Feast of the Holy Trinity
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves” (Mt 11:28-29).
The Lord invites us to find peace and joy in Him this Sabbath as we set aside time to worship and rest.
“Remember the sabbath day—keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God.”
Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word “Shabbat”, which literally means “to stop.” Keeping holy the Sabbath is not just a commandment, but an invitation. An invitation from the Lord to stop our work, stop our worrying, stop our striving. An opportunity to fid rest and to be renewed. A chance to refocus on the things that truly matter - the Lord, family, community. In our culture, Sunday has become a day to “catch up” on everything that didn’t get done during the week, and any time left over is often seen as an opportunity just to “get ahead” for next week. But we Christians have a chance now to remember what it means to keep the Sabbath. During this pandemic the Lord is calling us back to Himself, offering us a chance to reclaim the gift of the Sabbath, reminding us again what it means to “keep it holy.”
A basic principle for observing the Sabbath is only to do things that can be considered “rest” or “worship”. Here are a few ideas to consider to begin more to enter into the Sabbath. Maybe pick just one thing to focus on this Sunday, then next Sunday keep that practice in addition to a second one. And then the next Sunday add a third, to slowly over time begin to enter into this great gift of the Sabbath more and more.
Keep the Lord at the center - read the Mass readings ahead of time, participate in Mass, make more time for prayer, spend some extra time in silence focusing on the Lord
Try not to work - resist the urge to check your email, or catch up on a few things, and leave it for Monday
Plan ahead - take care of what needs to be done before Sunday, so plan the rest of your week to make sure you get the laundry done, have gone grocery shopping, etc.so you don’t have to do any of it on Sunday
Spend the day “screen free” - try to stay off social media, internet news, and your phone as much as possible. If you can’t make it the whole day try to go for at least a few hours
Be intentional with others - if you live with others (ie. family, roommates), is there something you can do together like play a game or go on a hike? If you live alone, can you reach out to a good friend and catch up?
Leisure, not entertainment - try to do things that are life giving; binge-watching a favorite show or playing video games for hours rarely leaves anyone with a new zeal for life. Read a good book, go on a long walk, develop a hobby.
PARTICIPATE
“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). Each Sunday we are called to “keep holy the Sabbath” and although that may look different for right now we will still come together as a St. Ann community through the gift of technology.
MASS READINGS
GIVING
Take a few minutes to give to St. Ann Parish. Please give generously and sacrificially as an act of faith during these difficult times. You can give online:
After giving, offer ways to be generous of your whole self during this trying time for our world.
“Each must do as already determined without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.”
PROCESS
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...” (Matthew 28:18-19).
The Gospel of Matthew ends with this passage proclaimed at today’s Mass, often called the Great Commission. Jesus tells the people who had been following Him for these past three years, who had come to believe that He was truly the Son sent by the Father, who had witnessed His resurrection, that now they are to go out. Just as He had been sent by the Father to reconcile the world to God, so now does He send them out for the same reason. Why? Because through their sharing in the Last Supper, they have begun to share in His life.
St. Paul would write a few years after this Great Commission, “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). And if they had been incorporated into Christ’s very body through their sharing in His flesh, then so are we. Jesus issues this Great Commission not only to a small band of Palestinian Jews 2000 years ago. He says it to us. They and us, once disciples, are now disciple-makers, called to baptize and to teach.
That call to baptize means first and foremost the invitation to bring them to the sacrament of baptism. In baptism, the Church erases original sin, or ‘original woundedness’, as Fr. Mike Schmitz likes to call it, and imparts the life of Christ’s grace (see Catechism paragraph 405). It might be helpful to consider another meaning of baptism. The word itself comes from a Greek word meaning “immersion,” referring to the practice of immersing the person underwater. This outward sign also points to the invisible reality of the person’s immersion in the life of the Trinity. As disciples of Jesus now sent out as disciple-makers, we are called to immerse all the world in the life of the Trinity. To soak everything around us in the love of God that has been placed into our hearts in baptism. To fill the lives of strangers with Life and Love itself.
St Paul reminds us in our second reading that we have “received a Spirit of adoption” (Romans 8:15). We are now, by our baptism, immersed into the family life of the Holy Trinity as children of God, equipped for our mission as “joint heirs with Christ” who are “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:17, 14). God our Father has chosen you, specifically you. He never tires of seeking you, and choosing you anew. And He will multiply whatever you give Him. If it’s been a while since you last allowed yourself to immerse yourself in the immensity of God’s love, if you’ve allowed distractions to stand in the way of being consumed by His fire, then take a few minutes now. Breathe His Love deep into your soul. Allow Him to move deeply in you so that you can go out and make disciples of all the nations.
Practice
God has prepared good works for us to do! Imagine the transforming impact if our entire community abandoned their ‘comfort zones' and intentionally set out to encounter the hungry, broken, and lost. We are called to be His ambassadors and to seek the good for others through our families, in our workplaces, and with our friends. We are also invited to serve others at St. Ann and to serve locally in our community.
Our practice this week is to be an image of the self-giving love of the Trinity in the world by making a concrete commitment to serve others in a meaningful way. This could be on your own (like helping a neighbor or a family member), or it could be through an opportunity to serve at St. Ann or in our local community. Our website has new serve opportunities for you to explore, from helping with our Food Ministry to the various serve options from our partnership with Catholic Charities Dallas. Your opportunity to serve others waits for you at stannparish.org/serve.
Discussion Questions
Think about how you can continue to reflect on God’s word to you this week, and how you can invite others into the conversation. You can use the questions below for personal reflection, or to grow with others. Be creative! You could consider gathering with friends and family, or starting a group text, or a group FaceTime, to discuss the questions below.
What stands out to you from the readings this week? What might God be speaking to you at this time?
Are you participating in the Pentecost Novena? Have you had any insights from that?
In this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity we rejoice in the mystery of our One God who is Three Persons. Have you ever heard of any explanations of the Trinity that have been helpful to you in growing in your understanding of that truth?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (a great book that speaks to what the Catholic Church teaches) says: “By sending his only Son and the Spirit of love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange” (CCC 221). What are your thoughts on that?
Is there a Person of the Trinity that you find it easiest to have a relationship with (Father, Son, or Holy Spirit)? Is there maybe one that is hardest for you to have a relationship with?
The first reading and Psalm speak beautifully about being chosen by God and the second reading speaks powerfully of being adopted by Him. Is it ever hard to feel like you have been chosen by God to be His son or daughter? How could that change us if we lived in that truth every day?
The Gospel tells us the disciples worshiped but doubted. What sort of doubts do you think they might have had?
This Sunday we hear the “Great Commission” - the command to go and make disciples that we also discussed on the Solemnity of the Ascension. Have you had any further reflections on that call in these past two weeks?