Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity Sunday, 3 June 2012
“O the depths of the riches, of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God. How incomprehensible are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” Rom. 11:33
The mystery of The Blessed Trinity is the greatest of all mysteries in the Catholic Faith. Man’s finite mind can only try to understand it. St. Augustine tried and one day while contemplating the Blessed Trinity at the seashore, he saw a little boy filling his pail with water from the sea and putting it into a hole in the sand. He asked the boy what he was doing, and the boy replied that he was going to empty the sea into the hole in the sand. St. Augustine told him that this was not possible as the sea was so too big and the hole so small. The boy, an angel in disguise, said, “So, too, you can not understand the Trinity with your finite mind.” Even in heaven, when we see God “face to face” for all eternity, we shall never be able to understand the depths of this sublime mystery. We can only adore it! “O the depths of the riches, of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God. How incomprehensible are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” Rom. 11:33
“For from him and through him and unto him are all things. To him be glory forever.” Rom. 11:36
Msgr. Patrick Boylan in his book, The Sunday Gospels and Epistles Vol. I and II comments on the greatness of God: “The abundance of the wealth of God’s grace, of His wisdom, and of His knowledge is beyond all human capacity to estimate.” Boylan, p. 81 St. Paul in today’s Epistle to the Romans (11: 33-6) says: “For from him and through him and unto him are all things. To him be glory forever.” Rom. 11:36 Msgr. Boylan commenting on this verse says: “There is, then nothing of all that is which does not owe its being to the power and wisdom and goodness of God—nothing that is not ‘from Him.’ Everything that is maintained in being by God—is ‘through Him.’ Since, then, every creature is in every way dependent on God, the true goal of all must be God alone (‘unto Him’). The creature that realizes this will also see that all praise and glory belong to God alone forever.” Boylan, p. 82 St. Augustine would remind us that we owe everything to God: “Give to us according to Thy promise for we have done as thou has commanded, it is still true that our doing of the things commanded was God’s doing, since He helped us to do it.” All that we can do is to admire the depths of God’s wisdom and power and to order to Him everything that happens in this world:“… To him be glory forever.” Rom. 11:36
“How incomprehensible are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” Rom. 11:33
Msgr. Boylan comments on the meaningof today’s epistle: “The obvious lesson in to-day’s Epistle is the marvelous wisdom of God’s ways, and the folly of questioning them. As the Apostle sees the gracious mercy of God at work in all the devious paths of Hebrew history, so we should seek to find grace and mercy and loving thoughtfulness at work in every phase of our lives. Even when the pattern of mercy is but vaguely – or even notat all discernible in the tangle of our troubles and failures, we should remember that behind all, and deftly guiding all, there is a depth of unfathomable of grace and wisdom and knowledge. Day after day, we see bitterness turned into joy, and failure into success; and out of apparent hopelessness we constantly see, against all our forecasts, firm ground of hope arising.
“Murmuring at our lot, loss of courage, lack of trust in God’s mercy—these are so many questionings of the grace and wisdom and knowledge of God, our Father—from Whom, through Whom, and unto Whom are all things, ourselves included, and all that our lives contain.” Boylan, p. 83
Knowledge of the Blessed Trinity
The Holy Spirit used veiled language in the Old Testament when speaking about the Blessed Trinity to avoid confusion with the other nations which had many gods. Only withthe coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, do we find explicit teachings on the Blessed Trinity. Dom Prosper Gueranger in The Liturgical Year, Vol. 10 comments: “The world had to wait for the fullness of time to be completed; and then God would send into this world His only Son, begotten of Him from all eternity. This His most merciful purpose has been carried out, and ‘the Word made Flesh hath dwelt among us’ (Jn. 1:14) By seeing His glory, the glory of the only-begotten Son of the Father, we have come to know, in God, there is Father and Son. The Son’s mission to our earth, by the very revelation it gave us of Himself, taught us that God is eternally Father, for whatever is in God is eternal. …So that, we now know the Father, from whom comes, as the apostle tells us, all paternity, even on earth (cf. Eph. 3:15). We know Him not only as the creative power, which has produced every being outside Himself; but, guided as it is by faith, our soul’s eye respectfully penetrates into the very essence of the Godhead, and there beholds the Father begetting a Son like unto Himself. But, in order to teach us the mystery, that Son came down upon earth. He Himself has told us expressly that no one knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him (cf. Mt. 11:27). Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Vol. 10, p. 97
“…in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…”Mt. 28:19
“….The intimate knowledge of God has come to us by the Son, whom the Father, in His love, has given to us. (Cf. Jn. 3:16). And this Son of God, who, in order to raise up our minds even to His own divine Nature has clad Himself, by His Incarnation, with our human nature, has taught us that He and His Father are one; that they are one and the same Essence, in distinction of Persons. One begets, the Other is begotten; the One is named Power; the Other, Wisdom, or Intelligence…but, both the One and the Other produce a third Term.
“The Son, who had been sent by the Father, had ascended into heaven, with the human Nature which He had united to Himself for all future eternity; and lo! the Father and the Son send into this world the Spirit who proceeds from them both. It was the Gift, and it taught man that the Lord God was in three Persons. The Spirit, the eternal link of the first two, is Will, He is Love, in the divine Essence. In God, then, is the fullness of Being, without beginning, without succession, without increase; for there is nothing which He has not. In these three eternal Terms of His uncreated Substance, is the Act, pure and infinite.” Gueranger, p.98
“Faith seeking understanding”
With the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, all that we can do is believe and have faith as St. Anselm tells us, “Faith seeking understanding.” First, we have faith and belief, and then we will begin to understand, even a little, this great mystery of the Blessed Trinity which we will contemplate for all eternity in heaven. How blessed we are, as today’s Gospel (Mt. 28:18-20) reminds us, that we are children of God by our baptism in the name of the Blessed Trinity: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…” Mt. 28:19
Corpus Christi Processions
Corpus Christi Procession at Lanherne on Thursday 7 June 2012 at 3:00 P.M.
The afternoon will include, the procession of Blessed Sacrament, adoration, the rosary and Benediction at three stations. Tea will be served in St. Joseph’s Hall at about 4:30 P.M. Do come and participate in this year’s Corpus Christi Procession and be a witness to the truth of the Blessed Eucharist where Jesus is truly present “body and blood, soul and divinity.”
Cornwall Deanery’s Corpus Christi Procession scheduled for Sunday 17 June 2012 in Truro has been cancelled.
“Could you not, then, watch one hour with Me?” Mt. 26:40
We are now in our second year (as of 4 July 2011) of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from after Mass until Benediction at 3:10 P. M. every day. “…. Particular attention should also be given to Eucharistic adoration, and in every diocese there should be churches or chapels specifically devoted to this purpose. I ask parishes, seminaries, religious houses and monasteries to organise periods of Eucharistic adoration, so that all have an opportunity to take part. Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, you can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful.” (No. 14) From “HOLY FATHER’S PASTORAL LETTER TO THE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND” (3 March 2010)
Prayer for Queen Elizabeth on her Diamond Jubilee Celebration
Sunday 3 June 2012
O Lord, save Elizabeth our Queen.
R. And hear us in the day when we call upon Thee.
Let us pray.
We beseech Thee, almighty God, that Thy servant Elizabeth our Queen, who has been called by Thy mercy to rule over this kingdom, may also receive from Thee an increase of all virtues. Fittingly adorned with these, may she be able to shun all evildoing, (in time of war: to conquer her enemies) and, finally, being well pleasing before Thee, together with her consort and the royal family, attain unto Thee who art the Way, the Truth and the Life. Through Christ Our Lord.
R. Amen.
A Day With Mary
Buckfast Abbey
Saturday 9 June 2012
Tea and coffee in St. Joseph’s Hall after Mass
