May 30, 2021: The Most Holy Trinity Sunday
Catholic Social Teaching: Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
The Church’s love for the poor is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, by the poverty of Jesus and by his attention to the poor. This love concerns material poverty and also the numerous forms of cultural and religious poverty. The Church, “since her origin and in spite of the failing of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere”. Prompted by the Gospel injunction, “You have received without paying, give without pay” (Mt 10:8), the Church teaches that one should assist one’s fellow man in his various needs and fills the human community with countless works of corporal and spiritual mercy. “Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God”, even if the practice of charity is not limited to alms-giving but implies addressing the social and political dimensions of the problem of poverty. In her teaching the Church constantly returns to this relationship between charity and justice: “When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice”. The Council Fathers strongly recommended that this duty be fulfilled correctly, remembering that “what is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity”. Love for the poor is certainly “incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use” (cf. Jas 5:1-6). (184) Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Readings
First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Psalm: 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
Second Reading: Romans 8:14-17
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
Catechism of the Catholic Church
St. Gregory of Nazianzus, also called “the Theologian”, entrusts this summary of Trinitarian faith to the catechumens of Constantinople:
Above all guard for me this great deposit of faith for which I live and fight, which I want to take with me as a companion, and which makes me bear all evils and despise all pleasures: I mean the profession of faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I entrust it to you today. By it I am soon going to plunge you into water and raise you up from it. I give it to you as the companion and patron of your whole life. I give you but one divinity and power, existing one in three, and containing the three in a distinct way. Divinity without disparity of substance or nature, without superior degree that raises up or inferior degree that casts down. . . the infinite co-naturality of three infinites. Each person considered in himself is entirely God. . . the three considered together. . . I have not even begun to think of unity when the Trinity bathes me in its splendor. I have not even begun to think of the Trinity when unity grasps me. . .(256)
From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the Most Holy Trinity, Cycle B
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:
Matthew 28:19-20
God, in Christ, redeems not only the individual person but also the social relations existing between men. As the Apostle Paul teaches, life in Christ makes the human person’s identity and social sense — with their concrete consequences on the historical and social planes — emerge fully and in a new manner: “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ” (Gal 3:26-28). In this perspective, Church communities, brought together by the message of Jesus Christ and gathered in the Holy Spirit round the Risen Lord (cf. Mt 18:20, 28:19-20; Lk 24:46-49), offer themselves as places of communion, witness and mission, and as catalysts for the redemption and transformation of social relationships. (52)
Romans 8:14-17
The new reality that Jesus Christ gives us is not grafted onto human nature nor is it added from outside: it is rather that reality of communion with the Trinitarian God to which men and women have always been oriented in the depths of their being, thanks to their creaturely likeness to God. But this is also a reality that people cannot attain by their own forces alone. Through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, in whom this reality of communion has already been brought about in a singular manner, men and women are received as children of God (cf. Rom 8:14-17; Gal 4:4-7). By means of Christ, we share in the nature of God, who gives us infinitely more “than all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20). What mankind has already received is nothing more than a token or a “guarantee” (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:14) of what it will receive in its fullness only in the presence of God, seen “face to face” (1 Cor 13:12), that is, a guarantee of eternal life: “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3). (122)
Romans 8:15
The Face of God, progressively revealed in the history of salvation, shines in its fullness in the Face of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. God is Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; truly distinct and truly one, because God is an infinite communion of love. God’s gratuitous love for humanity is revealed, before anything else, as love springing from the Father, from whom everything draws its source; as the free communication that the Son makes of this love, giving himself anew to the Father and giving himself to mankind; as the ever new fruitfulness of divine love that the Holy Spirit pours forth into the hearts of men (cf. Rom 5:5).
By his words and deeds, and fully and definitively by his death and resurrection, Jesus reveals to humanity that God is Father and that we are all called by grace to become his children in the Spirit (cf. Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6), and therefore brothers and sisters among ourselves. It is for this reason that the Church firmly believes that “the key, the centre and the purpose of the whole of man’s history is to be found in her Lord and Master”. (31)
For complete text visit: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html
Reflection
The Trinity, by transformation of our faith provides for a transformation of relationships to our self, others and creation. Entering the waters of baptism, we shed differences that divide and refresh in what unites to enter the family of God. For baptism, in the name of the Trinity does not manifest a spirit of slavery, to fall backward into a free fall of fear, but a Spirit of adoption to live as children of God and emulate our kinship with Abba, Father, as heirs of all God’s promises, created goodness and wonders. Gifts bestowing kindness, welcome from a benevolent God who gifted His Son and freed His chosen people. A lineage of mercy, layered in the sands of time, with an invitation to trust by fixing in one’s heart that the Lord is God , there is no other and anything we might try to make a god is just a phony. God imparts love, so no doubt exists in our soul and we can live fully into His vision for our humanity lingering into the sphere of eternity. A fire that illuminates for us, consumes our being and refines us in the ways of God, present on Mount Horeb and in the movements of the Holy Spirit today. A fire not of terror, but reverence to gaze into the infinite spark, know the infinite nature of the Trinity and belong to that fire by the animation from the Holy Spirit present in our lives. In the Hebrew text, observe means to keep watch. With the call to discipleship, Jesus makes expressed notation to baptize in the name of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teach the baptized to observe all He has commanded us. In keeping watch on what Jesus has commanded us, we are drawn deeper into the Trinity. To appreciate in awe the Father’s creation and seeing His design, the web of all creation draws us into recognizing we do not stand alone in the universe. The acknowledgment leading us to stewardship, harkening us to decry abuse, neglect, willful plundering and leading us to act with vocal passion turning our words to action. To affirm our Savior’s words, we live as people striving for the virtues articulated in the Sermon on the Mount, to live with love of God and neighbor. Answering that call by stopping hate draws us deeper into steeping the Trinity into our soul and society. To let the Holy Spirt energize us, instead of personal yearnings, we live beyond our self to experience true fulfillment only in connecting our lives to the mission and message of the Trinity. For where the Spirit leads us is only to the osmosis of Divine design. The unexplainable yet totally relational to the infinite expression of the Trinity in the call we receive, in all we are and only fulfilled not by our self, but in community with all there is. Jesus departed the earthly realm giving, gifting us that opportunity from what He received from the Father and the invitation to go make disciples of all nations. To share widely, totally, with just not a few, a select group, but all people. Qualified by the word make. A word molded in time, crafted in care, not forced, imposed, but built in relationship, honed in pressures of social tension, lived in the reality of life. The accompaniment and encounter to make our journey into and within the Trinity a journey with others to collectively see that the gift of the Trinity is a gift of love for all people that can never be left behind once the waters of baptism may physically dry, the spiritual waters flow in unquenchable blessings.
Individual Reflection: Psalm 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
Review the just released Laudato Si platform and discern how you will engage your parish and diocese in this initiative: https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/
Family Reflection: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Watch the award winning video Three Seconds on You Tube and discuss how Laudato Si addresses these issues.
Prayer:
Pray the Laudato Si rosary this week
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X53spMlbd7pasdkw-xIALTPoPKPKSk8p/view
Blogs to Visit:
As we reflect upon Mary’s presence in the mysteries of the Rosary, we are blessed to know her. For her journey, a timeless trek, calls us to surrender, continuing conversion, humbleness and justice now.
https://peaceonjustice.wordpress.com/
Weekly lectionary reflections, for faith sharing groups, parish bulletins, newsletters or personal prayer, from the synergy of the Word we hear and the rich tradition of Catholic Social Teaching.
https://cst74life.wordpress.com/
Catholic Social Teaching offers seven principles for upholding life in our thoughts, decisions and actions.
How we do Catholic Social Teaching.
https://csmresources.wordpress.com/
Creation sustainability ministry resources in the spirit of the St Francis Pledge.
Social Ministry Resources Engaging Parishes: Monthly and liturgical seasons resources for use with parish websites, bulletins and newsletters
Involvement Opportunities
List one or two upcoming events, legislative action alerts or social justice websites
By Barb Born May 29, 2021 The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.