XXVII — FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

First Sunday after Pentecost

Presence of God. — I give thanks to you, O God, one and true Trinity, one and highest Divinity, holy and unique Unity (Roman Breviary).

Meditation

1 — From Advent until today, the Church has led us to consider the magnificent manifestations of God’s mercy for men: the Incarnation, the Redemption, Pentecost; and now she directs our gaze to the source of these gifts, to the Most Holy Trinity from whom all proceeds, so that spontaneously there flows from our lips the hymn of gratitude expressed in the Introit of the Mass: “Blessed be the Holy Trinity and undivided Unity: we will praise Him because He has shown us his mercy.” Mercy of God the Father, “who so loved the world that He gave his Only-begotten” (cf. Jn. 3:16); mercy of God the Son, who for our redemption was incarnate and died on the cross; mercy of the Holy Spirit, who deigned to descend into our hearts to communicate to us God’s charity, to make us sharers in divine life. Very fittingly, in the day’s Office the Church inserted the beautiful antiphon of Pauline inspiration: Charitas Pater est, gratia Filius, communicatio Spiritus Sanctus, beata Trinitas! (cf. 2 Cor. 13:13): the Father is charity, the Son is grace, and the Holy Spirit is their communication, that is, the Father’s charity and the Son’s grace are communicated to us by the Holy Spirit who pours them into our hearts (cf. Rom. 5:5). Nothing could better summarize the wonderful work of the Trinity for the benefit of our souls. The Divine Office and the Mass of the day are therefore a true hymn of praise and thanksgiving to the Most Holy Trinity; they are like a prolonged Gloria Patri and Te Deum. And these two hymns, one in its concise brevity and the other in its majestic alternation of praises, are truly the hymns of the day, meant to awaken in our hearts a deep echo of praise, thanksgiving, adoration.

2 — But today’s feast leads us to praise and magnify the Most Holy Trinity not only for the immense mercies bestowed on men, but also and above all in Itself and for Itself. For Its supreme Being which never had a beginning and never will have an end; for Its infinite perfections, for Its majesty, beauty, and essential goodness; for the sublime fecundity of life by which the Father unceasingly begets the Word and from Father and Word the Holy Spirit proceeds, and yet the Father is not prior to nor greater than the Word, nor are Father and Word before the Holy Spirit or greater than Him, but the divine Persons are all three coeternal and equal among themselves; for the Divinity and all divine perfections and attributes which are one and identical in the Father as in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. What can man say and understand before so sublime a mystery? Nothing! Yet what we know of it is certain, because the very Son of God, “the Only-begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, has made Him known” (Jn. 1:18); but the mystery is so sublime and beyond our understanding that we can only bow our head and adore in silence. “O depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments and unsearchable his ways!” exclaims St. Paul in the day’s Epistle, he who, having been caught up “to the third heaven,” knew not nor could say anything except that he had heard “ineffable words which it is not lawful for man to utter” (2 Cor. 12:4). Before the most high mystery of the Trinity one truly feels that the most beautiful praise is silence - the silence of the soul that adores, recognizing itself incapable of expressing praise adequate to divine Majesty.

Colloquy

“O eternal Trinity, You are a deep sea in which the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more I seek You. You satisfy in an unsatisfying way, because You so satisfy the soul in your abyss that it remains always hungry; and hungry for You, O eternal Trinity, it desires to see your light in your light. As the deer longs for the fountain of living water, so my soul longs to leave this dark body and see You in truth as You are.

“O abyss! O eternal Deity! O deep sea! What more could You have given me than to give me Yourself? You are fire that always burns; You consume and are not consumed; You are He who with your heat consumes every self-love of the soul. You are fire that takes away coldness and enlightens minds with your light; by this light You have made me know your Truth. Truly this light is a sea that nourishes the soul until it is wholly immersed in You, O peaceful Sea, eternal Trinity! The water of this sea is not muddy, and therefore it gives no fear, but gives knowledge of the Truth. This water is transparent and makes hidden things manifest; where the most abundant light of your faith abounds, the soul is made almost certain of what it believes.

“You are the highest and infinite Good: good above every good, happy good, incomprehensible good, inestimable good; Beauty above every beauty, Wisdom above every wisdom, for You are wisdom itself. You, food of Angels, gave Yourself with fire of love to men; You, garment that covers my nakedness, feed us who are hungry with your sweetness, for You are all sweetness with nothing bitter. Clothe me, O eternal Trinity, clothe me with Yourself, that I may pass this mortal life in true obedience and in the light of most holy faith with which You have inebriated my soul” (St. Catherine of Siena).