Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Prv 8: 22-31
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
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—
when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
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 worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Power of the Holy Spirit
The last eight Sundays have been a wild ride on God’s breadth and power, from life through death to new life and mission – six Sundays of Easter, the Ascension, the Pentecost – and today we celebrate the Holy Trinity. But this week, we re-enter “Ordinary Time”. In a sense, it’s time to find a way to channel all of this mystery and power into my day-to-day responsibilities. But how? Our first reading from Proverbs gives us a great place to start, a distillation of our last weeks’ Good News: our God delights in the human race. How can I remind myself of this, again and again, throughout each day? That our Creator God, incarnate in Christ more powerful than death and present in an ever-and-still-creative Holy Spirit, delights in me and wants to be with me and transform me? How and where can I feel the power of this?
—Fr. Garrett Gundlach, SJ, is a Jesuit priest of the Midwest Province studying Arabic and interfaith dialogue at the University of Saint Joseph in Beirut, Lebanon.
Prayer
Dear Artist God,
God who is three-in-one-
God who is Creator,
God who became human,
God who speaks as Spirit still today-
You’re constantly looking for ways to love us,
Whether through your creation,
Whether through your incarnation
Whether through the sanctification and inspiration
of your Holy Spirit among and within us,
and this is simply too wonderful for me to fully grasp.
My head doesn’t totally get it,
But I’m counting on my heart to do so,
But it will need your help.
Loving, artist God,
Help my heart to receive this Good News,
To receive this love,
so that the places of my life that need you most will feel you
and that your peace and love and spread – especially
in the places where I feel least peaceful and least loved.
Just as you delight in us, your people,
Help us to delight in you and your generous care.
Amen.
—Fr. Garrett Gundlach, SJ