Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - Athanasius

Holy Trinity

Peter Paul Rubens 

Trinity Sunday

Fr. Hugh attended the Deanery Seminar on the new Roman Missal. The Introductory Rites texts are trimmed fastidiously. (Quote: I was uneasy to think myself too fastidious, whilst I fancied dr. johnson quite satisfied).

However, we are powerfully reminded of the Mass greetings to the Eucharist.

This Reading powerfully reminds  us of the familiar (so far) greeting by the words of Athanasius and of St. Paul;

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
 and the love of God
and the fellowship communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you”.

and carries the correction happily.

Night Office.

First Reading

From the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians (2:1-16)

Responsory  See Ephesians 1:17-18; 1 Corinthians 2:12

 May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give us a spirit of wisdom to penetrate his revelation

and bring us to full knowledge of him.

- May he enlighten the eyes of our minds to see the great hope of our calling,

the wealth of glory he has laid up for the saints.

We have not received the spirit of this world. but the Spirit who comes from God

- May he enlighten ...

Second Reading:

From the first letter to Serapion by Saint Athanasius (Ep. 1,28-30: PG 26,594-595.599)

The first letter to Serapion is one of four written in 359 or early 360. In the Arian controversy the question of the divinity of the Holy Spirit was intimately connected with that of the divinity of the Son Athanasius shows that the life given by the Holy Spirit is in fact the work of each of the three Persons and that it is a share in the divine life of the Holy Trinity.

It will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord. proclaimed by the apostles, and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built. and if anyone were to lapse from it. that person would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name.

We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son. and the Holy Spirit In this Trinity there is no instrusion of any alien element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and created being. It is a wholly creative and energizing reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the Father makes all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit. and in this way the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved. Accordingly in the Church one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit

Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God, the Father, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.

Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its resplendent grace.

This is also Paul's teaching in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit, we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

Monastic Lectionary

Responsory

Let us adore the Father, and the Son. and the Holy Spirit; - let us praise and exalt God above all for ever.

Blessed be God in the firmament of heaven;

all praise, all glory to him for ever.

- Let us praise and exalt God above all for ever. 

+ + + 

Alternative Reading         

From a poem by Saint Gregory Nazianzen
(1,1-4.21-34; 2, 1.2.60-64.7s-84: 3, 1-9.42-45.51: PC 37, 397-411)

Gregory's poems were written at the end of his life, during his retirement at Arianzum. The defense of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was one of his life­long preoccupations. In this reading he gives a summary of his thought and teaching on the subject.

To speak of the Godhead is, I know, like crossing the ocean on a raft, or like flying to the stars with wings of narrow span. Even heavenly beings are unable to speak of God's decrees or of his government of the world. But enlighten my mind and loosen my tongue, Spirit of God, and I will sound aloud the trumpet of truth. so that all who are united to God may rejoice with their whole heart.  

There is one eternal God, uncaused and uncircumscribed by any being existing before him or yet to be. He is infinite, and all time is in his hands. He is the mighty Father of one mighty and noble Son.. In no way does the birth of this Son resemble human birth. for God is spirit The Word of God is another divine Person. but not another Godhead He is the living seal of the Father, the only Son of the only God. He is equal to the Father, so that although the Father always remains wholly the Father, the Son is the creator and ruler of the world and is the Father's power and wisdom.

Let us praise the Son first of all, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of his divinity when he saved me, when like a good physician he stooped to my festering wounds. He was a mortal man. but he was also God. He was of the race of David, but Adam's creator. He who has no body clothed himself with flesh. He had a mother, but she was a virgin.. He who is without bounds bound himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest - yet he was God He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross, but it was sin that was nailed to it He became as one among the dead, but he rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before him. On the one

hand, there was the poverty of his humanity; on the other, the riches of his divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake ofthe divine, hold in the greatest honor the humanity which the immortal Son took upon himself for love of you.

My soul, why do you hold back? Sing praise to the Holy Spirit as well, lest your words tear asunder what is not separated by nature. Let us tremble before the great Spirit who also is God, through whom we have come to know God, who transforms us into God. He is the omnipotent bestower of diverse gifts and the giver of life both in heaven and on earth. He is the divine strength. proceeding from the Father and subject to no power. He is not the Son. for there is only one S01\ but he shares equally in the glory of the Godhead.

. In the one God are three pulsations that move the world Through them I became a new and different person when I came out of the font, where my death was buried, into the light - a man restored to life from the dead If G od cleansed me so completely, then I must worship him with my whole being.

Gregory Nazianzen 329-389

Responsory

Honor and strength and power and dominion be to the Trinity in unity, the Unity in Trinity - for ever and ever.

o God, be gracious and bless us,

and may all the ends of the earth revere you. - For ever and ever.