Gospel Reflection June 16 – Deacon Alfonso
Sunday, June 16
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
John 16: 12 – 15
Gospel:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”
Reflection:
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is the central truth of our faith which holds that God is a communion of three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sharing in one nature. Any analogy used to try to explain this great mystery risks describing the Holy Trinity in an incorrect way. But as the great 20th Century German Catholic philosopher Dietrich Von Hildebrand said “a mystery is distinct from a problem, for a mystery is meant to be reverenced, while a problem is meant to be solved.” God is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be reverenced and admired. And though we with our limited finite human capacities struggle to understand the infinite God, we can understand something very essential about God and that which is also true for you and I. God in his very essence is an eternal communion of love between persons. And having been created and made in the image and likeness of God, we can be assured that you and I have been hardwired to be in such a communion of love for all of eternity. It is thus no wonder that human convention has designed solitary confinement as one of the harshest forms of punishment for criminals. The human person was not meant to be alone. The pain of isolation, loneliness, abandonment and separation evidence this. The pain tells us that something is wrong and that this is not how it is supposed to be. And that experience has meaning. Our longing for communion should direct us to the fact that if we long for something eternal, then it must exist for we cannot desire something that doesn’t exist. Our longing for eternal communion does in fact exist and is found in the Holy Trinity. While this desire is ultimately obtained in Heaven, while on our earthily pilgrimage our thirst for this eternal communion is quenched by Holy Communion of the Blessed Sacrament. In it we are united to a person, to Jesus Christ who by the Holy Spirit leads us to our Father. May your hearts find comfort there with our Triune God.
Deacon Alfonso Gámez Alanís