Most Holy Trinity 2024

The only Son of God wanted to have us share his divinity, and therefore he took our nature to himself; by becoming man, he would make humanity divine.  Furthermore, what he took of our nature he gave back to us for our salvation.  He offered his body on the altar of the Cross as Victim to reconcile us to the Father, and he shed his blood as a ransom and a cleansing bath.  Liberated thereby from a wretched slavery, we are also cleansed of our sins.

In order that the memory of this great gift might remain ever fresh among us, he left his Body as our food, his Blood as our drink, to be consumed under the outward appearances of bread and wine.

What a priceless and marvelous banquet!  So salutary and filled with sweetness!  What could be more precious? Nothing!  For here our food is not the flesh of calves and goats, as under the old Law, but Christ himself, true God.  What, then, could be more marvelous than such a sacrament?

No other sacrament is more salutary, since here sinfulness is purged away, virtue increased, and the soul enriched with spiritual gifts.  The Eucharist is offered in the Church for the living and the dead.  Thus, what was meant for the salvation of all may indeed profit all.

Finally, the sweetness contained in this sacrament is beyond words.  Here we taste the spiritual delight at its source, as we recall the boundless love Christ showed us in his Passion.  To keep the faithful ever aware of that immense love, Christ instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper, when, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he was on the point of passing from this world to the Father.  It was to be a permanent reminder of his Passion and the fulfillment of all the ancient foreshadowings.  It was his greatest miracle and an extraordinary consolation for those saddened by his absence.

- St. Thomas Aquinas, Reflections on the Feast of Corpus Christi, Opusculum 57

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, as we proceed toward Corpus Christi and the Month of the Sacred Heart.  I think it is important to note that progression: the Holy Trinity--the identity of God from whom comes identity.  Corpus Christi--the sacrifice of the Body for our redemption from sin.  The Sacred Heart--the embodiment of our Lord’s Passion, His burning love, His crown of thorns, and His pierced side.

Our Enemy reviles and attacks each of these things, and our culture is rife with the destruction he has wrought.  We, the Church, are the bulwark against that darkness, and we must mark these precepts and carry them with us against that tide.

The Enemy attacks the identity which flows from the Creator by claiming that we determine our own identity, and can identify as we choose or feel.  The Enemy attacks the sacrifice of the Body by claiming that we are sovereign over our bodies--”my body, my choice,” and we can alter them as we choose because there is nothing to redeem.  The Enemy attacks the Passion of the Sacred Heart by claiming the entire month for disordered love against His sacrificial love, depraved indulgence against His willing suffering, and unyielding self interest against the living blood and water given through His piercing.

Draw close to Him, for it is only in the total gift of ourselves that we counter the ravenous darkness.  To “reclaim the month,” we must make of it an offering, pure and holy, before the throne of the Most High.