Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday

In the second part of the year, the six months from Trinity to Advent, the Holy Ghost whose reign begins at Pentecost, comes to repeat to us what our Lord Himself has taught us in the first part, the six months from Advent to Trinity Sunday.

The fundamental truth on which everything in the Christian religion rests, is the dogma of the Holy Trinity from whom all comes (Epistle), and to whom all baptized in His name must return (Gospel). In the course of the cycle, having called to our minds in order, God the Father, Author of creation, God the Son, Author of redemption and God the Holy Ghost, Author of our sanctification, the Church to-day, before all else, recapitulates the great mystery by which we acknowledge and adore the Unity of Nature and Trinity of Persons in almighty God (Collect).

"As soon as we have celebrated the coming of the Holy Ghost," says Abbot Rupert, in the twelfth century, " we hail in song the feast of the Holy Trinity, the following Sunday, a place in the calendar well chosen, for immediately after the descent of the Holy Spirit, preaching and conversion began and faith through baptism and confession in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost."

The dogma of the Holy Trinity is affirmed, in the liturgy, on every hand. It is in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that we begin and end the Mass and Divine Office, and that we confer the Sacraments. All the Psalms end with the Gloria, the Hymns with the Doxology, and the Prayers by a conclusion in honour of the three Divine Persons. Twice during the Mass we are reminded that it is to the Holy Trinity that the Mass is being offered.

The dogma of the Trinity is expressed in the very fabric of our churches. Our fathers delighted to find a symbol of it in the admirably proportioned height, breadth and length of these buildings, in their primary and secondary divisions; the sanctuary, the choir and nave; the ground-floor, the triforium and the clerestory; the three entrances, three doors, three bays, three gables, and often three towers. On every hand, even to the smallest detail of decoration, the number three, repeated frequently, denotes a well conceived plan and a profound faith in the Blessed Trinity.

The same thought is expressed in Christian iconography, in various ways. Up to the twelfth century, God the Father is represented by a hand, emerging from the clouds in blessing and often surrounded by a nimbus containing a cross. By this hand is symbolized divine Omnipotence. In thirteenth and fourteenth century work one sees the face and then the figure of the Father. From the fifteenth century the Father is represented as an old man in the garb of a pontiff.

Up to the twelfth century, God the Son was at first represented by a cross, by a lamb or again by a gracious youth, in the same way that Apollo was represented in the pagan world. From the eleventh to the sixteenth century Christ appears bearded and in the prime of life. From the thirteenth century He is seen carrying the cross and often He is depicted as the Lamb.

The Holy Ghost was, at first, represented under the form of a dove, whose outspread wings often touch the mouths of both Father and Son to show that He proceeds from both. For the same reason, from the eleventh century He is depicted as a little child. In the thirteenth century He is a youth, in the fifteenth He is a man of ripe age, like the Father and the Son but with a dove above His head or in His hand to distinguish Him from the other two Persons. Since the sixteenth century the dove and the fiery tongues are the only representations of the Holy Ghost. Quite recently it was expressly forbidden to represent Him under a human form. Since 1628 was also forbidden the monstrous picture of three faces on one body.

As a symbol of the Trinity the triangle has been borrowed from geometry, depicting by its form the divine Unity in which are inscribed three angles, expressing the three Persons in God. Trefoil plants, as shamrock and clover serve to represent this great mystery, as also do three circles interwoven, with the word Unity inscribed in the central space belonging to all three.

A miniature of the XVIth cent, represents the Father and Son as like each other, with the same nimbus, the same triple crown, the hair worn in the same way and a single cloak drawing them close together. Further, they are united by the same book of divine Wisdom as well as by the Holy Ghost who joins one to the other by the ends of His wings. But the Father is older than the Son, and the beard of the one is pointed while that of the other is round. The Father wears a robe without a girdle and carries the globe of the earth in his hand, while the Son as a Priest, wears an alb with cincture and stole.

The feast of the Holy Trinity owes its origin to the fact that the ordinations of the Ember Saturday, which took place in the evening, were prolonged to the next day, which was Sunday which had no proper liturgy.

As this day is consecrated throughout the year to the Most Holy Trinity, the votive Mass composed in the seventh century to celebrate this mystery was said on the First Sunday after Pentecost; and since it occupied a fixed place in the liturgical calendar, this Mass was considered as establishing this Sunday as a special feast of the Blessed Trinity. Stephen, Bishop of Liege, who was born about 850, composed in the tenth century its office which was revised later on by the Franciscans.

The feast was in 1334 extended to the universal Church by Pope John XXII and made a Double of the first class by Pius X.

That we may ever be armed against all adversity, let us to-day, with the liturgy, make our solemn profession of faith in the Holy and Eternal Trinity and His indivisible Unity.

Almighty God, in making known to us that His one divine Nature is possessed by three distinct Persons reveals to us something of His own interior life.

Thus the Son possesses this life because the Father gives it to Him by an act of knowledge which proceeds from the divine Intelligence and the Holy Spirit, because it is communicated to Him by the Father and the Son, by an act of love having its origin in their Will.

And the divine mercy shines forth in the fact that we are called to share this happiness, which is proper to God alone, by knowing and loving Him as He knows and loves Himself.

Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas, atque indivisa unitas: confitebimur ei, quia fecit nobiscum misericordiam suam. * Domine Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra!
Blessed be the Holy Trinity, and undivided unity: we will give glory to Him, because He hath shown His mercy to us. Ps. O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is Thy name in all the earth!
(Tobias 12:6 and Psalm 8:2 from the Introit of Mass)

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui dedisti famulis tuis in confessione verae fidei, aeternae Trinitatis gloriam agnoscere, et in potentia majestatis adorare unitatem: quaesumus; ut ejusdem fidei firmitate, ab omnibus semper muniamur adversis.
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given to Thy servants grace, in the confession of the true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of Thy majesty to worship the Unity; grant that by steadfastness in the same faith we may evermore be defended from all adversities.
(Collect)


Commemoration of the first Sunday after Pentecost

Deus, in te sperantium fortitude, adesto propitius invocationibus nostris: et quia sine te nihil potest mortalis infirmitas, praesta auxilium gratiae tuae: ut in exsequendis mandatis tuis, et voluntate tibi et actione placeamus. 
O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in Thee, mercifully hear our prayers, and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do nothing without Thee, grant us the help of Thy grace, that in fulfilling Thy commandments, we may please Thee both in will and deed.

The continuation of the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
At that time Jesus said to His disciples, "All power is given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Going therefore , teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."
(St Matthew 28:18-20)

25th May, St. Urban I, Pope and Martyr

St. Urban I, Pope and Martyr

This holy pope is believed to have been the same Urban who baptized Valerian, husband of St. Cecilia, Tiburtius, brother of Valerian, and Maximus, their gaoler, whom we honoured on April 14th. St. Urban was martyred in 230.

Protexisti me, Deus, a conventu malignantium, alleluja: a multitudine operantium iniquitatem, alleluja, alleluja. * Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam cum deprecor: a timore inimici eripe animam meam.

Thou hast protected me, O God, from the assembly of the malignant, alleluia: from the multitude of the workers of iniquity, alleluia, alleluia. * Hear, O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to Thee: free my soul from the fear of the enemy.

(Psalm 63:3,2 from the Introit of Mass)

Da, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, qui beati Urbani Martyris tui atque Pontificis solemnia colimus, ejus apud te intercessionibus, adjuvemur.
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who keep the festival of blessed Urban, Thy martyr and bishop may be helped by his intercession with Thee.
(Collect)

From the Catholic Encyclopaedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15209a.htm

25th May, St. Gregory VII, Pope and Confessor

St. Gregory VII, Pope and Confessor

Born at Soana in Tuscany, Hildebrand became a monk in the famous Benedictine monastery of Cluny, on which, at the time, depended two thousand monasteries. He soon became prior, and was later elected abbot of the Monastery of St.Paul-without-the-Walls, and made a cardinal of the Roman Church. At the death of Alexander II, he was elected pope and took the name of Gregory VII. Thus entrusted with the government of  the house of God (Gospel, Communion), he participated in the full priesthood of Jesus (Introit, Epistle).

At a time when the bishops, mostly simoniacal, were the dependants of lay princes, he strove with such constancy to defend the liberty of the Church (Collect) that, as we are assured, no pontiff since the time of the apostles undertook more labours for her or fought more courageously lor her independence.

While he was saying Mass, a dove was seen to come down on him: the Holy Ghost thereby bore witness of the supernatural views that guided him in the government of the Church. Forced to leave Rome, he died in Salerno in 1085, saying those words, the first of which are from Ps. xliv: "I have loved Justice and have hated iniquity: that is why I die in exile."

Following the example of St. Gregory, let us overcome with courage all adversities (Collect).

Statuit ei Dominus testamentum pacis, et principem fecit eum: ut sit illi sacerdotii dignitas in aeternum. * Memento Domine David et omnis mansuetudinis ejus.

The Lord made to him a covenant of peace, and made him a prince; that the dignity of the priesthood should be to him for ever. * O Lord, remember David: and all his meekness.

(Ecclus. 45:30 and Psalm 131:1. From the Introit at Mass).

Deus in te sperantium fortitudo, qui beatum Gregorium, Confessorem tuum atque Pontificem, pro tuenda Ecclesiae libertate, virtute constantiae roborasti: da nobis, ejus exemplo et intercession, omnia adversantia fortiter superare.
O God, the strength of all that put their trust in Thee, who for the defence of the liberty of Thy Church didst fill blessed Gregory, Thy confessor and bishop, with the virtue of constancy: grant that, helped by his prayers and example, we, too, may bravely overcome all adversity.

(Collect)

From the Catholic Encyclopaedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06791c.htm

Novena in Preparation for the Feast of St Philip Neri. Day 9.

May 25 - Philip's Miraculous Gifts

Philip's great and solid virtues were crowned and adorned by the divine Majesty with various and extraordinary favours, which he in vain used every artifice, if possible, to hide.

It was the good-pleasure of God to enable him to penetrate His ineffable mysteries and to know His marvellous providences by means of ecstasies, raptures, and visions, which were of frequent occurrence during the whole of his life.

A friend going one morning to confession to him, on opening the door of his room softly, saw the Saint in the act of prayer, raised upon his feet, his eyes looking to heaven, his hands extended. He stood for a while watching him, and then going close to him spoke to him - but the saint did not perceive him at all. This state of abstraction continued about eight minutes longer; then he came to himself.

He had the consolation of seeing in vision the souls of many, especially of his friends and penitents, go to heaven. Indeed, those who were intimate with him held it for certain, that none of his spiritual children died without his being certified of the state of their souls.

Philip, both by his sanctity and experience, was able to discriminate between true and false visions. He was earnest in warning men against being deluded, which is very easy and probable.

Philip was especially eminent, even among saints, for his gifts of foretelling the future and reading the heart. The examples of these gifts which might be produced would fill volumes. He foretold the deaths of some; he foretold the recovery of others; he foretold the future course of others; he foretold the births of children to those who were childless; he foretold who would be the Popes before their election; he had the gift of seeing things at a distance; and he knew what was going on in the minds of his penitents and others around him.

He knew whether his penitents had said their prayers, and for how long they were praying. Many of them when talking together, if led into any conversation which was dangerous or wrong, would say: "We must stop, for St. Philip will find it out."

Once a woman came to him to confession, when in reality she wished to get an alms. He said to her: "In God's name, good woman, go away; there is no bread for you" - and nothing could induce him to hear her confession.

A man who went to confess to him did not speak, but began to tremble, and when asked, said, "I am ashamed," for he had committed a most grievous sin. Philip said gently: "Do not be afraid; I will tell you what it was" - and, to the penitent's great astonishment, he told him.

Such instances are innumerable. There was not one person intimate with Philip who did not affirm that he knew the secrets of the heart most marvellously.

He was almost equally marvellous in his power of healing and restoring to health. He relieved pain by the touch of his hand and the sign of the Cross. And in the same way he cured diseases instantaneously - at other times by his prayers - at other times he commanded the diseases to depart.

This gift was so well known that sick persons got possession of his clothes, his shoes, the cuttings of his hair, and God wrought cures by means of them.

Prayer

Philip, my holy Patron, the wounds and diseases of my soul are greater than bodily ones, and are beyond thy curing, even with thy supernatural power. I know that my Almighty Lord reserves in His own hands the recovery of the soul from death, and the healing of all its maladies. But thou canst do more for our souls by thy prayers now, my dear Saint, than thou didst for the bodies of those who applied to thee when thou wast upon earth. Pray for me, that the Divine Physician of the soul, Who alone reads my heart thoroughly, may cleanse it thoroughly, and that I and all who are dear to me may be cleansed from all our sins; and, since we must die, one and all, that we may die, as thou didst, in the grace and love of God, and with the assurance, like thee, of eternal life.

Whit Saturday

Ember Saturday after Pentecost

Station at St. Peter's

"The Gift of Holy Fear, or the Fear of God, is actually the foundation of all other gifts. It drives sin from the heart, because it fills us with reverence either for the Justice of God or for the divine Majesty." (Rev. M. Meschler S.J., Ibid., p. 271.)

After swelling the ranks of her children during the night of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost to-day is about to supply the Church with the priests who are to be her ministers of grace all over the world, for He will pour out His Spirit upon her servants as Joel prophesied He would upon the apostles (First Lesson.) Very appropriately, therefore, the church appointed for the Station this day is the basilica of St. Peter, the pastor of the fold, and the Gospel tells of a cure worked by Jesus in the house of Simon.

The priest, as the minister of Christ, devotes himself to the healing of souls consumed by the fever of sinful passions.

As it has already been pointed out, the Mass on the Saturday in Ember Weeks has five Lessons with Collect and Tract between the Introit and the Epistle. The fifth Lesson never varies: it is the record of the miraculous preservation of the three young Hebrew men in the furnace, followed by an extract from their canticle of praise and thanksgiving. The Collect of the Mass is based upon this Lesson, and beseeches the divine goodness that we may not be consumed by the flame of vice.

In the Sacrament of Holy Orders the priest receives a large outpouring of the divine Spirit (Epistle) that will enable him to preach the kingdom of God (Gospel).

The Second, Third and Fourth Lessons refer to the harvest, and to the offerings of the first-fruits of the earth, for Ember Weeks were instituted with the object of obtaining the divine blessing on each of the several seasons as they came in.

Having entered the promised land, the Israelites offered its first-fruits to God.

Let us, having entered the Church by baptism, offer to almighty God the first-fruits of all that we do, through the supernatural influx of the Holy Ghost into our souls. Let us pray to God that He may increase our faith in Christ (Epistle and Gospel), and fill our hearts with His holy love (Epistle).

Caritas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris, alleluia: per inhabitantem Spiritum ejus in nobis, alleluia, alleluia. *  Benedic, anima mea, Domino: et omnia quae intra me sunt, nomini sancto ejus.
The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, alleluia : by His Spirit dwelling in us, alleluia, alleluia. * Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless His holy name.
(Romans 5:5 and Psalm 102:1 from the Introit of Mass)

Mentibus nostris, quaesumus, Domine, Spiritum Sanctum benignus infunde: cujus et sapientia conditi sumus, et providentia gubernamur.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, mercifully pour into our souls Thy Holy Spirit, by whose wisdom we were created and by whose providence we are governed.
(Collect)

Novena in Preparation for the Feast of St Philip Neri. Day 8.

May 24 - Philip's Care for the Salvation of Souls

When he was a young priest, and had gathered about him a number of spiritual persons, his first wish was to go with them all to preach the gospel to the heathen of India, where St. Francis Xavier was engaged in his wonderful career - and he only gave up the idea in obedience to the holy men whom he consulted.

As to bad Christians at home, such extreme desire had he for their conversion, that even when he was old he took severe disciplines in their behalf, and wept for their sins as if they had been his own.

While a layman, he converted by one sermon thirty dissolute youths.

He was successful, under the grace of God, in bringing back almost an infinite number of sinners to the paths of holiness. Many at the hour of death cried out, "Blessed be the day when first I came to know Father Philip!" Others, "Father Philip draws souls to him as the magnet draws iron."

With a view to the fulfilment of what he considered his special mission, he gave himself up entirely to hearing confessions, exclusive of every other employment. Before sunrise he had generally confessed a good number of penitents in his own room. He went down into the church at daybreak, and never left it till noon, except to say Mass. If no penitents came, he remained near his confessional, reading, saying office, or telling his beads. If he was at prayer, if at his meals, he at once broke off when his penitents came.

He never intermitted his hearing of confessions for any illness, unless the physician forbade it.

For the same reason he kept his room-door open, so that he was exposed to the view of everyone who passed it.

He had a particular anxiety about boys and young men. He was most anxious to have them always occupied, for he knew that idleness was the parent of every evil. Sometimes he made work for them, when he could not find any.

He let them make what noise they pleased about him, if in so doing he was keeping them from temptation. When a friend remonstrated with him for letting them so interfere with him, he made answer: "So long as they do not sin, they may chop wood upon my back."

He was allowed by the Dominican Fathers to take out their novices for recreation. He used to delight to see them at their holiday meal. He used to say, "Eat, my sons, and do not scruple about it, for it makes me fat to watch you;" and then, when dinner was over, he made them sit in a ring around him, and told them the secrets of their hearts, and gave them good advice, and exhorted them to virtue.

He had a remarkable power of consoling the sick, and of delivering them from the temptations with which the devil assails them.

To his zeal for the conversion of souls, Philip always joined the exercise of corporal acts of mercy. He visited the sick in the hospitals, served them in all their necessities, made their beds, swept the floor round them, and gave them their meals.

Prayer

Philip, my holy Patron, who wast so careful for the souls of thy brethren, and especially of thy own people, when on earth, slack not thy care of them now, when thou art in heaven. Be with us, who are thy children and thy clients; and, with thy greater power with God, and with thy more intimate insight into our needs and our dangers, guide us along the path which leads to God and to thee. Be to us a good father; make our priests blameless and beyond reproach or scandal; make our children obedient, our youth prudent and chaste, our heads of families wise and gentle, our old people cheerful and fervent, and build us up, by thy powerful intercessions, in faith, hope, charity, and all virtues.

Whit Friday

Ember Friday after Pentecost

Station at the Church of the Twelve Apostles

"The Gift of Piety awakens in our souls an inclination and readiness to glorify God as our Father and to have a filial confidence in Him." (Rev. M. Meschler, S, J. ibid., pp. 275-276.)

The Station takes place in the Church of the Twelve Apostles, who were the embodiment of the early Church, of which the Holy Ghost was the soul.

The bountiful harvest of the fruits of the earth which the Church now asks of God at the beginning of summer is emblematic of the wealth of spiritual blessings which the Holy Ghost lavishes on our souls in these days (Epistle). And it was for this reason that the Liturgy filled the mouths of the children newly born into the Church by Baptism with hymns in praise of God (Introit, Offertory) and of the Spirit of the Lord "so good and sweet within us" (Alleluia).

The Gospel recounts the wonders that Jesus worked by the power of the Holy Ghost in healing the sick, and more particularly the man with the palsy, whose sins He remitted at the same time that He restored him to health.

The Church, built up by the Holy Ghost (Collect), follows in a very special way the example of the divine Master at this season, for at Pentecost she receives in abundance Him, who is the remission of all sins (Post-communion for Tuesday), and she exercises the power given her by our Lord when He said to her in the person of the apostles: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them."

Let us beseech the Holy Ghost to help us in our weakness (Postcommunion) by protecting us against the attacks of our enemies (Collect).

Repleatur os meum laude tua, alleluia: ut possim cantare, alleluia: gaudebunt labia mea, dum cantavero tibi, alleluia, alleluia.  In te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum: in justltia tua libera me, et eripe me.

Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, alleluia; that I may sing, alleluia; my lips shall rejoice when I sing to Thee, alleluia, alleluia. * In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be put to confusion: deliver me in Thy justice, and rescue me.

(Psalm 70:8,23,1-2 from the Introit of Mass)

Da, quaesumus, Ecclesiae tuae, misericors Deus: ut Sancto Spiritu congregata, hostili nullatenus incursione turbetur.
Grant unto Thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that being gathered within the fold of the Holy Spirit, she may not be troubled by attack from the foe.
(Collect)