The Most Holy Trinity Year C 15th June 2025

The Most Holy Trinity Year C 15th June 2025

The Most Holy Trinity Year C

Entrance Antiphon

Blest be God the Father,

and the Only Begotten Son of God,

and also the Holy Spirit,

for he has shown us his merciful love.

 

First Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31. A reading from the book of Proverbs

Wisdom was born before the earth was made.

The Wisdom of God cries aloud:

The Lord created me when his purpose first unfolded,

before the oldest of his works.

From everlasting I was firmly set,

from the beginning, before earth came into being.

The deep was not, when I was born,

there were no springs to gush with water.

Before the mountains were settled,

before the hills, I came to birth;

before he made the earth, the countryside,

or the first grains of the world’s dust.

When he fixed the heavens firm, I was there,

when he drew a ring on the surface of the deep,

when he thickened the clouds above,

when he fixed fast the springs of the deep,

when he assigned the sea its boundaries

– and the waters will not invade the shore –

when he laid down the foundations of the earth,

I was by his side, a master craftsman,

delighting him day after day,

ever at play in his presence,

at play everywhere in his world,

delighting to be with the sons of men.

 

Responsorial Psalm: O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

  1. When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,

the moon and the stars which you arranged,

what is man that you should keep him in mind,

mortal man that you care for him? (R.)

  1. Yet you have made him little less than a god;

with glory and honour you crowned him,

gave him power over the works of your hand,

put all things under his feet. (R.)

  1. All of them, sheep and cattle,

yes, even the savage beasts,

birds of the air, and fish

that make their way through the waters. (R.)

 

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5. A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans

To God through Christ in the love which is poured out through the Spirit.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith we are judged righteous and at peace with God, since it is by faith and through Jesus that we have entered this state of grace in which we can boast about looking forward to God’s glory. But that is not all we can boast about; we can boast about our sufferings. These sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope, and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us.

 

Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: to God who is, who was, and who is to come. Alleluia!

 

Gospel: John 16:12-15. A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Whatever the Father has is mine. The Spirit will receive what I give and tell you about it.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I still have many things to say to you

but they would be too much for you now.

But when the Spirit of truth comes

he will lead you to the complete truth,

since he will not be speaking as from himself

but will say only what he has learnt;

and he will tell you of the things to come.

He will glorify me,

since all he tells you

will be taken from what is mine.

Everything the Father has is mine;

that is why I said:

All he tells you

will be taken from what is mine.’

REFLECTION

In the Gospel of John, today’s reading appears as part of the rather lengthy Last Supper discourse that runs from chapter 13 to chapter 17. The discourse is a centrepiece of this particular gospel. In it, Jesus speaks a number of times about the coming of the Holy Spirit. The portion that makes up today’s reading comes from a slightly longer passage about the sending of the Spirit (16:4-15).

Throughout the Last Supper discourse, the Holy Spirit is identified as Gift and Love. The Spirit is the Gift that will be sent by the Father and by the Son so that the world may continue to experience the Love of the Father and the Son. In the discourse, Jesus calls on the disciples to love one another with the same love that they had experienced from him – the love of God. To assist the disciples to continue to love with the same love of God and Jesus, the Spirit is sent to them. The Holy Spirit is the lasting expression of the divine love that had previously been experienced through the Father and the Son. The discourse makes it very clear that the Spirit will continue the work of Jesus.

Today’s passage has Jesus saying to the disciples that there is still so much that he has to say to them, to teach them. But the disciples are not ready to receive everything in the time that Jesus has remaining. So to continue the teaching of Jesus and to continue the expression of Love, the Father and the Son will send the Spirit. It was the sending of the Spirit that we celebrated last week in the feast of Pentecost and it is the unity of Father, Son and Spirit that we celebrate this week in Trinity Sunday.

© Greg Sunter