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The Most Holy Trinity (Year C)

This Sunday is all about the “Divine Community” - in other words, the way in which our God is in himself a communion of love: Father, Son and Spirit, distinct yet perfectly united - three persons, one God. We hear of the perfect union between Father and Son, revealed in the mysterious poem of the First Reading, where the Son is “Wisdom” joining the Father in the act of creation. This union bears fruit in the Spirit, who pours this perfect love into our hearts, so that we may imitate the “Communion of Love” by living together and hoping for our place within the Divine Community. 
First Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31
The first line is an announcement, proclaiming that something interesting follows: make sure you practise this one line, so that you can use it to attract the attention of the shuffling and settling congregation!  This is poetry: the arrangement of the lines is deliberate, and is there to help the reader; remember that poetry sometimes plays around with the order of words (as in “the deep was not...”) - watch out for this, as it might be confusing. Watch out also in this reading for repetitions: “before...before...before” and later on “when...when...when...when” and so on: each of these can be like steps, building up somewhere - in the last case to the proud and confident statement: “I was by his side.” Make a special note of the words in the last five lines - especially the repetition of “delighting” and “at play”  - there should be a delicious delight in your reading here. This is a wonderful poem: please enjoy it as you read !
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5
Rather typical Paul: one paragraph, only three sentences! The first sentence is particularly difficult, both to understand and to read. Try this paraphrase: “By faith (through Jesus) we are OK with God. It’s by faith and Jesus that we became OK with God: so, now we are in this state, we can boast about the glory of God we will share.” It gets a lot easier with the second sentence, where Paul introduces the idea of suffering - strangely, since he is talking about “boasting” - he deliberately uses this contrast - perhaps to wake up his listeners for the important bit. The last sentence is quite straightforward - but don’t just take Paul’s word for it: think through the list he gives: “suffering - patience - perseverance - hope.” Perhaps apply this to your own life: if you can read with conviction, all the better! The link with today’s feast is that this all happens through Father, Son and Spirit working together for us.

