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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (A)
1st Reading (Exod 34:4b-6.8-9): Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets. Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with Moses there and proclaimed his name, “LORD”. Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, «The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity».

Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, «If I find favor with you, o Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own».
Responsorial Psalm: Dan 3
R/. Glory and praise for ever!
Blessed are you, o Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever; and blessed is your holy and glorious name, praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.

Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory, praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.

Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

Blessed are you who look into the depths from your throne upon the cherubim, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
2nd Reading (2Cor 13:11-13): Brothers and sisters, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Versicle before the Gospel (Rev 1:8): Alleluia. Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was, and who is to come. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Jn 3:16-18): God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

«God so loved the world that He gave his only Son»

Mons. Joan Enric VIVES i Sicília Bishop Emeritus of Urgell (Lleida, Spain)

Today, it is good for us to hear John's Gospel words: “For God so loved the world...” (Jn 3:16), because in the festivity of the Blessed Trinity, God is worshipped, loved, and served —for God is Love. In Him we find an association with Love, and whatever He actively does, He does out of Love. God loves; He loves us. This great truth is one of those that transform us, that make us better, because it enters our understanding, becoming entirely evident to us. And it deeply affects our actions, honing them into total loving actions. And the purer love becomes, the greater and more perfect it is.

St. John of the Cross wrote: “Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.” And this is true, because this is what God always does. He “did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:17), thanks to Jesus Christ's life and to His love, unto His death on the Cross. Today, we contemplate Him as the only one that reveals to us authentic love.

We speak so much about love, that perhaps it has lost its originality. Love is what God feels for us. Love and you will be happy! Because to love is to offer our life for those we love. Love is gratuitous and simple. Love is emptying oneself, to hope for everything from God. Love is to diligently serve those who need us. Love is losing to regain a hundredfold. Love is living without keeping score of what one is doing. Love is what makes us resemble God. Love —and only love— is eternity already in our midst!

Let us live the Eucharist, which is the sacrament of Love, as it gives us God's love made flesh. It allows us to participate in the fire that burns in the Heart of Jesus, and it forgives and recasts us so that we can love with the very Love with which we are loved.

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “You, oh eternal Trinity, are a deep Sea, into which the deeper I enter the more I find, and the more I find the more I seek.” (Saint Catherine of Siena)

  • “While in creation the Father gave us proof of his immense love by giving us life, in the passion and death of his Son He gave us the proof of proofs: He loves us and forgives us always.” (Francis)

  • “The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love: ‘In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him’ (1Jn 4:9). ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’ (Jn 3:16).” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 458)