Vol. 37 No. 34               MAY  30,  2010             Cycle C THE  MOST  HOLY TRINITY          God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit       ENTRANCE ANTIPHON Blessed be God the Father and His only begotten Son and the Holy Spirit: for He has shown that He loves us. PENITENTIAL RITE The feast of the Most Holy Trinity reminds us that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We are invited to share that love with one another and to live a life of unity and harmony. Let us ask the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy for all our failures. (Pause) I confess ... Glory to God ... OPENING PRAYER Father, you sent your Word to bring us truth and your Spirit to make us holy. Through them we come to know the mystery of your life. Help us to worship you, one God in three Persons, by proclaiming and living our faith in you. Grant this through... FIRST READING (The author of Proverbs, in the language of the Wisdom literature, speaks of the existence of Wisdom before creation itself. Wisdom here stands for the Son of God who existed from the beginning.) A reading from the Book of Proverbs      (8:22-31) The Wisdom of God cries aloud, the Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth; before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the sons of men. This is the Word of the Lord PSALM         (8) Response: How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth! When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him? R./ Yet you have made him little less than a god; with glory and honour you crowned him, gave him power over the works of your hand, put all things under his feet. R./ All of them, sheep and cattle, yes, even the savage beasts, birds of the air, and fish that make their way through the waters. R./ SECOND READING (Paul boasts of the hope in the glory of God as well as his own afflictions as the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.) A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans      (5:1-5) Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION    (Apoc 1:8) Alleluia, alleluia! Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, the God who is, and who was, and who is to come. Alleluia! GOSPEL (Jesus enumerates the function of the Spirit as guiding us to all truth. The Father and the Spirit are in full union with the Son, creating a Trinity of perfect unity.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John       (16:12-15) Jesus said to his disciples: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God,/the Father Almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into Heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead./I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the Holy Catholic Church,/the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit form perfect unity in creating, redeeming and sanctifying the universe and all that is in it. With humble hearts and folded hands let us approach the Most Holy Trinity for all our needs, saying: Response: Holy Triune God, hear our prayer. 1. For our holy Mother Church. May she be a sign of love and unity for all of God’s children after the example of the Holy Trinity. We pray to the Lord. R./   2. For those called to ministerial priesthood in the Church. May all the anointed servants of God experience joy and fulfilment in their call and be rewarded abundantly for their service. We pray to the Lord. R./ 3. For families all over the world. May the relationship between father, mother and children of families be strengthened and modelled on the perfect love and unity between the three persons of the Holy Trinity. We pray to the Lord. R./ 4. For those who evangelize through the media of communication. May they be filled with the Spirit of God to spread truth and goodness everywhere. We pray to the Lord. R./ 5. For those in the profession of teaching. May they be empowered by the Holy Spirit to follow the example of Christ the Divine Master, always imparting truth, goodness and love. We pray to the Lord. R./ (Pray for local and personal needs) Cel: Holy Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we love you, we trust in you and we surrender our lives to you. Hear all our prayers and grant all what we stand in need of. We make this prayer… PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord our God, make these gifts holy, and through them make us a perfect offering to you. We ask this... PREFACE      (43) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. We joyfully proclaim our faith in the mystery of your Godhead. You have revealed your glory as the glory also of your Son and of the Holy Spirit: three Persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendour, yet one Lord, one God, ever to be adored in your everlasting glory. And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise: All: Holy, holy, holy…   COMMUNION  ANTIPHON You are the sons of God, so God has given you the Spirit of His Son to form your hearts and make you cry out: Abba, Father. PRAYER  AFTER  COMMUNION Lord God, we worship you, a Trinity of Persons, one eternal God. May our faith and the sacrament we receive bring us health of mind and body. We ask this...     LITURGY  AND  LIFE     The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the most profound and fundamental of all mysteries of our faith. All other mysteries find their meaning and existence in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Of course, it is beyond our human understanding to know the dynamics of ‘one God, and having three persons’. The early Church reflected and formed a theology of the Trinity based on the teachings of Jesus, the God incarnate. Jesus spoke of the existence and functions the three persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who form one God. Thus, although we cannot fully comprehend its dynamics, we can know the Holy Trinity by its functions. The Father creates the universe and all that is in it, through His Word, the Son takes the form of a human person to redeem the fallen humanity by his incarnation, sufferings, death and resurrection; the Holy Spirit teaches, enlightens and sanctifies us and thus continues the work of the Father and the Son until the end of the world. Jesus, on many occasions referred to his being one with the Father and the Spirit, and the Holy Trinity’s indwelling in our hearts. Thanks to the incarnation of the Son, now we are able to relate to the Father, through the Spirit in a personal way. We are able to know and love God who loves us as a father loves his children. The Father, through his Son, has made us adopted children. The Blessed Trinity, as we know from the teachings of Jesus, is the highest model for our Christian life—three distinct persons, yet one God; each living in harmony and perfect unity with each other. The Church aims to reflect this unity in its fold. This is indeed Christ’s wish and prayer for us, “May they all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (Jn 17:21). Any relationship is based on mutual understanding, acceptance and love between the relating parties. This means that there is also an atmosphere of self sacrifice — letting go of personal will, plans and ambitions for the sake of larger interests of the family or community. Although perfect unity is not possible in our fallen and imperfect world, we strive for this in our families, in the Church, and in the larger human society, after the example of the Holy Trinity. We long for that unity that Christ desired and prayed for us. It is through our unity that the people around us see and realize that we are a godly and peace loving people. Our community gatherings for prayer and celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, become meaningful and sources of blessings only when we gather, pray and celebrate in unity. When selfish ambitions and personal motives rule our families, communities and our Church, we cause scandal. Jesus prayed to the Father to save his people from the scandal of disharmony and division. Christian community is not merely a gathering of individuals for a common purpose, but it is a communion of hearts and minds, intentions and goals. It is the visible presence of the body of Christ, inspired, sanctified and strengthened by the Holy Spirit and trusting in the love of our Father. Thus our lives and our communitarian activities, including our family life, become the visible presence of the Holy Trinity. –Fr Joe Eruppakkatt, ssp   ===========================================================   May/June 2010       READINGS  OF  THE  WEEK        Psalter Week  1 31  Mon (W)     THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY – Fst                   Zeph 3:14-18 or Rom 12:9-16b; Ps Is 12:2-3,4bcd,5-6; Lk 1:39-56 01  Tue (R)      St Justin (mem) 2 Pt 3:12-15a,17-18; Ps 89:2,3-4,10,14&16;                                                      Mk  12:13-17 02   Wed (G)     2 Tim 1:1-3,6-12; Ps 122:1-2ab,2cd-3; Mk 12:18-27 03  Thu (R)       Sts Charles Lwanga & Comps, mm (mem)                                 2 Tim 2:8-15; Ps 24:4-5ab,8-9,10&14; Mk 12:28b-34 04   Fri (G)   2 Tim 3:10-17; Ps 118:157&160,161&165,166&168; Mk 12:35-37 05  Sat (R)    St Boniface (mem) 2 Tim 4:1-8; Ps 70:8-9,14-15ab,16-17,22;                                                         Mk 12:38-44