Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” May-June 2023

The Most Holy Trinity (s) (A)
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FIRST READING

From the Book of Exodus (Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9)
In those days, Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, carrying the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the Lord came down in the cloud, stood there with him, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him, proclaiming: «The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in love and faithfulness». Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and prostrated himself. He said: «If I have found favor in your sight, Lord, may the Lord walk among us. Yes, it is a stiff-necked people, but forgive our guilt and our sin, and make us your inheritance». – The Word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the First Reading

In this extraordinary passage from the Book of Exodus, God reveals to Moses who he is, the name that defines him. It is a long name: «The Lord, God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in love and faithfulness». Until now, God had not been so expansive and communicative… With Noah and Abraham, he had used concise expressions and had not said much about himself. Now the revelation expands, because the people of Israel must live out their mission, which is to know God and place ever greater trust in him until the coming of the Savior, Jesus. As soon as Moses hears the name, rather than rejoicing or beginning a conversation, he prostrates himself on the ground and asks for forgiveness. God's absolute transcendence creates a kind of terror and a desire to disappear. Peter would say to Jesus after a miracle: «Depart from me, for I am a sinful man!». In reality, heaven forbid that the Lord should move away! And how would we be saved? How could we live without forgiveness, without love? This is why God reveals himself gradually: we grow accustomed to bearing the weight of his glory by taking one step at a time, until the definitive encounter with him.

SECOND READING

From the Second Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (2 Cor 13:11-13)
Brothers and sisters, rejoice, strive for perfection, encourage one another, be of the same mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Second Reading

Today's passage was chosen because Paul's greeting to the community in Corinth is unusual: he invokes upon the faithful all the power of the Trinitarian God, the grace, love, and communion that come, respectively, from Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. But before the greeting, Paul had urged that there be mutual love in the Church of Corinth and that people live in peace. This relationship between the earthly community made up of human beings and the divine “community” within the Most Holy Trinity is fundamental: the former must reflect the latter. In God there is perfect unity and absolute charity; likewise, the human family gathered in Corinth must mirror the perfection it beholds in God. For this reason, the blessing is more than a wish: it is truly a transmission of grace. It is no coincidence that today we consider a blessing a sacramental, all the more so when it comes from the Pope or a bishop (in this case Paul is a bishop): the sacred minister invokes upon the community of believers the same reality of love that exists in God, and this grace is poured out upon humanity.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

The Gospel according to John (Jn 3:16-18)
At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” - The Word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the Gospel of the Day

Jesus speaks to Nicodemus (who is “a teacher in Israel,” as Jesus himself acknowledges later in the conversation) about the relationship between the Father and the Son. And it is the Son himself who speaks about it; we can rightly say that here God is speaking about himself. Jesus tells us that the Father loves humanity to such an extent that he allows his beloved Word to “come out” from the spiritual purity of the divine Trinity and sends him into earthly reality in order to save the world, that is, to bring it out of the curse into which it had fallen through the sin of Adam and Eve. The Incarnation is therefore, first and foremost, an act of love by the Father; we must never forget this. Then he tells us that to enter into this salvation, we must believe in Jesus: that he is God and that he is the one sent by the Father to accomplish this mission. Not believing means remaining under the curse, that is, in condemnation. In itself, it is not God who condemns, but the person who, if he refuses to believe, remains in a state of desolation and condemnation, because saving ourselves is impossible. “Christianity is not,” Kierkegaard writes, “a doctrine. Christianity is a faith and a corresponding type of existence.”