Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection June 15, 2025
Sunday – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
15th June 2025 (Sunday)
Psalter: Proper
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31
Thus speaks the Wisdom of God: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 R (2a)
R/. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name through all the earth!
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5
Brethren: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: to God who is, who was, and who is to come.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: John 16:12-15
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Sunday – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Main Point: One God and three persons, but not three Gods: the mystery of the most holy Trinity. The mystery of the Trinity is core to Christianity.
1. The Holy Trinity forms the crux of Jesus’ teaching and mission. Jesus reveals the Father and the Spirit. He reveals the face of the Father as he reflects his love to humanity. He is the perfect icon of the Father. The Spirit is the greatest testimony of his continued presence, guidance, and power.
2. The mission of redemption is Trinitarian. It is derived from the Father; implemented and activated directly by the Son; and reinforced and confirmed through the Spirit.
4. The Father sends the Son in the incarnation, to liberate, reconcile and rejuvenate the sin-tainted humanity. The Son redeems them through his life, death and resurrection. The Spirit as Comforter, Helper, Advocate, and Guide continues and fortifies this mission of sanctification through the disciples in the Church.
5. The Trinity is not a matter to be solved, probed into or proved. Rather it is a reality to be accepted and lived. Certainly, it is a mystery, in the sense of transcending human comprehension.
6. But the fact that it is beyond sense and reason, does not make it senseless and unreasonable. It only indicates and affirms the infinity, profundity, and immensity of the Trinity on one hand, and the limit, limitation, and superfluity of the human reality on the other hand.
7. Any explanation for Trinity is only analogous and not literal. We need not break our head to make a perfect sense of Trinity. It is enough to know what the Trinity does for us, what Trinity implies for our life, and how we can live the life and mission of the Trinity in our own lives.
8. Perhaps analogously the Father is like the Spring, the Son is the well or the channel, and the Spirit is the water. The Father is like the Sun, the Son is the rays, and the Holy Spirit is the heat or radiance.
9. What is essential to Trinity is perfect unity. They are one God. They are one in identity, which is divinity: the Father is divine, the Son is divine and the Holy Spirit is divine. They are equally divine in nature, status, and power.
10. However, equality does not mean full identity in their role and function. Trinity is one in fellowship and love. The one and same love resides in each of them, flows across, and binds them together in communion and concern.
11. Trinity is one in mission. It is one mission of salvation or redemption or re-creation or re-integration of humanity, whatever be the terms used, the Trinity is engaged with, in solidarity and commitment.
12. Accordingly, there is distinction but not division, comprehension and not a contradiction, coordination and not subordination, collaboration and not a competition, self-donation and not domination, mutual respect and not contempt, self-emptying and not self-filling, generosity and not jealousy. There are no ego-clashes or seeking self- glory.
13. It is this Trinity that becomes our foundation, animation, and actualization. Trinity is not a mere concept to be understood. Trinity is a life-reality, a concern of experience, relation, living, and commitment. This is our one and unique identity: we are divine images.
14 We belong to God. Trinity constantly invites us to be more and more focused on them, rooted in them, built on them, grow in deep personal communion with them, in love and surrender.
15. Trinity calls us incessantly to live the same unity in fraternity, marked by respect and benevolence. Trinity also challenges us to be selflessly devoted to the one mission of God, in loyalty and commitment.
16. Alas! How far are we as persons, as families and as communities, from the life and mission of the Trinity? The one identity of the divine likeness and belonging is often dominated and even substituted by secondary and deviated identities and affinities like caste, region, language, culture, power, position, etc.
17. The one bond of love and fellowship is often suffocated and stifled by resentments, hatred, and arrogance. The one mission is often frustrated, ruptured and defeated by ego-projection, ego-promotion, and self-glory.
My Practice: It is high time that we “release” the power of the Trinity to “release” us from our mediocrity and duplicity!
