Reading
I
Prv
8:22-31
Thus says the wisdom of God:
"The LORD possessed me, the beginning of his ways,
the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;
from of old I was poured forth,
at the first, before the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no fountains or springs of water;
before the mountains were settled into place,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
while as yet the earth and fields were not made,
nor the first clods of the world.
"When the Lord established the heavens I was there,
when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep;
when he made firm the skies above,
when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth;
when he set for the sea its limit,
so that the waters should not transgress his command;
then was I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day,
playing before him all the while,
playing on the surface of his earth;
and I found delight in the human race."
Responsorial
Psalm
Ps 8:4-5, 6-7,
8-9
R. (2a) O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars which you set in place --
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet:
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
Rom 5:1-5
Brothers and sisters:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions,
knowing that affliction produces endurance,
and endurance, proven character,
and proven character, hope,
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Gospel
Jn 16:12-15
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."
Today’s First Reading we are told that Wisdom has superiority over all things because she existed before all things. Wisdom was present at the moment of creation and therefore knows all its secrets. Wisdom has always been seen as a mediator between God and the world and also as the source of meaning for all of the world. Wisdom also reveals God and calls the world to him. Wisdom inspires the heart with “fear” of the Lord thus allowing it to receive God’s Word and respond to it. Wisdom however, is much more than just knowledge, it is a dialogue of love between God and the world. Since the time of the earliest Christians, Jesus has been the embodiment of Wisdom.
In the Second Reading, Paul explains how Christians are reconciled with God through justification and how this brings about peace. Justification also gives us hope in God despite any hardship.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus assures us that the Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) will guide us into all truth. Because Jesus has not been able to tell his disciples everything they need to know, and because they could not understand many of the things he did and said, the Paraclete will continue to guide the Church in the future. The Paraclete will help the community of faithful to the teachings of Jesus. The Paraclete will not provide any new information but rather will glorify Jesus just as Jesus has glorified the Father.
Perhaps the greatest mystery of our faith is our Triune God himself. As director of religious education in my parish I find that trying to explain the Trinity is one of the most difficult things. It may seem that people understand the concept of three persons in one God, but in reality our minds are limited and we can never fully understand this great mystery (or any other mystery for that matter). So what do we mean when we say that there are three Persons in one God?
Contrary to what some people believe, the Church teaches that the three Persons in the one God are distinct from one another:
The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit.
The Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son.
yet equal to one another:
The Father is God
The Son is God
The Holy Spirit is God
God is triune which means three and one at the same
time. He is not one with three
parts; God is completely one and completely three, just as Jesus is completely
God and completely human. It took
Christians a very long time to even begin to see these things about the Trinity.
It was not until the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. that the Church could
agree on the precise terms that would correctly define the doctrine of the
Trinity. The teachings that came
from the Council of Nicaea form the basis of the Nicene Creed which we profess
every Sunday in
We will never fully understand the Trinity. That’s precisely what a mystery is – a truth of faith revealed to us by God yet incomprehensible for our finite minds. God has, however, given us the privilege to glimpse into his inner self. Our entire life as Christians and Catholics revolves around the Blessed Trinity: we are initiated into faith through Baptism where the celebrant turns to the baptismal font and prays the blessing and invocation of God over the water where the following words are said:
We ask you, Father, with your Son
to send the Holy Spirit
upon the waters of this font.
May all who are buried with Christ
in the death of baptism
rise also with him to newness of life.
We begin all our prayers by making the sign of the cross invoking the Trinity:
In the name of the Father, X and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
And the prayers of the liturgy are directed to God the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. This is precisely what happens in the Mass and the celebration of all the sacraments. In the Mass, the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Son is offered to the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit.
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Hengel, M., "Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity"; Maddox, R., "The Purpose of Luke-Acts-Studies of the New Testament and Its World"; Marshall, I. H., "The Acts of the Apostles"; Wilson, S. G., "The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission in Luke-Acts"; Murphy-O'Connor, J., "St. Paul's Corinth: Texts and Archaeology"; Theissen, G., "The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth"; Barrett, C. K., "Freedom and Obligation: A Study of the Epistle to the Galatians"; Bruce, F. F., "The Epistle to the Galatians"; Ebeling, G., "The Truth of the Gospel: An Exposition of Galatians"; The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Barrett, C. K., "The Gospel According to John"; Brown, R. E., "The Community of the Beloved Disciple"; Schnackenburg, R., "The Gospel According to St. John"; Segovia, F. F., Love Relationships in the Johannine Tradition"; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary".