THE MOST HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY YEAR B
1st Reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34.39-40
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm33:4-5.5 and 9.18-19.20 and 22 (R. cf. 12b)
2nd Reading: Romans 8:14-17
Gospel Reading: Matthew 28:16-20
SHARING MY REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS OF TRINITY SUNDAY YEAR (B)
TAGGED: TRINITY THE ENTIRETY OF GOD AND THE TRUE BELIEVER
From the readings of today we see a proper introduction of who God truly is. Some persons still find it very difficult to believing in the doctrinal teaching of the Church about the Holy Trinity, some believe the Holy Spirit is God, just merely because God is a spirit and that spirit has to be the Holy Spirit, for them it is very difficult accepting and including Jesus in the picture. In the heart of Christ’s faithfuls there shouldn’t be any reason to doubt or live in ignorance about the true identity of the God they serve (John 14:17, John 10:27).
Jesus would have objected and corrected His disciples at the mountain as seen in the Gospel reading, when they worshipped him; as other faithful creatures did*(Rev. 19:10, Acts 10:26, Rev. 22:9), but instead He accepted it because it was due Him. He sensing the doubt, confusions and unbeliever in the heart
The spirit of sonship we have received gives us the power to do all good things through Christ. I will attempt to approach this from many different angles.
Fear is not a fruit of the Spirit!
Fear is an external or internal manifestation that keeps man in captivity. Depending on the severity, it can be fleeting on one end of the spectrum and completely paralyzing at the other.
It can be brought on through the actions of other men, through past painful experiences we have gone through, through certain practices we carry out or beliefs we hold or have been taught to believe; it can also be brought on by ignorance.
But the most important thing about fear is that it is a belief system that governs how we respond to one or more aspects of our lives.
Fear can manifest as low self-esteem or confidence in oneself.
It cages any individual it possesses and stops them from ever attempting to fly. It makes people believe they are not good enough. It makes people accept other people's suggestions over their own convictions.
In other words, it can cause you to miss the road to where God desires you to be. It can make you choose to stick with certain friends who have lower standards over a quality network that demand integrity, honesty, loyalty, and trust.
In many cases, what keeps the children of God down is not external. Yes, there are 'village people,' malicious colleagues, wicked neighbors, and 'monitoring spirits' as it were. Despite those, you, as a human being made in God's image and likeness, have the power of personal sovereignty bestowed upon you by your Maker.
So, slavery is a choice really. You decide how long you want to remain under captivity.
God's Spirit frees us and gives us the power to achieve even more than we believe we can. However, what keeps us back most times are ideas, suggestions, customs that we have accepted as true concerning our lives.
A lot of Christians are harassed by people who clearly follow the devil and do not like to hear or see people serve God through their work or worship. Some people work in offices or firms where they are made to believe that in order to get promoted and achieve more in life, they have to conform to a diabolic standard; some people school in institutions where lecturers want to have their way with them first (through whatever ungodly means) before allotting rightful marks. So many people who claim the title of Christianity are gagged and cannot speak out or challenge the atrocities they see or are exposed to by people with lower moral standards.
Sadly, a lot of people have stopped questioning the motives behind these suggestions or the unhealthy things they have learnt as result of settling. They do not try to ponder on these suggestions in order to come to their own personally derived conclusions. They just accept the status quo and move on, so no one looks at them strangely for trying to challenge a modus operandi that is disgusting, enslaving, and dehumanizing.
Consequently, the manifestation of fear is mediocrity. Some people say, "Nigeria can never get better," "good people cannot survive in politics," "good people do not exist", there are no good men or women to marry", "omo, I have given up - I can't go to the confessional again just to confess the same sin every week," "men/women cannot live in chastity," "I am so hurt - i can never forgive this man/woman," "It's difficult - I find it hard to pray daily," etc. These utterances usually come from people who have given up and don't want to try again. They tried initially to put up a fight, but the fear of losing, being deprived of salaries, promotions, grades, making same mistake again etc., made them go quiet over time.
It may not look like something fearful, but at the root of it all is a desire to stay away from something that you find truly challenging. At the root of it is a fierce battle for your soul, for your salvation, for your dignity as a human being made in God's image.
Mind you, the devil desires to see us enslaved because we are the "imago Dei." We carry within us the likeness of God. So caging as many people as possible using different means like sex, addictions, the economy, government policies, etc., are different expressions of his attempt to put man in a bottle.
He knows that achieving that is a way to 'unsettle' God, as it were, because we are indeed God's children. And since he (the devil) has been condemned already, he wants to ensure we do not live up to expectation. He wants us to live unfulfilled, fearful, doubtful, confused, and chasing things and people we have no business following. He knows we're not here on earth forever, so if he can waste our time through fear, indecision, and doubt, then that's just more men (God's creatures) down. So it's left to us now to choose whether we want to continue that way.
The remedy was revealed in the first reading, which says, 'KNOW therefore this day, and LAY IT to your heart, that THE LORD is GOD IN HEAVEN ABOVE and ON THE EARTH BENEATH; THERE IS NO OTHER. Therefore, you shall keep His statutes and His commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God gives you forever."
Knowledge, obedience, doing God's work, and putting God's Word into practice are essentials
You can go and experiment with other gods but they cannot offer you as much long term satisfaction, uncompromised dignity, rewards, certainty as the God of Heaven and Earth, whose Son is Christ Jesus.
That is knowledge.
You must know, so that you can overcome a lot of life's challenges which could include fear.
How do you know? By studying.
You need to study yourself and the circumstances that have kept you captive. You need to know God for who God is and hold that belief firmly. You need to study the things of God in order to come to that fuller knowledge of Him and His Ways progressively.
God doesn't like doubt.
As Christ reminded us, 'Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be lifted up and thrown into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and it shall be yours."
Knowledge dispels fear and doubt which further promotes fear.
Knowledge is very important for us as Catholics living in this world. The world we live in is both spiritual and physical, and spiritual factors influence our work in the physical. So, if you choose ignorance in this world, you could have a short or long, fearful and unfulfilled stay down here.
Study, equip yourself with God's Word, the basic teachings of the Mother Church, know about the power of the Sacraments and Sacramentals, learn about your rights as a Christian concerning your life and the things that directly concern you. As a married man or woman, learn about authority, obligations, and roles of married people in marriage.
Never leave things to chance, because that area of ignorance or negligence could be all the devil needs to sneak in and sow his seed of doubt, fear, and uncertainty. Every useful knowledge must be applied.
Learn in order to do.
So if Jesus said, 'Seek ye first God's Kingdom, and other things will be added unto you,' it is for us to find out what seeking God's Kingdom is all about and to aggressively promote it wherever we find ourselves. And on this, one sad observation I have made is that most of us lay faithful think doing God's work is for priests and the religious. We forget that baptism has made us priests, kings, and prophets.
Therefore, because most of us are ignorant of our roles and responsibilities as baptized Catholics, the devil taunts and haunts us with reckless abandon. Our learning about God's promises should lead to exercising that knowledge in our daily lives.
Personally, I can tell you for free that the Catholic Church is the true Church, the one Christ founded, and the one linked all the way back to St. Peter. So, if you are running from one Church to another, it is an expression of fear that you do not believe that Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is able to do for you what no man can do.
Secondly, just basic Catholic prayers we recite and Catholic hymns we sing are a source of problems for the devil. For example, Catholic Gregorian chants (songs) have been proven to repel demons, and they hate it when it is played.
But if you are ignorant of the powerful, yet beautiful things you already have in the Catholic Church, you will continue to run from pillar to post.
Don't be ignorant; study more, find out more about your faith, and don't leave it to priests, deacons, seminarians, or Sunday Masses. Be proactive about your Catholic faith, and don't be ashamed to live it out.
In doing God's work, there is great reward both here and in Heaven. The only problem is that most Christians are not patient enough, so they miss out on the reward. Two people we can all study are Abraham and Job. Why do you think they were patient even when the promise wasn't within sight? How can you apply that to your life?
Lastly, fear can also be considered a spirit, so you can speak to it, 'In the Name of Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross for my salvation, I command you, spirit of (mention the name), to leave me and go to the foot of the Cross of Jesus...' I learned this from video interviews of some Catholic exorcists, and it is very effective.
Our God is with us, among us, and in us
Deuteronomy 4:7 says, "For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him?"
Even when we leave God, He does not leave us.
The Blessed Trinity is an uninvited God that makes Himself ever present, for he does not wait for our invitation before He ministers to our situation.
Without our consent, He created us, in our sinfulness He came to save us, in our unworthiness he continues to bestow on us supernatural graces.
One of the things we should learn from the Holy Trinity is that the three distinct persons of the one Godhead, work together for the common good of our salvation and thus, do not have any room for competition, and that is why salvation is not a scam because the unity behind the work of salvation is unbreakable.
Glory to the Trinity, the undivided Unity, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. From whom all good things comes.
My reflection: the great commissioning, baptise them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. What does baptism do for us? Makes us christians and children of God, by this we have been proclaimed the people chosen as his heritage ( resp psalm). Therefore we are heirs of the kingdom, co.equal heirs with the Son. We have received the spirit of sonship (2nd reading) . So what can stop us from making the gospel known to all and sundry. Glory be the Father and to the Son and to Holy Spirit, Amen
Sharing my reflection
Dear brothers and sisters, from the readings, I learnt about the love of God for me as a christian. Also, I learnt about the relationship between the 3 divine persons of the Most Holy Trinity.
The first reading in Deuteronomy, and the Psalmist, are vivid reminders of the unceasing love of God towards me. On this, the first reading and the psalm, both recounted the good deeds of God in my life, even as unworthy as I have been.
They both reminded me that even though I have never for once, merited God's love, yet God never stops loving and blessing me regardless. Hence, I have a duty to show gratitude by not taking His love for granted, but do everything within my powers to keep HIS commandments.
In the same vein, St. Paul is the second reading, emphasizes the need for me to dispose myself, so the Holy Spirit can take HIS proper place in my life. I learnt that by so doing, the Holy Spirit will inspire and enable me bear witness to all Christ did for humanity, as God-the-son.
In gospel reading, I learnt more about the person of Christ in the Triune-God, particularly by the action of the apostles who fell prostrate before HIM, and the utterances that came forth from Christ.
I came to have a deeper understanding of the profession of faith we recite every Sunday, at mass. I learnt that in the Most Holy Trinity, God is one in essence. God is one in HIS divine existence. God is one in nature. God is one in operation despite the distinction in the 3 persons of the Trinity (God-the-father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit).
And beyond their relationships, I understand the inseparable love that exists between them on one hand, and and humanity on the other. Hence, the need for me to live a life of gratitude and reverence for the Triune-God, and a life of love for all humanity regardless of our seeming differences in personalities, perceptions, preferences e.t.c.
In conclusion, brothers and sisters, as we celebrate the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, I am called to live an exemplary christian life. A life of gratitude for the unconditional love of God for me. A life that shows that HE has chosen me as His own heritage, a rare blessing I must not abuse because I really do not merit it in any sense.
Prayer : May the Holy Spirit continue to enkindle the fire of HIS love in us, so we can radiate it as true christians everywhere we go...through Christ our Lord, Amen
If we all allow the Spirit of God to lead us, by opening our hearts to Him, receiving Him, we are sons and daughters of God.
Because the spirit and the Father are one. So when we cry Abba Father, when we call on Him, it is the spirit in us, that is bearing witness, that we are God's Children.
Let us always call upon the Holy Spirit, to guide us in doing the right thing in life. He will teach us new things.
Come Holy Spirit, graciously fall on us. Amen.
