May 31, 2026
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this weeks' readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this weeks' readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.
See our music recommendations for the liturgy.
Today, the Church celebrates the central mystery of our Christian Faith, namely, the Most Holy Trinity (CCC 237). By this mystery, we believe that God is one in essence, but exists as three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (CCC 253-254). Each person is fully God, eternal and infinite, yet they are not interchangeable: the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son (CCC 254).
Each Person of the Trinity participates in the work of salvation: the Father is the creator of all that exists, and He plans redemption; the Son accomplishes redemption through His life, death and resurrection; and the Holy Spirit Sanctifies and guides the Church (CCC 238).
- The Holy Trinity is the source of the unity, reconciliation and life for believers (CCC 68).
- The celebration of today gives us the opportunity to reflect on our efforts to live a life of unity, reconciliation and love in imitation of the Most Holy Trinity.
- St Paul encourages us to live a life of unity, reconciliation and love by aiming for restoration, comforting one another and living in peace with one another (Cf 2nd Reading).
- We can always go back to the scriptures to see how the Triune God presents himself as a God of unity, reconciliation and love. This truth of faith was revealed by God to Moses on Mount Sinai when the Triune God proclaimed Himself as a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Cf 1st Reading).
- This truth was revealed in the most splendid way by the sending of the Son out of love for the world, so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life (Cf Gospel Reading).
- The incarnation of the Son and the sending forth of the Holy Spirit brought about a concrete revelation of God as a Trinity in whom there exists perfect unity and love (Cf Opening Prayer)
- Each time we sign ourselves with the sign of the cross, we immerse ourselves in the life of the Trinity. This gesture of faith should always remind us that we are called to reflect the life of the Holy Trinity by striving to uphold values that foster growth in unity, reconciliation, and love.
Faith in the Holy Trinity, belief in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, three Persons, yet one God, belongs to the foundations of the Christian religion. But this faith is notoriously hard to understand. For many it has the appearance of an insoluble riddle, if not a mere game with words.
But this we cannot accept. The Holy Trinity is a great mystery of faith, a truth we can never come to the end of, but by faith we know the Trinity. In the Trinity we live and move and have our being as Christians. And faith leads us to understand the experience of this in dwelling. In faith we find the obscure beginnings of that lucid vision which will be our eternal life in God.
The Communion Antiphon for the Solemnity well describes our immersion in the mystery: Since you are children of God, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of his Son, the Spirit who cries out: Abba, Father. (cf. Gal. 4:6)
All Christians are children of God by baptism. We have received the Spirit of God into our hearts. This Spirit prays within us with sighs too deep for words, but sighs deeply felt nonetheless. And so we know the Spirit.
And this Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, who possesses the Spirit in his fullness. So knowing the Spirit we know the Son also.
And the Spirit of the Son gives form to our prayer after the pattern of Jesus' own. In Jesus we cry out: Abba, Father!, we become sons in the Son. We are launched toward heaven, we share in the dynamism of Jesus' own journey to the Father. And so we begin to know the very source of Trinitarian life.
Bidding Prayers
Let us pray for all Christ's faithful people, that our devotion to the Triune God may grow in firmness and fervour.
Let us pray for a deepening dialogue among followers of the world religions that all men and women may grow in a knowledge and love of God.
Let us pray for the dead in Christ Jesus, that they may see the glory of the undivided Trinity face to face and be filled with joy.
These hymns are chosen from the Laudate hymnbook:
Holy, holy, holy (468)
Holy God, we praise thy name (708)
God beyond all names (686)
God, whose almighty Word (887)
Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us (315)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
