Most Holy Trinity (year A)

(2 Cor 13:11–13)

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, strive for perfection, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send you their greetings.

13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 

This is the grand finale of St Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. It is a marvellous summary of how the path to Christian holiness is fulfilled within the community.

“Rejoice”. For there to be joy, the truth of Christ must dwell in your hearts, and there must be pure faith in God. In this certainty, the Christian must always grow. Can a person maintain joy whilst living in a world of suffering and sin? The answer is yes, because when one is in the joy of God, everything else becomes bearable; everything else is transformed into a hymn of honour and glory to the Lord our God. Jesus Christ sent his own into the world to bring this certainty.

“Strive for perfection”. Baptism does not make us perfect; it sets us on the path to perfection. Each of us will be responsible for ourselves in order to attain the perfection to which the Lord calls us. Perfection is the attainment of the way of life of Christ within us. To live as Christ lived does not mean to do the things he did, but to obey the Heavenly Father as he obeyed.

“Encourage one another”. On the path towards perfection, we are not alone. We walk together with others; we form a community; we are a people marching towards the attainment of the promised land, which for us is paradise. On this long journey, which is at times hard and tiring, we must support one another, encourage one another, and offer a helping hand to help and be helped. Sometimes a single word, a gentle reminder, or a word of encouragement is enough to prevent the other person from becoming disheartened, losing courage, or turning back. Encouragement must be a fruit of love that flows from our hearts filled with Jesus Christ. If Jesus is not in our hearts, we cannot offer encouragement; such encouragement could prove harmful to the other person, as it might be misinterpreted as a harsh judgement, or worse, as humiliation. When, however, the love of Christ overflows within us, the other person sees it, grasps it, and can allow themselves to be saved by it, resuming the path of perfection towards the attainment of salvation.

“Have the same attitude”. This is the attitude of “likeable” people who know how to show empathy. All too often our Christian community presents an unfriendly face, and those who are very devout and practising often come across as unfriendly. It is certainly not authentic devotion if going to Mass so often and spending so much time in church results in an unfriendly demeanour, so that when faced with others, instead of “feeling together”, we clash. Our encounter with God must enable us to have the same mind, to become likeable, capable of good relationships with others. We know what these shared sentiments must be: they are those that were in the heart of Christ Jesus, namely, to be among our brothers and sisters as one who serves, not as one who is served.

“Live in peace”. There is no letter of Paul that does not echo this invitation, that is not a heartfelt appeal for peace. Peace is a gift from God, but like every gift, it depends on the will of man, who must be the one to desire to preserve the peace that God has placed in his heart.  

“And the God of love and peace will be with you.” By bringing about peace, believers will have the joy of  experiencing God’s presence among them. God offers Himself first; if man opens the door to Him, He remains in his heart and in his life. If, on the other hand, man closes the door to Him—and he can close it at any moment—God leaves His dwelling place and Satan takes His place, settling in the heart of man and leading him towards evil.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This blessing, or prayer—one of the most beautiful Trinitarian texts in the New Testament—has become the opening greeting in the Holy Mass.

In the original Greek, there is no verb corresponding to the “be” in the English translation. The liturgy uses the singular “is” because it is a single reality: the Trinitarian mystery. The grace of the Lord Jesus is one and the same as the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. They are not three things that add up but a single reality, and so the Greek text, correctly, does not use the verb. The Latin is a perfect copy of the Greek: “Dominus vobiscum”, that is, “The Lord be with you”. The verb ‘to be’ is not there.

The formula “The Lord be with you” seems more assertive (that is, it affirms a reality) than a wish. Since in the Eucharistic celebration we are gathered as a community of believers, as the Body of Christ, then “The Lord be with you” becomes an acknowledgement of reality: The Lord is present because we, his members, are gathered together to form his body, which is the Church.

Charis (grace), agapē (divine love), and koinōnìa (communion). The three divine Persons are characterised by these three aspects, which are, however, almost synonymous. Grace, love and communion signify being together with affection, friendship and goodness, and the community can constitute itself as the Church of God only if it continually receives this style that unites the Trinitarian life. The Church is the reflection of the Trinity; the Church can be the Church only if it lives by Trinitarian love.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)