GOD IS LOVE
Greeting
The love of the Father,
the forgiveness and life of the Son
and the strength of the Holy Spirit
be always with you. R/ And with your spirit.
Introduction
God Is Love
To most of us today’s feast of the Trinity may not be as stirring and touching as Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, yet it sums up all of these. It is simply the feast of one God who shows three loving faces to us. We can call him Father, even “Daddy,” as Jesus said. We can call him our brother in Jesus. We can call him our breath in the Spirit, who is our force and life and love that keeps us alive and moving and building a Church that missions to the world. The Spirit is also our world. And if we want to sum up God in one word, we say with St. John: God is love. If God loves us so much we can do no less than love one another.
Therefore, let this Eucharist be a song of thanks to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
—-Note. This is a good opportunity to use the rite of sprinkling with water, for it reminds us that in baptism we have been immersed in the love of the Blessed Trinity. See the Sacramentary for the text. If there is no rite of sprinkling, use the Penitential Act:
Penitential Act
We ask pardon from the Lord our God
that we have not always answered his love.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, you revealed to us
a Father who cares deeply for us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you loved us all the way
by laying down your life for us:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you pour out on us
the Spirit of unity and love:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Gentle and merciful God,
forgive us all our sins
and help us respond to your boundless love.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray to God
as the sons and daughters he dearly loves
(pause)
God, source of all life and love,
we sing out to you today
the joy of our faith and our love.
You have loved us first
before we could even know you.
Father, with a love as tender as that of a mother,
our hearts recognize your greatness and your mercy.
You let Jesus become your face,
our brother, near and approachable,
saving us by his death and resurrection.
Your Spirit animates us with your love and strength.
Keep alive in us that love and that joy,
let our gratitude resound all over the earth!
All blessing and praise be to you
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading: God Is the God of People
God, the creator, guided the destiny of his chosen people Israel to show himself as a saving God and to make this beloved people a sign of salvation to all.
1 Reading: 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: Ps 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
R. (12b) 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.
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.
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.
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.
Second Reading: The Spirit Makes Us God’s Children
Through the Holy Spirit of God in us, we know that we are children of the Father in heaven and called with God’s Son, the Risen Christ, to be heirs to a future world.
2. Reading: 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: Revelation 1:8
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: In the Name of Father, Son and Spirit
We are the missionary people of God, baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We come from God, and with Christ alive among us we have to lead the world to God.
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.”
Commentary
Almost the whole world, it seems, is now familiar with Roublev’s famous icon of the Trinity. I already quoted a short passage from Evdokimov’s meditation on this icon (see March 24). Here is another:
“Gazing at the three faces raises the question, ‘Who are they? What are they saying?’ and we, in our silence, can perceive something of this secret. The heads leaning towards one another can be seen from a distance—it looks as if they cannot abide being apart at all—each one is there only for the other.… Each one of them is giving himself to the others, defenseless before the other. That is why their faces are full of an infinite tenderness, the tenderness that is without resistance before what the other offers or asks.
And what if in face of humankind they are in this same attitude of total non-resistance, vulnerability and defenseless tenderness…?
In the background, shapes can only just be seen, as if hidden in the golden light: a mountain, a tree, a house. Why not just the three Persons alone? The great wind which returns from the Spirit to the Father through the Son is drawing the landscape after it by its irresistible force. The mountain and the trees are bent in same wind. The great Liturgy which they celebrate among themselves eternally and for evermore, sweeps all creation up in the rhythm of its dance.”
Intercessions
With the Spirit of Jesus alive in us, let us pray to our living and loving God and say:
R/ Blessed are you, our God, for ever.
– For having called us by our name, let us thank our Father in heaven; may we give him a faithful response to his love, we pray:
R/ Blessed are you, our God, for ever.
– For having saved us by becoming one of us, sharing our human lives and dying for us, let us thank Jesus our Lord; for the strength to follow him let us pray:
R/ Blessed are you, our God, for ever.
– For guiding us in our dark hours and strengthening us with his joy and love, let us thank the Holy Spirit; for wisdom and courage, let us pray:
R/ Blessed are you, our God, for ever.
– For those who preach the gospel anywhere in the world, that people may receive the Good News of Jesus with eagerness and joy, let us pray:
R/ Blessed are you, our God, for ever.
– For fathers and mothers, that through them their children may discover the fatherhood of God and learn to love him without reservations, let us pray:
R/ Blessed are you, our God, for ever.
– For those who are discouraged and tired, that they may experience the moving force of the Holy Spirit, let us pray:
R/ Blessed are you, our God, for ever.
Our living God, we know and love you as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Make us and our communities and many people grow in this knowledge and love, now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
our words and the whole wide world
cannot contain or express you
and yet your Son wants to be near to us
in these simple signs of bread and wine.
Be our God-with-us always
through Jesus, alive in our midst,
and give us the strength of your Spirit
to bear witness to the whole world
that you are our living God
and that we are your children,
now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
In the Eucharistic Prayer we praise God as Father, Son and Spirit in their greatness and yet nearness to us. Through Jesus, and united by the Holy Spirit we offer our praise and thanks to the Father.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
Moved by the Holy Spirit,
we cry out to God our Father
in the words of Jesus himself: R/ Our Father…
Prayer for Peace
Lord Jesus Christ,
you promised to be with us
until the end of time and of the world.
Grant peace and unity to your Church
and let it be the sign to every person on earth
of your patient, caring love.
You are our Lord for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
Invitation to Communion
This is Christ our Lord,
the Son of God who became man
to make us human children of the Father
by the unifying Spirit.
Happy are we to be invited
to the table of the Lord. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
in this Eucharistic celebration
you have let us experience again
how near you wish to be to us through your Son.
Accept our thanks,
and in the strength of his Spirit
help us to be to your people
the lips of your Son that speak
words of compassion and encouragement,
his heart that loves and shares joy,
his will that brings freedom and justice,
his hands that bless
and his feet that go all the way with them
on the dusty road to you,
our Father for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Through our baptism
in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
God has become our God;
he has made our destiny his own
and his life ours.
May he always be near to us and bless you all:
the Father, whose sons and daughters we are,
the Son who is our brother and Saviour,
the Holy Spirit who lives in us. R/ Amen.
Let us go in peace and be near to those around us as God is near to us.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Let us conclude with these WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
“Today’s liturgical solemnity, while making us contemplate the amazing mystery from which we come and toward which we are going, renews for us the mission of living in communion with God and living in communion among ourselves on the model of the divine communion. We are called to live not as one without others, above or against others, but one with others, for others, and in others. This means to accept and witness in harmony the beauty of the Gospel. […] In a word, we have been entrusted with the task of edifying ecclesial communities which increasingly become families, capable of reflecting the splendour of the Trinity and evangelizing not only with the words but with the power of the love of God that lives within us.” (Angelus, 31 May 2015).