The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinity Sunday) ~ 31 May, 2015

"O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! 

My God, my God, I love You 

in the Most Blessed Sacrament!"

Prayer taught to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francesco 

by the Angel of Peace at Fatima

.... the mystery of the Holy Trinity renews the Christian mission 

of living in communion with God and others ....... and 

the Church is called to build an ecclesial community 

“that is more and more a family.”

He called on the faithful 

to entrust themselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary, 

“who more than any other creature has known, adored, and loved 

the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.”

~*~ Pope Francis ~*~

Shine, Jesus, shine,

fill this land with the Father’s glory.

Blaze, Spirit, blaze,

set out hearts on fire.

A week after the Descend of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, we now honour the Holy Trinity, the three persons of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who are all equally God, and cannot be divided. The Holy Trinity is the most fundamental belief of Christians. The Father is the first Divine Person, the Son is the second Divine Person, begotten from the nature of the Father from eternity, and the Holy Spirit is the third Divine Person, proceeding from the Father and the Son.

God is a Triune God.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

All three are One Person 

and Completely God.

All three is of the same nature, same substance, 

and same being.

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life. God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. ~ ccc 261

"Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed: DS 75; ND 16). ~ ccc 266

When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. ~ John 15:26

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. ~ 2 Corinthians 13:14

God our Father, who by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification made known to the human race your wondrous mystery, grant us, we pray, that in profession the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reading 1

Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Moses said to the people:
"Ask now of the days of old, before your time,
ever since God created man upon the earth;
ask from one end of the sky to the other:
Did anything so great ever happen before?
Was it ever heard of?
Did a people ever hear the voice of God
speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?
Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself
from the midst of another nation,
by testings, by signs and wonders, by war,
with strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors,
all of which the LORD, your God,
did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.
You must keep his statutes and commandments that I enjoin on you today,
that you and your children after you may prosper,
and that you may have long life on the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever."


Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made;
by the breath of his mouth all their host.
For he spoke, and it was made;
he commanded, and it stood forth.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.


Reading 2

Romans 8:14-17
Brothers and sisters:
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you received a Spirit of adoption,
through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
if only we suffer with him
so that we may also be glorified with him.

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;
to God who is, who was, and who is to come.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Matthew 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Feast) ~ 31 May, 2014

In this feast, we celebrate the visitation of the Mother of God, with the child Jesus in her womb, to her cousin Elizabeth, who was herself six months' pregnant with the forerunner of Christ, Saint John the Baptist which is the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Thus, we celebrate the Annunciation on 25 March and the birth of Saint John the Baptist on 24 June, which is three months apart as the liturgical calendar revision authorized by Pope Paul VI.

This feast centres on Mary responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to set out on a mission of charity where we recall the Blessed Virgin carrying her Son within her and visiting Elizabeth to offer charitable assistance and to proclaim the mercy of God.”. In its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) , #57, the Second Vatican Council states: “This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death; first when Mary, arising in haste to go to visit Elizabeth, is greeted by her as blessed because of her belief in the promise of salvation and the precursor leaped with joy in the womb of his mother.” (cf. Lk 1:41-45)

And during the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, where John leaps in his mother’s womb recognizing joyfully the presence of Christ, is already anticipating his role as precursor of the Messiah. 

Pope John Paul II in Redemptoris Mater, #14, offers and inspiring account of Mary’s faith. “To believe means to abandon oneself to the truth of the word of the living God, knowing and humbly recognizing ‘how unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways’ (Romans 11:33). Mary, who by the eternal will of the Most High stands, one may say, at the very centre of those inscrutable judgements of God, conforms herself to them in the dim light of faith, accepting fully and with a ready heart everything that is decreed in the divine plan.” 

Faith means to say “amen” (so be it) to the word, the command, and the promises of God.

As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, 

Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. 

And when she saw King David leaping and dancing 

before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

~ * ~ 2 Samuel 6:16 ~ * ~

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, 

the baby leaped in her womb, 

and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

~ * ~ Luke 1:41 ~ * ~

Saturday, 31 May, 2014
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Feast)

Reading

Zephaniah 3: 14 - 18
14	Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
15	The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more.
16	On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
17	The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing
18	as on a day of festival. "I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it.

or

Romans 12: 9 - 16
9	Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
10	love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
11	Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.
12	Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
13	Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.
14	Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
15	Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
16	Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.

Psalm

Isaiah 12: 2 - 6
2	"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."
3	With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4	And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name; make known his deeds among the nations, proclaim that his name is exalted.
5	"Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth.
6	Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

Gospel

Luke 1: 39 - 56
39	In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah,
40	and she entered the house of Zechari'ah and greeted Elizabeth.
41	And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
42	and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
43	And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44	For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy.
45	And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."
46	And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
47	and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48	for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
49	for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
50	And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
51	He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
52	he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree;
53	he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.
54	He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
55	as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever."
56	And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her home.