MASS READINGS AND COMMENTARY | JUNE 7, 2020

SUNDAY, JUNE 7^TH   Jn. 3:16-18   Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Today we celebrate the revelation of the Most Holy Trinity.

CCC 221. God’s very being is love. By sending His only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed His innermost secret: God Himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and He has destined us to share in that exchange.

God in His very nature is a Communion of Love. We are called to participate in this Communion of Love by our Baptism.

CCC 1265: Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte “a new creature”, an adopted son of God, who has become a “partaker of the divine nature”, member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.

This is our Triune God who created each one of us out of love, and who desires our love in return. How well do I receive His love? How well do I love Him in return?

God revealed in the Old Testament…  

• God gradually revealed Himself to mankind. He made known His Oneness and Transcendence. Unlike the world, He was not created, He always existed: “I Am Who Am.” (Ex 3:14) He is not limited in time, space, or power. He protects His people “with strong hand and outstretched arm” (Ps. 136:12).

• He revealed His tender love. “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me! You know when I sit and when I stand. You discern my thoughts from afar. You created my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wondrously made.” (Ps. 139:1-2, 12-14)

• He revealed His compassion and mercy. “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are renewed every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam 3:22-23)

• He revealed His providence. “The Lord is my shepherd, nothing shall I want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Even though I walk through the valley of darkness, I will fear no evil, for you are at my side. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Ps. 23 excerpt)

God revealed in the New Testament…

• “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—and I lay down my life for the sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (Jn. 10: 14-15, 27-30)

• “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (Jn. 13:1)

• “Do not let your hearts be troubled. In my Father’s house there are many mansions; if that were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (Jn. 14:1-3) 

• “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (Jn. 14:16-17)

• “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (Jn. 14:25-26)

• “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (Jn. 15: 9-10)

• “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (Jn. 15:12-15)

• “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” (Jn. 15:16)

• “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn. 16:33)

• “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (Jn. 17:24)

• Today, let us rejoice in our Triune God who first loved us, and who desires our love in return! Love is shown in thought, word, and deed! Mary is the Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Mystical Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Mary, my Mother, help me to love and to serve the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with the purity of your Heart and docility of your Will, so that they may be loved and served worthily. Amen!

Copyright 2020 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA