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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (B)
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (Deut 4:32-34.39-40): Moses said to the people: «Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live? Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, with strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors, all of which the Lord, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other. You must keep his statutes and commandments that I enjoin on you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you forever».
Responsorial Psalm: 32
R/. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Upright is the word of the Lord, and all his works are trustworthy. He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made; by the breath of his mouth all their host. For he spoke, and it was made; he commanded, and it stood forth.

See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield. May your kindness, o Lord, be upon us who have put our hope in you.
2nd Reading (Rom 8:14-17): Brothers and sisters: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, «Abba, Father!». The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
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 (Mt 28:16-20): The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

“Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit”

Mons. F. Xavier CIURANETA i Aymí Emeritus Bishop of Lleida (Lleida, Spain)

Today, the liturgy invites us to worship the Most Holy Trinity, our God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One only God in three Persons, in whose name we have been baptized. By the grace of Baptism, we are called to participate in the life of the Most Holy Trinity down here, in the darkness of faith, and, after death, in eternal life. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we have been made partakers of the divine life, becoming children of God Father, brothers and sisters in Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit. In Baptism, our Christian life began, receiving the vocation to sanctity. Baptism makes us belong to the One who is supremely Holy, the "three times Holy" (cf. Is 6:3).

The gift of sanctity received in Baptism calls for fidelity to a task of evangelical conversion that must always guide the life of God's children: "This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality" (1 Thess 4:3). It is a commitment that affects all the baptized. "All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity " (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, n. 40).

If our Baptism was the true entrance into the holiness of God, we cannot be content with a mediocre, routine, and superficial Christian life. We are called to perfection in love, as Baptism has introduced us into the life and intimacy of God's love.

With deep gratitude for the benevolent plan of our God, who has called us to participate in His life of love, let us worship and praise Him today and always. "Blessed be God the Father, and His only Son, and the Holy Spirit, for He has shown mercy to us" (Entrance Antiphon of the Mass).

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “I have tasted and seen with the light of the intellect in Your light, the abyss of You, the eternal Trinity, and the beauty of Your creature, for, looking at myself in You, I saw myself to be Your image.” (Saint Catherine of Siena)

  • “The mysterious God is not infinite loneliness; he is an event of love. The Son and the Father are both one in the Spirit, who constitutes, so to speak, the atmosphere of giving and loving which makes them one God.” (Benedict XVI)

  • “All the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He begins his public life after having himself baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan. After his resurrection Christ gives this mission to his apostles: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Mt 28:19-20).” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 1223)

December 15th
Third Sunday of Advent (C)

Gospel and commentary video

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