Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 12, 2022
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”
Reflection
Growing up in the west of Ireland, I have always understood the shamrock to symbolize the Trinity. As children, we searched our garden and hedgerows for fresh shamrocks in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day, knowing that it could be recognized by three leaves in one. As a child, this mystery intrigued me, and my mother would kindly tell me to keep it simple—God is love, and those who live in love live in God. How simple that seemed in one instant and how puzzling in the next.
I sympathize with the apostles listening to Jesus in the gospel today. His words are part of his farewell discourse. Reading them now, I know of their confusion. So many times in life, I am puzzled by Jesus’ words but today, I am comforted by his love and knowledge of the apostles and what they can bear. It brings me back to St. Julian of Norwich and the revelation she received on pondering something very small, smaller than a hazelnut: “God made it, God loves it, and God sustains it.”
When life overwhelms us, and we hear many voices telling us how to be happy or holy, we can still our minds and trust Jesus today that the spirit of truth will speak and guide us. While it may not be possible to go in search of shamrock, even in the busyness of our adult lives, it is possible to make space today for some childlike wonder and awe at the profound mystery of the Trinity.
Let us discern a yes to live in love and truth shared with us by the God who made us, loves us, and sustains us. After all, love is what our hearts are made for, and love is something that we do. It is a gift of self. How can we make that gift of ourselves today? Who can we love?
Prayer
Loving God, Christ promised his disciples the gift of the Spirit who would guide them to all truth. In these often confusing and difficult times, many “truths” are spoken. Open us up to the gifts of your Spirit to be able to discern your truth so that we may more faithfully speak it to others and embrace it more fully in our own lives. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
That God is Triune has been the clear teaching of the Church since the fourth century, when we began reciting the creed at Mass every week. We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
This reality is a mystery to us, which is not to say that we can know nothing of it. It is a mystery in the sense that it is always beyond us—we cannot come to the end of knowing it.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a way for us to articulate God’s inner life. To say that “Trinity” is a name for God is to say that God’s very essence and being is communion and relationship. Made in God’s image, we, too, are created for relationship. This belief sets the foundation for all we experience and believe as humans.
“God relates to us in three distinct ways of being present to our history: as Father, as Son, and as Holy Spirit; as Creator, as Redeemer, and as Sanctifier,” explains Father Richard McBrien in his encyclopedic work, Catholicism. “The triune God who created us, who sustains us, who will judge us, and who will give us eternal life is not infinitely removed from us, but is absolutely close to us, communicated in the flesh and present in our hearts, our consciousness, and our history as the source of enlightenment and community” (330).
An ancient schematic describes the relationships between the persons of the Trinity well, and it is depicted in stone on the outer wall of the chapel of Howard Hall on campus. Written in Latin, it states that the Father is not the Spirit, which is not the Son. ("Pater non-est Spiritus Santus non-est Filius.") At the same time each of those persons is God (“est Deus”). They are three persons, distinct from each other, each fully God, yet preserving the one-ness of God.
On this feast of the Holy Trinity, let us grow in our union with God as creator, redeemer, and sanctifier!