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John 3:16

29/5/2026

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

John
3.16-18

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned; but the one who does not believe is condemned already, for not having believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

(This reflection was originally published on 2 June 2023.)

John 3:16 has been called the core of Christianity, the most well-known and memorized verse in the Bible, a one-sentence summary of the Gospel, and the golden text. I have seen it written on signs held up by fans at football games, on electronic billboards, and even on shopping bags.

“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life.”

God, help me as I ponder the meaning of this powerful promise.

You love the world.

Out of love for it, You sacrificed Your child. In the quiet, when I weigh the burden of sacrificing myself and the burden of sacrificing my child, I see that choosing to die myself – horrible as that might be – would be easier for me to bear than witnessing the suffering and death of my child. And yet, God, You made the hard choice for the sake of us.

Your Son atoned for sins that were not His own and could never be His own, for He was begotten of You, God – made entirely of the same divine stuff as You are, and therefore without fault or blemish. Out of love, He stepped down into our sullied shoes and became human like us.

Because of what Jesus did, we will no longer be condemned by the death that we bring into our lives when we choose sin.

Jesus embraced death and, in so doing, He overcame it and rose to life after it, bringing out of Hell with Him all who chose to believe in Him. He brought me out of Hell with Him.

God, when I say I believe in Jesus, let my believing be more than acknowledging that Jesus came into the world and showed me how I might live a better life. Let me remember that belief means shaping my life according to Jesus’ teaching and seeking to know Him as my constant companion (in and with me) by deepening my relationship with Him, through faith.

God, remind me that unless I believe – actively believe – I remain condemned because I am turning back to death; I am choosing to reject Jesus and His message.

Salvation is available to me but, as You embraced death, I must embrace You, so that You can shape the way I live every day.

Donna Davis

4 Comments

Finding Peace

28/5/2026

2 Comments

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

2 Corinthians
13.11-13

Brothers and sisters, put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

My first reading of this passage made me frustrated. Peter’s words seem so easy to say yet so hard to do in practice. “Agree with one another, live in peace” feels like an impossible standard in today’s world, which seems to encourage division. So, I turned to the Catechism of the Catholic Church for some practical advice on how to follow Peter’s instruction.

CCC 1931 states that we must look upon our neighbour as “another self.” When I view people as “another self” it makes me think about how they and I share the same mission. Whether they know it or not, their ultimate goal is to achieve sainthood. There is solidarity in this shared mission, and it makes me want to help others achieve it. However, we are not always going to agree on how to go about achieving sainthood, which is okay! This common ground makes it so that we can live as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Of course, it is easiest to agree and live in peace with those who are actively choosing Christ or who are at the very least choosing the values that He emulates. But what about those who choose to do evil? How can I live in peace with these people? The Catechism (1933) states: “Liberation in the spirit of the Gospel is incompatible with hatred of one’s enemy as a person, but not with the hatred of the evil that he does as an enemy.” In other words, we can condemn their actions, but we still must love them for their potential. No matter the depth of their sin, God can still raise them to sainthood, and for that we must “greet them with a holy kiss.” Sometimes, all that might look like is praying for them.

I often need to remind myself that every person on the planet is a child of God and that they are loved just because they exist. My love and compassion for others will always fall short, but thankfully none of us don’t have to rely on our own strength. We have the “grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit” to bolster us. It is because of the power of God that we may one day see world peace.

Ronnie Noonan-Birch

2 Comments

Walk Out

27/5/2026

2 Comments

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Daniel
3.52-55

R. Glory and praise for ever!

Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our fathers and blessed is your glorious and holy name.

R. Glory and praise for ever!

Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory, and to be extolled and highly glorified forever.

R. Glory and praise for ever!

Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom, and to be extolled and highly exalted forever.

R. Glory and praise for ever!

Blessed are you who look into the depths from your throne on the cherubim.

R. Glory and praise for ever!

Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven, to be sung and glorified forever.

R. Glory and praise for ever!

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

This Sunday we’ll join together and sing this Psalm, a song of praise. We’ll sit side by each in our churches, giving voice to God’s glory.

Bear with me a moment for a left turn. Have you ever been to the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland or Disney World? On part of the ride you enter a room acting as an elevator. On its walls are paintings of happy people in gilded frames. You see a pretty girl with a parasol; a smiling grandma holding a rose; a dignified gentleman, hand placed on the lapel of his waistcoat. As the elevator descends the rest of the paintings are revealed. The girl is on a tightrope over a snapping alligator. The grandma is sitting atop the tombstone of her murdered husband. The gentleman is standing on a barrel of TNT with a lit fuse. There’s more than meets the eye.

The same could be said of today’s Psalm. Pull down the frame of this picture of voices lifted to extoll God’s glory, and we find flames. All this is voiced from the midst of the furnace, an antiphon crafted in fire. A cantor sings, and others return the refrain. Three young men are thrown into a furnace because they will not bow down to the king’s statue. Abednego at first sings alone (Daniel 3.24-45) a song of the story of his people and his God, a tale of apostasy and a cry for coming home to start again.

God’s answer is concrete. A fourth joins them — the Angel of the Lord. In response to this wonder, Shadrach and Meshach join in to sing with Abednego. The stability of a chord of three notes, the cord woven out of three voices, begins rising in the smoke.

A song sung in four stanzas:
   First, to God, who has joined them in the flames (v52-56),
   Second, to all creation (v57-81),
   Third, to all people (v74-82-87), and
   Last, to their own souls (v88-90).

Again, all this is voiced from the midst of the furnace, the song in its completion sung to the Father, with the Son standing shoulder to shoulder with them, and the fire of the Holy Spirit supplanting the flames fuelled by naphtha, pitch, and the fear of King Nebuchadnezzar. In the end, the three men walk out unharmed, but changed.

I have been in the fire, letting my fear fuel it. I have sung praise as both a shield and a sword. I have stood in a room with others lifting His name as if no one was there but Him. I have knelt, sat and laid on a floor all alone, lifting Him high, only to find He was right there with me.

As I sit beside you this Sunday and we sing, I cannot see the rest of your painting beneath you. You cannot see mine. But our God sees them both. As we come to Him together, our voices joining in the Our Father, the Son on our tongues, the Holy Spirit’s fire in our hearts, with surrendered souls, we can walk out changed.

Noreen Smith

2 Comments

Stiff-Necked People

26/5/2026

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A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Exodus
34.4b-6, 8-9

Moses rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.”

The Lord passed before Moses, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. He said, “If now I have found favour in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Maybe it’s my age or maybe it’s the way I spend so much of my precious life hunched over in front of one glowing device or another, but the words “stiff-necked people” really stood out to me. Being stiff-necked isn’t a word of praise Moses is levelling at the people he’s led out of captivity in Egypt.

What had the Israelites done to deserve Moses’ criticism? Twenty-two chapters before this, in the Book of Exodus, the Israelites had left Egypt. Eighteen chapters before, the Lord provided the manna and quail to quell their hunger in the desert; and seventeen chapters before, the Lord provided water from a rock to quench their thirst. Then, two chapters before this one, the Israelites, with Aaron at the lead, melted down their gold to make the golden calf. They lost patience while Moses was on the mountain (receiving the Ten Commandments and other instructions), and they turned back to idol worship.

After relentless miracles and provision, after so many signs and miracles, the Israelites couldn’t be trusted on their own for even a minute. This is why Moses called them stiff-necked. He was comparing them to oxen who pull against their reins. They didn’t want to accept God’s guidance and leading, even after everything He had done for them. They had full bellies but, rather than be grateful in those idle days waiting for Moses, they turned to idol praise.

And if that isn’t relatable, I don’t know what is! Since my birth, I have been a recipient of many blessings. I survived a perilous birth. I came through a near death experience with barely a scratch. I have a loving husband and seven beautiful, healthy children. I have salvation in Christ. I’ve never wanted for my daily bread in any form. I’m even pretty lucky when it comes to finding a parking spot for my gigantic van. God is so good to me, in ways both big and small!

But I’m still out here, building my little altars to all my idols: attention, creation rather than the Creator, and my own comfort. I worship at those altars when my belly is full and my life isn’t as hard. Sure, I turn to God when I need the Red Sea parted but, when His full glory isn’t on me, I’m back to my old ways. Yet, when God is looking to keep my eyes on Him and only Him, I pull at the reins with my stubborn and stiff neck.

In the end, all I’m doing is hurting myself. What good is a stiff neck? All it’s doing is keeping me from the good that God has set aside for me. When I submit myself to God’s leading, when I truly trust Him, He works wonders in me and around me. My heart is at peace. O my soul, stop getting in the way of your own good!

Heavenly Father, send your grace over me, that I can become docile to your leading. Help me to live in perfect trust and to be more perfectly shaped into the image of Christ. Amen.

Stéphanie Potter

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John 3:16

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Finding Peace

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Walk Out

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Stiff-Necked People

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Archives

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, May 31st, 2026:
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity