A Homily – Most Holy Trinity (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

First Reading – Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40 ©

Responsorial Psalm 32(33):4-6,9,18-20,22

Second Reading – Romans 8:14-17 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Revelations 1:8

The Gospel According to Matthew 28:16-20 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 The Law, as it was written is not the law of God, it is the law of human beings. God does not distribute land among the people, parceling out lots like a county surveyor, God does not play favorites among nations, tribes or families. God, is not a God of battles and anything predicated on such a notion should be rejected out of hand.

 Consider the wisdom of the psalmist, who is correct when he demonstrates how fitting it is to praise God.

 It is wise to trust in the counsel of God, to have faith in God’s mercy, but it is foolishness to expect that God will rescue you from the dangers of this world.

 God will not. God does not intervene in our world. It is folly to believe that God will do so, and nonsense to believe that God’s loves any one of God’s children more than any other.

 Be mindful.

 God knows all things; God understands all things. You have heard this said and it is true, but God’s knowledge is not an abstract knowledge of the particular details of individual events, their precedents and consequences. God understands our person, the choices we make in the context of our lived experience; God understand us even as we understand ourselves, though God’s understanding is conditioned by divine clarity.

 Therefore, do as the psalmist says and trust in God’s plan for you, in God’s plan for creation, but do not wait for salvation, because salvation was promised to you the moment you came into world.

 Go out and share the good news.

 Consider the teaching of the apostle, who misconstrues many things.

 It is true that we are free to live spiritual lives, we are called to live our lives governed by our most altruistic hopes,

 Though we are merely animals, we do not have to live as animals do, governed by appetite and predation.

 Know this.

 Everyone is a child of God; from the most disciplined and devout, to the most reckless and devilish, destructive and demonic.

 Be mindful.

 No one has need to fear God, we are united with God…by God, who is the source of all being, and who created us in the divine image.

 Understand this:

 Some of us may suffer more than others, but everyone suffers.

 Jesus suffered, and we honor what he taught us through his suffering.

 Remember.

 Jesus is not a king or a ruler, he is not a priest but a prophet; Jesus is a friend, a comforter and healer, he came to show us the way…follow him.

 Consider the gospel reading for today.

 This passage is commonly known as the “Great Commission,” it purports to grant authority to the disciples that survived Jesus’ arrest and execution. It is a piece of propaganda. The event described never happened, but the writers of Matthew’s Gospel, writing more than one hundred years after Jesus was killed, thought it was necessary to establish their authority to speak and act in Jesus’ name (exclusively) into the sacred text.

 Apart from the false narrative, which cannot be condoned, the message is reasonable, it articulates the basic mission of the church: to turn all people of all nations into followers of the way, to be seekers of justice and servants of truth, to foster the type of community that cares for the stranger, the widow and the orphan, and the marginalized among them.

 

First Reading – Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40 ©

The Lord is God Indeed: He and No Other

Moses said to the people: ‘Put this question to the ages that are past, that went before you, from the time God created man on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Was anything ever heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you heard it, and remain alive? Has any god ventured to take to himself one nation from the midst of another by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and outstretched arm, by fearsome terrors – all this that the Lord your God did for you before your eyes in Egypt?

  ‘Understand this today, therefore, and take it to heart: the Lord is God indeed, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children may prosper and live long in the land that the Lord your God gives you for ever.’

 

Responsorial Psalm 32(33):4-6,9,18-20,22

The Lord Provides

Praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

Rejoice in the Lord, you just:

  it is good for the upright to praise him.

Proclaim the Lord on the lyre,

  play his song on the ten-stringed harp.

Sing a new song to the Lord,

  sing out your cries of triumph,

for the word of the Lord is truly just,

  and all his actions are faithful.

The Lord loves justice and right judgement;

  the earth is full of his loving kindness.

By the Lord’s word the heavens were made,

  and all their array by the breath of his mouth.

He gathered the seas as if in a bag,

  he stored up the depths in his treasury.

Let every land fear the Lord,

  let all the world be awed at his presence.

For he spoke, and they came into being;

  he commanded, and they were made.

The Lord confounds the counsel of the nations,

  throws the thoughts of the peoples into confusion.

But the Lord’s own counsel stands firm for ever,

  his thoughts last for all generations.

Happy the nation whose lord is God,

  the people he has chosen as his inheritance.

The Lord looks down from the heavens

  and sees all the children of men.

From his dwelling-place he looks

  upon all who inhabit the earth.

He moulded each one of their hearts,

  he understands all that they do.

The king will not be saved by his forces;

  the abundance of his strength will not set the strong man free.

Do not trust a horse to save you,

  whatever its swiftness and strength.

For see, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,

  upon those who trust in his mercy,

hoping he will save their souls from death

  and their bodies from hunger.

Our souls praise the Lord,

  for he is our help and our protector,

for our hearts rejoice in him,

  and we trust in his holy name.

Lord, show us your loving kindness,

  just as we put our hope in you.

The Lord Provides

 

Second Reading – Romans 8:14-17 ©

The Spirit Himself and Our Spirit Bear United Witness that We Are Children of God

Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Revelations 1:8

Alleluia, alleluia!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; the God who is, who was, and who is to come.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 28:16-20 ©

Go and Make Disciples of All Nations

The eleven disciples set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.

 

A Homily – Most Holy Trinity (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation