Trinity Sunday

(Edited) Sunday Reflections (from) Liturgical Years 2011 (A), 2012 (B), and 2013 (C)

Trinity Sunday (C), May 26, 2013

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

"The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth."

The gospel passage for the feast of the Holy Trinity is comprised of only four verses in chapter 16 of St. John. In the Jerusalem bible, this gospel passage is part of a paragraph with the subtitle, "The coming of the Advocate". The Advocate referred to in this gospel passage is the Holy Spirit. Though the focus of the gospel passage seems to be on the Person of the Holy Spirit, if we read the gospel passage more closely, we can notice how Jesus relates His Person with the Person of the Holy Spirit (verse 14), and with Person of the Father (verse 15).

The Catholic doctrine of the Holy Trinity is an ancient doctrine. If by chance you are able to find the Athanasian Creed in a Catholic prayer book, you will see how intricately detailed the doctrine is, and how it is excellently interwoven into a prayer. Here is an excerpt of that prayer:

"For the Father is a distinct person; the Son is a distinct
person; and the Holy Spirit is a distinct person. Still the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit have one divinity, equal glory,
and coeternal majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and the
Holy Spirit is.....Glory be to you, equal Trinity, one God-head,
both before all time, and now and for ever, Alleluia."

The truth about God as a Person can breathe new life to spirits broken by the difficulties of family life and work (especially those who endure stresses from a series of disruptive events). God as a Person is always ready to hear our prayer. With the Lord before us in prayer, "there are no impossible expectations; no loss of self-esteem; no humiliations; no rejections; only unconditional love..." (from Sister Joan Chittister, OSB's, meditation tapes). God accepts and loves us as we are: broken or healed. When we bring our broken or healed selves in prayer, and are renewed in strength in the Sacraments, the life of the Trinity becomes more real in us - in ourselves and in relation to others in the Church. When the life of the Trinity leads us, we become a healing instrument for others.

Scripture quotes:

• "What is man that you should be mindful of him." (Psalm 104)
• "The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans)

Disclaimer

Novena Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Short Novena in Honor of the Holy Spirit

Opening Prayer for every day:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful
and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth
Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall
renew the face of the earth.

Prayer for the 1st, 4th, and 7th day

O divine Spirit, Spirit of light and love, we implore
Your special assistance and guidance for our Holy Father,
our Bishops, Priests and Religious, and for the Laity,
the people of God. Unite us all in true love and
understanding, so that in everything we may seek only
the greater glory of God and our own sanctification, as
the Ecumenical Council Vatican II reminds us. Let us all
be guided by the love of God, our Father, and teach us
to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. May we all
be one family under the guidance of the Holy Father
and our Bishops, the successors of the Apostles, and
seek to please God in everything. Amen.

May You be blest, O divine Spirit, one true God with
the Father and the Son! Amen.

Closing Prayer for every day:

O Holy Spirit, Divine Spirit, of light and love,
we consecrate to You our understanding, heart and
will; our whole being for time and eternity. May
our understanding be always submissive to Your
heavenly inspirations and to the teachings of the
Catholic Church, of which You are the infallible
Guide. May our hearts be ever inflamed with love
with God and neighbor; may our will be ever
conformed to the divine will; and may our whole
life be a faithful imitation of the life and
virtues of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
to Whom, with the Father and You be honor and
glory forever. Amen.

O Spirit of Wisdom, preside over all my
thoughts, words and actions, from this day
till the end of my life.

Spirit of Understanding, enlighten and
teach me.

Spirit of Counsel, direct my inexperience.

Spirit of Fortitude, strengthen my weakness.

Spirit of Knowledge, instruct my ignorance.

Spirit of Piety, make me fervent in good works.

Spirit of Fear, restrain me from all evil. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son...

Say the Opening Prayer for Every Day

Prayer for the 2nd, 5th, and 8th day

O Divine Spirit, Spirit of light and love, continue
to guide Your Church and all its members as You have
guided the Council Fathers in such a marvelous and
visible manner. Enlighten all of us so as to
understand the teachings of Christ, our Lord and
Saviour, better and better every day and conform
our lives entirely to things eternal and to find,
through this kind of life, the peace which the world
cannot give. Teach the whole world that lasting
peace is to be found only in the true and unselfish
love of God and neighbor. Amen.

May You be blest, O divine Spirit, one true God with
the Father and the Son! Amen.

Say the Closing Prayer for every day

Say the Opening Prayer for Every Day

Prayer for the 3rd, 6th, and 9th day

O Divine Spirit, Spirit of light and love,
through the Ecumenical Council, Vatican II,
You have presented the Catholic Church in all
her beauty and splendor, as the Mystical Body
of Christ; give us strength and courage to carry
out all the resolutions of Vatican II. Shed the
brightness of Your light on all nations, their
rules and people, that all may become one in
Faith and Love, and always please the one
Triune God, and bring us all together in one
family of God where there will be understanding,
peace and happiness. Bring about, O Spirit of
light and love, a new and lasting Pentecost. Amen.

May You be blest, O Divine Spirit, one true
God with the Father and the Son! Amen.

Say the Closing Prayer for every day

Pentecost Sunday (C)

(Edited) Sunday Reflections (from) Liturgical Years 2011 (A), 2012 (B), and 2013 (C)

Pentecost Sunday (C), May 19, 2013

Liturgical readings
Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104
Romans 8:8-11
John 14:15-16, 23-26

"The Father will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever."

The first reading from the 2nd chapter of the Book of Acts gives a vivid description of what happened on Pentecost. And a chapter before this passage, in Acts 1:13-14, we learn who were in that upper room before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the whole apostolic community: the Eleven apostles, several women - including Mary, the mother of the Lord. Altogether, as that passage describes, there were about 120 of the Lord's followers (Acts 1:13). All were joined in continuous prayer (Acts 1:14). This was the setting before that "powerful wind from heaven, with a noise that filled the entire house, came, and something like tongues of fire rested on the head of each of them" (Acts 2:2-3). They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in different languages (Acts 2:4).

From that Pentecost event, the apostolic community, and eventually the Church, became missionary and preached the gospel of Jesus to the four corners of the world. The first country to be evangelized was France (King Clovis and the Franks). That was between the late 5th to the 8th century A.D. Fast-forward to the 17th century and we discover St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, a French missionary priest. Montfort wrote about this Pentecost event within the context of devotion to the Blessed Mother. His spiritual intuition taught a parallel truth we would not know if not for his ardent devotion to the Mother of God. He said, (paraphrasing): "just as the birth of Jesus came to fulfillment in Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, so the birth of the Church came about also through Mary's grace-filled presence with the apostolic community during Pentecost." For Montfort, the plenitude of Mary's graces brought about both the birth of the head and the body of the Church. [The Blessed Mother was present during the Pentecost event (Acts 1:13)] [1][2].

This feast of Pentecost is a time to be grateful to God for the gift of the Blessed Mother, who was instrumental in the birth also of the Church. In Montfort's spiritual intuition, just as Christ was born through Mary, so is the Church also given birth through her presence among the apostolic community. The Holy Spirit is the the third Person of the Holy Trinity. All prayers begin and end with Him (as we make the sign of the cross). He is the One who can bring light to every important decision we need to make. He is the One who "fills our hearts", "takes possession of our souls", "confirms our mortal frame", "drives from us our hellish foe", and will "renew the face of the earth". As the Holy Spirit gave wisdom and courage to the apostolic community, so shall He continue to do so with the Church and all succeeding generations baptized in the "name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". He is the Lord and the Giver of Life.

Scripture quotes:

• "They had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven." (Acts 2)
• "All creatures depend on you to feed them throughout the year." (Psalm 104)
• "He who raised Jesus from the dead will life to your own mortal bodies through His Spirit living in you."(Romans)

References:

• Christianization of the Franks, Wikipedia.org
• God Alone: The Collected Writings of St. Louis Marie de Montfort

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