Tag Archives: trinity

Advent Day 3: Get to know the Trinity!

Posted on by
Reply

TODAY’S GOSPEL (Lk 10:21-24)

From Luke 10:21-22:

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
…
“No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

From The Navarre Bible: St Luke, page 139:

“Here we see Christ as almighty Lord and God, consubstantial with the Father, and the only one capable of revealing who the Father is. At the same time, we can recognize the divine nature of Jesus only if the Father gives us the grace of faith — as he did to St Peter (cf. Mt 16:17).”

From the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke, pages 42-43:

“The Father, Son, and Spirit are equal in being, and no one of them possesses more of the divine life and knowledge than another. Since the Son is no less perfect than the Father, he is uniquely qualified to reveal the inner life of the Trinity to the world.”

From the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Luke, page 208:

“Already at the age of twelve, [Jesus] had expressed awareness of his identity as Son (Lk 2:49). He now expresses it more fully — the words Father and Son occur a total of eight times in verses 21-22 — and he does so in the holy Spirit (v. 21), giving a glimpse of the life of the Trinity. He thus reveals to the larger group of disciples what Peter, John, and James found out on the mountain (Lk 9:35) and Mary had been told by the angel (Lk 1:32, 35).”

From Opening the Scriptures: Bringing the Gospel of Luke to Life, page 296:

“Because Jesus is uniquely the Son of God and has a privileged intimacy with the Father, he can make him known to anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. What Jesus is able to reveal about the Father goes beyond the knowledge that humans can have of God through creation (Rom 1:19-20) or through God’s previous revelations (Heb 1:1-2).”

My take

What a treasure Catholics have in the many wonderful commentaries now available! The excerpts above highlight and provide superb insights into what I myself just discovered when scanning today’s readings in trying to decide what to highlight. What we have in verses 21-22 is a fairly obvious explication of the Holy Trinity. Jesus “rejoice[s] in the Holy Spirit,” the One who enlightens, and then speaks of the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. It is a lesson for us that we should have devotion to each of the three Persons of the Trinity individually. All one Godhead, yes. But there is a reason that there are three Persons and that this was revealed to us plainly in Holy Writ by Jesus through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Practically, we can and should frequently invoke the three Persons in spontaneous prayer, particularly in group settings. It can go something like this:

“Heavenly Father, we ask you to send your Holy Spirit to send His many gifts to enlighten us in this endeavor [and then expound on it]. We ask this, as we ask all good things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”

That the opening two verses of today’s first reading (Is 11:1-10) provides us a list of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit is a bonus that serves to highlight exactly what the Third Person of the Trinity brings to the table, so to speak.

Finally, I found particularly thought provoking the last commentary that refers to Heb 1:1-2. While all of Scripture is “God-breathed” (cf. 2 Tim 3:16 — think of the Holy Spirit as Holy Breath) and it is all the Word of God, who is Jesus (cf. Jn 1:1, 14), it is only with the Incarnation of the Son of God that the Father’s plan is fully revealed (see also Jn 1:18). All creation had been awaiting the Messiah since Adam and Eve’s fall (cf. Gen 3:15). We had glimpses and foreshadowings and types of Christ, but the reality of the Messiah in the flesh exploded all expectations and marked a new age in salvation history.

Do we really appreciate the gift we have in Jesus, awaited for thousands of years, and now with us (cf. Mt 28:20) until the end of time — and for all eternity if we accept the grace of redemption?

TRINITY RESOURCES

ADVENT RESOURCES

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS READING

The Trinity (early 17th Century) by Circle of Artus Wolffort (1581–1641)

God bless!