Pope Francis reflected on the mystery of the Holy Trinity during a brief address before praying the midday Angelus on Sunday with crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Noting this Sunday marked the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, he said the feast presents for faithful an opportunity to contemplate and adore “the divine life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: a life of communion and perfect love, origin and goal of the whole universe and every creature, God.»
He said Christians should recognize the Church as a model that shows that we are called to love each other as Jesus loved us.
Speaking on love, the Pope continued, “Love is the concrete sign that manifests faith in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Love is distinctive of the Christian, as Jesus told us: ‘From this everyone will know that you are my disciples.’»
“It is a contradiction to think of Christians who hate. It is a contradiction!» Francis continued. «And the devil always tries to make us hate because he is always sowing the discord of hate; he does not know love, God is love!”
The Bishop of Rome called those present to active witness, directing them to “proclaim the message that ‘God is love,’ that God is not distant and unconcerned with our human affairs. He is near, he is always at our side, he journeys with us to share our joys and sorrows, our hopes and our toils. He loves us so greatly and to such a point that he became man, he came into the world not to judge it, but that the world might be saved through Jesus (cf. John 3:16).”
The Holy Father stressed that although it’s difficult to understand how much God loves us, we can better understand by the love of the Trinity.
“This is God’s love in Jesus, this love that is so hard to understand, but that we sense when we draw near to Jesus. And he always forgives us, he always waits for us, he loves us very much. And the love of Jesus that we feel is the love of God.»
“The Holy Spirit, gift of the risen Jesus,” he added, “communicates the divine life to us and thus he draws us into the dynamism of the Trinity, which is a dynamism of love, communion, mutual service, sharing.”
Turning to how parishes are to reflect the Trinity, he said a parish is a “reflection of the Trinity” when its parishioners “want what is best for each other and spiritual and material goods are shared.”
When we go to Mass every Sunday and celebrate the Eucharist together, the Pontiff said, «the Eucharist is like the ‘burning bush’ in which the Trinity humbly dwells and communicates itself.»
He noted that for this reason, the Church placed the feast of “Corpus Domini” after that of the Trinity. He continued by explaining the upcoming, annual tradition for the feast of Corpus Christi.
Following Roman tradition, the Pope reminded the crowd that this Thursday, June 19, he will celebrate Holy Mass at the Roman Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, and will then lead a Eucharistic procession to the Marian Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
“I invite Romans and pilgrims to participate to express our desire to be a people ‘gathered in the unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,’” he said, quoting St. Cyprian. He added, «I will expect all of you on Thursday at 7 p.m. for the Mass and procession of ‘Corpus Christi.’”
Closing with a prayer to Mary, he said “May the Virgin Mary, perfect creature of the Trinity, help us to make our whole life, in the little gestures and most important choices, a hymn of praise to God, who is Love.” (D.C.L.)
***
On Zenit’s Web page:
Full Translation: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/on-the-holy-trinity–2
