Scripture Reflection - May 31, 2026

Solemnity of the Most Holy Spirit

Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9 Daniel 3:52-55 1 Corinthians13:11-13 John 3:16-18

I'm not sure if the following happened or if it is an attempt to explain the unexplainable. I do know that it helped me in trying to explain the Trinity to my very first class of sixth graders.

St. Augustine is walking by the seashore, trying to understand the mystery of the Trinity. He sees a young boy with a large shell in his hands, running back and forth: ocean to shore, shore to ocean. Augustine asks him what he is doing. The boy explains that he is putting the ocean into the large hole he has dug in the sand. Augustine tells the boy he cannot ever fit the ocean into the hole. The boy tells Augustine, “Neither can you ever understand the Trinity.” The boy disappears. Augustine now has something else to think about.

Just as we have icons on our computers which tell us what is in each folder, Jesus was and is an icon revealing the Father to us, the role of the Son, and the promise of the Spirit to come.

Jesus did not just tell the truth; Jesus was and is the Truth. He proclaimed the Trinity throughout His public ministry, and His last instruction to the Apostles was to baptize in the name of the Trinity. The Gospels assure us of the Trinity. Acts and the Epistles continue that proclamation.

In our first reading today, God tells Moses that God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and faithful. Paul reaffirms the Trinity by his wishing the Corinthians, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit."

Little did John the Evangelist know his words would appear at sports venues throughout the world: "God so loved the world that God gave God's only Son, so that everyone who believes in God might not perish but might have eternal life."

I think in revealing the Trinity, Jesus also taught us how much we are loved by God, a love that we cannot even imagine. I think that the Trinity helps us to know the God who created a beautiful world for us to protect and enjoy. Jesus, by His Passion and Death, showed us what we are worth in God's eyes. His Resurrection gives us a preview of what is to come. The Spirit is only a prayer away to help us in any need, large or small.

May our prayer, now and in eternity, be:

Glory to the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit,

now and forever.

Amen.

Sr. Monica Paul Fraser, OP