Deut 4:32-34;39-40: In today’s first reading Moses expresses the importance of our being grateful to God for all of His blessings and mercy toward us. Moses reminds the Israelites that they have been privileged to hear the voice of God and to have been freed from captivity in the desert. We also have been privileged to hear the Voice of God through Jesus’ own voice handed down to us in the Gospels and other New Testament writings. We, too have been freed from an imprisonment to our sins and to our spiritual blindness which we suffered until we learned of the Christian Way of love that brought us into the Light! This being Trinity Sunday, we recognize that the Source of all light for our souls is our Triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Psalm 33: “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be His own.”: This psalm is a song of praise, thanksgiving and confident trust in God. The first stanza celebrates that our Most Blessed Trinity is holy, loving and worthy of our trust. Our God is just, wise and kind. The second stanza recognizes God as our all-powerful Creator and the Source of all life. The third stanza re-stresses our reasons to have confidence in God, knowing that He sees and hears and loves all who fear Him. The Presence of the Holy Spirit surely accompanies all who fear God for fear of God reflects the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. The psalmist reassures the fearful that God will deliver us from death, famine or whatever else burdens us. The last stanza of this psalm expresses our hopeful waiting for the Lord to deliver us, help us, heal us and comfort us. This beautiful psalm ends with a vision of faith-filled hope.
Romans 8:14-17: St. Paul offers the comforting promise that followers of the Holy Spirit enjoy a status as the adopted children of God; not through any merit of our own, but by the generosity and mercy and love of God. As adopted children of God through Jesus Christ, we have become heirs to the Heavenly Kingdom through Baptism and the other Sacraments. The theme of thanksgiving for God’s great gifts to us is woven throughout all of today’s readings celebrating our Most Blessed Trinity. We are being invited to a parent-child relationship of love with God and are promised that if we jointly suffer with Jesus; uniting our burdens with His, then we will be raised with Jesus and accompany Him in Heaven. It is a great hope to which we are called!
Matthew 28:16-20: Today’s Gospel reading has an interesting progression; showing Jesus commissioning the Apostles. First, the Apostles obey Jesus and come to the mountain. When they see Jesus, they worship Him, but… they doubt. Then, despite their doubt, Jesus approaches them and commissions them to evangelize new disciples and baptize all the nations in the Name of the Most Blessed Trinity. Jesus shows faith in the Apostles even though they still have doubts. That alone is a lot to reflect on and celebrate. Our God commands us to obey, but He still promises to love us and be with us, always, “until the end of the age.” This unconditional, eternal and merciful Love is Whom our God is! This week let’s focus on the Presence of our Blessed Trinity in our lives, via the Sacraments and via the grace and love of God, no matter what state we’re in regarding our spiritual life.
Have hope! Our God is with us! Rejoice! Deacon Matt