The Cause of the Canonisation of John Henry Cardinal Newman

Print This Post Email This Post

A Meditation for Trinity Sunday: let us fix our thoughts on God

Categorised as Featured and published Saturday, June 6th, 2009
A Meditation for the Feast of Pentecost: the Church, dwelling place of the Holy Spirit
A Meditation for Corpus Christi: the eyes of all hope in Thee

Relief of the Baptism of Christ, Grötlingbo kyrka, Gotland, Sweden

“We are now celebrating the last great Festival in the course of Holy services which began in Advent; the Feast of the Ever-blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whose mercy has planned, accomplished, and wrought in us “life and immortality.” And the present Festival has this peculiarity in it,—that it is the commemoration of a mystery. Other Festivals celebrate mysteries also, but not because they are mysteries. The Annunciation, the birth of Christ, His death on the Cross, His Resurrection, the descent of the Holy Ghost, are all mysteries; but we celebrate them, not on this account, but for the blessings which we gain from them. But today we celebrate, not an act of God’s mercy towards us, but, forgetting ourselves, and looking only upon Him, we reverently and awfully, yet joyfully, extol the wonders, not of His works, but of His own Nature. We lift up heart and eyes towards Him, and speak of what He is in Himself. We dare to speak of His everlasting and infinite Essence; we directly contemplate a mystery, the deep unfathomable mystery of the Trinity in Unity.

Doubtless, from that deep mystery proceeds all that is to benefit and bless us. Without an Almighty Son we are not redeemed,—without an Ever-present Spirit we are not justified and sanctified. Yet, on this day, we celebrate the mystery for its own sake, not for our sake. On this day, then, we should forget ourselves, and fix our thoughts upon God.

From the sermon ‘Faith without Demonstration’ (1837) Click here for the full text (leaves site)

(Picture: Wolfgang Sauber)