Liturgy of the Sunday

Feast of the Most Holy Trinity
The Orthodox Churches celebrate Pentecost.

First Reading

Exodus 34,4-6.8-9

So he cut two tablets of stone like the first and, with the two tablets of stone in his hands, Moses went up Mount Sinai in the early morning as Yahweh had ordered. And Yahweh descended in a cloud and stood with him there and pronounced the name Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed before him and called out, 'Yahweh, Yahweh, God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy, Moses immediately bowed to the ground in worship, then he said, 'If indeed I do enjoy your favour, please, my Lord, come with us, although they are an obstinate people; and forgive our faults and sins, and adopt us as your heritage.'

Psalmody

Psalm 3

Antiphon

You, Lord are my defence and you lift up my head.

How may are my foes, O Lord!
How many are rising up against me!

How many are saying about me :
'There is no help for him in God.

But you, Lord, are a shield about me
my glory, who lift up my head

I cry aloud to the Lord.
He answers from his holy mountain.

I lie down to rest and I sleep.
I wake, for the Lord upholds me.

I will not fear even thousands of people
who are ranged on every side against me.

Arise, Lord; save me, my God,
You who strike all my foes on the mouth,

you who break the teeth of the wicked!
O Lord of salvation, bless your people!

Second Reading

2 Corinthians 13,11-13

To end then, brothers, we wish you joy; try to grow perfect; encourage one another; have a common mind and live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with the holy kiss. All God's holy people send you their greetings. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 3,16-18

For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not believe in the Name of God's only Son.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

The liturgical season after Pentecost begins with the feast of the Holy Trinity, the mystery that lies at the heart of the Christian faith: God is one in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With the invocation to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Christians everywhere open their prayers. Every evening in prayer and in every liturgy our first words are: "Blessed be the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." It is a sign of unity and communion that unites everyone, small and great, in every part of the world. And the creed places this mystery at the centre of the Christian faith. Todays' celebration suggests that the first steps of the Church born on Pentecost were taken in the name of the Trinity. Everything comes from God, from the mystery of God's limitless love, which moved the Father to send his only Son for the salvation of all peoples. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16), Jesus says to Nicodemus. And the author of the Letter to the Hebrews refers to this love, which is always flowing from God: "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son" (Heb 1:1-2).
The feast of Trinity, while it invites us to celebrate God's limitless love, makes us contemplate the Church, the Community, as the fruit of the love of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The time after Pentecost is the time that the Church fulfils the mission to bring the Gospel to all peoples. The Community of believers is called to do every day what happened that day. Those tongues of fire are not disappeared with the sunset of Pentecost. Rather those tongues are the true treasure of wisdom that the Lord has given his disciples. The Holy Spirit gathers and unites believers making of them children of a people and not slaves of the lords of this world, as the Apostle says: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" (Rom 8:15).
From Pentecost rises a Church of the people that speaks with clarity and new strength the language of love for all, the language of peace among all peoples. It is the mystery of Pentecost that we have lived together, as God's dream on the world. The feast of the Trinity reminds us of the urgency of the task that the Lord entrusts to his Church. A task that appears even more urgent today than yesterday. We see how the spirit of evil in this time seems to push so many more effectively to cultivate violence and fear, as they are concerned about their own vested interests while forgetting those of the poorest. And tomorrow appears uncertain, especially for the weakest. The Holy Spirit urges us to listen even more to the need for salvation that everyone has. His power restores peace between peoples, communicates love, and restores life and dignity to the poor and weak.