9781644135945

The Light of the World
of this sacrament and the confession of the holy and eternal Trinity . . . may profit us to the salvation
of body and soul” (Postcommunion). Today our Deo Gratias has a special significance,
for “He hath shown His mercy to us” in the Holy Sacrifice. “Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost.”
Meditation
Today’s feast is celebrated in honor of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, the Triune
God, in thanksgiving for His eternal mercy, because of which He has created us, redeemed us,
and sanctified us.
“O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God” (Epistle). With St.
Paul and with Holy Mother the Church we stand in awe at the depth of the divine mercy,
of the divine wisdom, and of the divine knowledge. We are amazed at the great wisdom
and love of God as manifested in His selection of men, particularly in His selection of the
Gentiles in preference to the chosen people of Israel, as the recipients of His grace and
redemption. The heathens were the first to wander away from God, and God selected the
Israelites as His chosen people. But Israel in turn rejected Christ and salvation, and because
of the infidelity and the unbelief of the Jews, the gospel was given to the Gentiles. “For God
hath concluded all in unbelief (both Jews and heathens) that He may have mercy on all”
(Rom 11:32). At the end of time both the Jews and the heathens will belong to Christ. “O
the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God. How incomprehensible
are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways! For who hath known the mind of the
Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and recompense
shall be made him? For of Him and by Him and in Him are all things; to Him be glory
forever” (Epistle). “Blessed be the Holy Trinity and undivided unity; we will give glory to
Him because He hath shown His mercy to us” (Introit).
This is the God to whom we are consecrated. He has in His infinite mercy made us sharers
of His divine life. We have been baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost” (Gospel), and we share in the inexhaustible riches of the life of the Holy Trinity;
we have even been made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4). Therefore by virtue of our
baptism we belong, not to ourselves, not to created things, not to men, not to the world nor to
Satan, but to God. At the time of our baptism we renounced all these things, and since then we
believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost. We have been consecrated to Them,
and we belong entirely to Them. Anything less than God is unworthy of us, and God alone can
satisfy us, not only during our earthly sojourn, but also in heaven, where we shall one day share
the inexhaustible riches of the holy and blissful life of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Ghost. This life comes to us entirely through the mercy of God. “Blessed be the Holy Trinity and
undivided unity; we will give glory to Him because He hath shown His mercy to us” (Introit).
This is a day for giving thanks to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. During the course
of the Church year we have been made aware of the innumerable blessings of love and mercy
conferred by God on us, on the Church, and on all mankind. “For God so loved the world as
to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have
life everlasting” ( Jn 3:16).
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