, who has come to dwell in the Church and in each individual member, in order to fill our hearts with a true love of God. We know we are unworthy of this divine generosity. The greatest saints that ever lived on earth were unworthy of such divine interest. That should not and must not stop us from availing of this divine generosity. We can show our gratitude in one way only, that is by appreciating our privilege and by striving to show our appreciation of it in our daily lives. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit know all our human weaknesses, they knew them before they arranged to make us sharers in their own eternal happiness. They know also that it is those of us who try and try again to rise above our human weaknesses, who will finally share their heaven with them. This possibility is open to all. The Blessed Trinity will exclude nobody from heaven. What we know of their plans for mans sanctification makes such a thought impossible. If some fail the fault will lie completely and entirely with themselves, they did not do the little that was asked of them. May God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit grant us the strength to overcome our human weaknesses and live and die in their love so that we may share their eternal kingdom with them.-c204
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