Poured Into Our Hearts: Reflections on the Readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Cycle C

Proverbs 8:22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

Just calling yourself “Christian” or professing belief in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior is not enough. You must believe in Jesus’ words as well and do your best to follow them. Jesus spoke of the Trinity. There are many “Christian” denominations who don’t believe in the Trinity claiming that the word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible. Some don’t even believe in the divinity of Jesus. And yet the three persons of the Trinity are present throughout salvation history, beginning with Genesis when the mighty Wind (the Spirit) swept across the waters (Genesis 1:2) and the Word of God the Father (the Son) spoke creation into existence. And Jesus commissions the Apostles to “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.” And, of course, we just celebrated the feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit bestowed power on the Apostles and disciples in the Upper Room. Nevertheless, some don’t believe in the Holy Spirit as God, the third person of the Holy Trinity.

The first Sunday after Pentecost marks the resumption of Ordinary Time. Ordinary as in "ordinal" (numbered), not "unspecial." As we are in the octave of Pentecost and the focus is the Most Holy Trinity, it can be expected that the readings will reflect various aspects of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

“The personification of Wisdom in the OT prepares for the revelation of the Trinity in the NT. In particular, this theme reaches its full development when Jesus is revealed as the eternal Son of God.” (notes on Proverbs, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible) Although the speaker (Wisdom) in many of these proverbs is feminine this selection has a direct relation with Jesus.

St. Paul referred to Jesus as “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” The parallels are fairly obvious: Wisdom existed before creation, was present at creation, and was beside God as His craftsman. Similarly, Wisdom was “brought forth,” as in begotten, like the Son, the Word. Wisdom’s delight in the human race leads directly into the selection from Psalm 8. In fact, some of these words mirror the beginning of John’s gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. (John 1:1-3)

The creation theme carries through into the responsorial psalm. The psalmist speaks of man as “little less than angels.” All of creation has been put in the hands of man. This is so awesome that the psalmist wonders why God is so mindful of man, especially in light of the wonders of God’s works, the awesomeness of the heavens. The hymn, “How Great Thou Art,” comes to mind as I read this. And yet man has been given rule over the works of God’s hands. “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.” And so the psalmist exclaims, “O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!” Carrying this further, in the Incarnation, we see that God so unites Himself with man that He humbly assumes a human nature so as to join man with His divinity.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans we see the Trinity more clearly. “[W]e have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And Paul tells us how this has been done: “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” In baptism and through the sacraments we continue to receive and exercise the gifts of the Spirit through the graces given to us. This is why the sacraments are so important. The sacraments strengthen us, unite us with the Trinity and with others, and build up the Body of Christ, the Church. As Paul says, they also give us hope, despite our afflictions (sin) and help us to endure. As Jesus told us, “But he who endures to the end will be saved.” (Mark 13:13)

The gospel acclamation gives praise to the ever-existing Trinity directly. “Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was, and who is to come" (as in Alpha and Omega in Revelation).

In the selection from John’s gospel we hear Jesus promising the Holy Spirit to the Apostles at the Last Supper. Later in this discourse Jesus says, “I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” But He has also told them that He would not leave them abandoned. This is why He will send them (and us) “the Spirit of Truth [Who] will guide you to all truth.”

Even in the Old Testament Pharaoh speaks of Joseph as having the “Spirit of God” in him (Genesis 41:38). We see the Spirit coming upon the Israelites Moses selected during the Exodus who then prophesied (declaring the truth of the Lord) to help Moses share the burden of leading the people (Numbers 11:11-30). As Catholics we believe in the guidance of the Spirit through the Magisterium. We saw this during the first Council, the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-29) when Peter, the Apostles, and the Church leaders declared “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us,” when responding to the question of circumcision of Gentiles becoming Christians.

Jesus goes on to tell the Apostles that the Spirit “will take from what is mine
and declare it to you." And what Jesus claims as His He received from the Father. Thus, the guidance the Holy Spirit provides is a gift from the One God in Three Persons, the Holy Trinity. As with the gospel acclamation, we read into this passage that the Spirit will glorify Jesus, and through Him, the Father.

“[T]hat the Trinity is the one and only and true God, and also how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are rightly said, believed, understood, to be of one and the same substance or essence;” St. Augustine, On the Trinity