There is a kind of revelatory progression about the persons of the Trinity in this Sunday’s readings. The readings are about a series of creations in all of which the Father, Son and Spirit are active. They begin with the work of God the Creator in the first reading from the Book of Proverbs. The Psalm reinforces this work praising the glory of creation. In the second reading St Paul preaches the kerygma – of how Christ gives us new life through his suffering, death and resurrection. Finally, the Gospel has Jesus speaking of the fulfilment of his mission through the Holy Spirit – another new beginning with the birth of the Church. At Pentecost we inherit the mission of Christ and become heirs of the Father. The circle is complete, but ongoing and dynamic as we are called to continue that mission in our own time.

The first reading echoes the creation story of Genesis but where in Genesis God creates through the Word, in Proverbs it is the Wisdom of God.  In the second reading, while it is through Christ that we are made new, it is linked to ‘the love of God … poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.’ The Gospel promises that the complete truth will be revealed by the coming of the ‘Spirit of truth’. All three persons always work together.

The Trinity is a mystery – a relationship between Father, Son and Spirit which draws humanity into that relationship and through it we inherit the mission of being Christ in the world.

By Clara Geoghegan