One truth

Holy Trinity

Today we have started what we call, Ordinary Time. This time starts with two important feasts: the Most Holy Trinity, which we celebrate today and the Blessed Body and Blood of Jesus, which we celebrate the coming Sunday.

In the Creed, we proclaim our faith. It is a prayer which is founded on the belief in one God. We believe that God is one in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We cannot explain this. We call it a mystery. With the help of the Church’s teachings and prayer, we can understand better, parts of the mysteries of faith, however, we can never understand everything. This should not discourage us, neither should it present us with a difficulty in what we believe. God is so great and infinite, that it is impossible for us to understand everything. We are not God. We will understand when we are in heaven. In fact, this was the sin of the first man, he wanted to be like God. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about the relationship of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. The three persons are equal in everything, even in divinity. Jesus tells the disciples that what he taught them, was coming from the Father. From him, it will pass on to the Holy Spirit. Jesus passed on the Father’s teachings to the disciples, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, they would pass them on to others. As a Church, as a family and as individuals, we are also called to pass on this faith. We can only do this with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

God is love (1 John 4, 8). As parents, you are responsible to help the children know God. They do not get to know God only through formal teaching, they also learn about him through your behaviour. They cannot see God; however, they can see you. How can the children know that God loves them, he forgives them, he gives them everything they need, if they do you see you doing these things? God gave himself for us. God did not need to become man, however he did, because he loves us fully. Every time we show love, every time we give of ourselves, without knowing, we are reflecting the Holy Trinity.

A reading from the Gospel of John (Jn 16, 12-15) 

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

  1. Read the Gospel story so that you are familiar with it.
  2. Reflect on what the Gospel story is saying to you. Which points would you highlight and why? 
  3. What is the thing which you ‘cannot bear it now’? It could be that you are not feeling loved as much as you are loving others, or it is some suffering which you are passing through at the moment, you may feel that you need to be forgiven or to forgive someone, or God’s presence in all of this. The ‘Spirit of truth’ may give you the peace you need. If you do not already do this, start from now, and lift up your questions to the Holy Spirit, and ask for the gifts of wisdom and understanding. 
  4. Jesus tells the disciples, ‘I have much more to tell you.’ Is Jesus telling you something, however you do not want to hear what he is telling you? Ask the Holy Spirit to give you courage, and you may also ask your spiritual director or confessor for help. 
  5. Together with your family find the right time to read this Gospel. The environment helps, so before you start, prepare;
    i. The Bible reading from St John (16, 12-15)
    ii. A white candle
    iii. Cover the table with a white cloth
    iv. A computer/laptop with the readings and clips
    v. An icon or picture of the Holy Trinity
  6. Go through the steps with your children (2 age groups are being suggested).
  7. Feel free to adapt to your situation
  8. Be creative 😊 

Do you remember what feast we celebrated last week? It was the feast of Pentecost. Although, for the Church, every Sunday, is a special day, there are some which are more special than others. Last Sunday, this Sunday and the next one, are very special ones. We are really going to celebrate! When we celebrate, we are happy. Jesus wants us to be happy. That is why we have so many feast days!

  • That we believe that God is One in Three Persons: the Father, Jesus the Son of the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
  • A laptop

Let us make the sign of the cross.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We mentioned three persons. Who are they? (the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit)

Do you know what we call them together?

They are God. This is the feast we are celebrating today. We are celebrating the feast of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We call it the Feast of the Holy Trinity. The word Trinity is coming from the word three, because as we said, we believe that God is One in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Do not worry that you are not understanding all of this. No one can understand how God is one, but God is also three persons.

Listen to a story, which happened many years ago. Once there was a man called Augustine. He was a very intelligent man, and he wrote many books about God. One day, after spending a long time writing, he was tired and he went for a walk by the seaside. No one was there, apart from a young boy. This boy was going back and forth to the sea. When Augustine reached the boy, he noticed that the boy was holding a seashell. He had dug a hole in the sand and was filling the shell with seawater and emptying it in the hole. Augustine was curious, so he asked the boy what he was doing. The boy looked up and said, “I am trying to empty the sea and put it into this hole.” Augustine smiled. He kneeled down near the boy, and said, “But how can you ever manage to do that? The sea is so big that it will never fit into that small hole!”

Do you know what the child replied? “If I cannot fit all that sea into this small hole, how can you understand the Trinity?”

Augustine became a saint. He was very intelligent; he studied a great deal and he also prayed a lot. However, he never understood how there is one God in three persons. It is not a problem, that even we, as Augustine, cannot understand this!

Although we may not understand, it does not mean that we do not believe. There are other things which we do not understand and yet we believe them. For example, do you know why fire is hot? Probably you don’t but it is also very probably that you believe that any fire is hot! If you put your hand on the fire, you burn and hurt yourself. In the same way, although we cannot understand or see God, we believe that God is there, because all that is good, is coming from him. When someone shows us love, this is coming from God; when someone makes us happy, this is coming from God; when someone cares for us and teaches us, this too is coming from God. God uses these people, so that through them, he shows us how much he loves us and cares for us. 

You already know several things about Jesus. Can you name a few? (Jesus loves others, he loves children, he helps us, he teaches us, he is friends with everyone)

In the stories about Jesus, we realise that he talked a lot with God the Father. He told us that he received the strength to do what is right, from the Holy Spirit. So, although we know that we will not understand how there is one God in three persons, we know that the more we read the Bible and the more we love each other, the more we will get to know the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Today’s activity will help us learn more about God, the Holy Trinity. Every time we make the Sign of the Cross, or pray the Glory Be, we are mentioning the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Go to, https://bekids.mt/sign-of-the-cross/ and https://bekids.mt/the-glory-be-prayer/ and you will not only learn more about the Sign of the Cross and the Glory be, but you will also have fun doing a quiz and other games. 
When you are ready, listen to, the Trinity Song.

Sign of the Cross

Pray the Glory be.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity. This is not a word we find in the Bible, however Jesus showed us and spoke about the three persons of the Trinity.

  • We believe that God is one
  • Printout of today’s activity, on cardboard
  • Scissors 
  • Glue
  • Paper punch
  • String
  • Colours
  • Coloured pencil / gel pens
activityDownload

Trinity is derived from the word three, because we believe that there is one God in three persons. No one can fully understand or explain how this can be. We say, that we believe in the mystery of the Trinity. It is a mystery not because we will try to solve this, like detectives do in some film or novel!

The mystery of the Trinity is something that we believe, even though we cannot fully understand. On the other hand, the more we learn, the more we grow up and the more we pray, the more we will understand, even though we will never understand exactly how there is one God in three persons. 

God is so great, wise and perfect, that we cannot understand him fully. Although we can never understand this mystery, we can always get to know God more. When we read the Bible, we will learn more about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We also get to know God when we pray. Apart from this, we also learn about God during our parish meetings and at school. 

The three persons are mentioned in today’s Gospel. The son, Jesus, is talking to his disciples. He is telling them that it is time for him to return to heaven. As we heard in the Gospel of the last few weeks, Jesus is promising them that they will not be alone, that he will send the Holy Spirit. He tells them that what he taught them, was coming from the Father. After he returns to the Father, the Holy Spirit will be with them, to remind them all that he had taught them.

Today’s activity will include three clips about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Watch them, so that you learn more about these three persons. Afterwards cut the picture of the Holy Trinity and of the semi-circle. Colour the picture of the Trinity. Punch holes as marked (the blue dots). Glue the semi-circle to the back of the picture of the Trinity. When you fix it, see that the holes still show. Cut out the hearts. In the heart of God the Father, write down some adjectives which you heard in the clip, which describe him. Do the same, for God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Do holes as indicated. Pass the string from the holes, so that you hang the hearts from the picture of the Holy Trinity. Hang this in your room. 

Watch these clips:

God the Father.

God the Son

God the Holy Spirit

Sign of the cross.

Pray the Creed. This is a prayer which shows that we believe in one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You may either say the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed, this is the creed we say during mass. Afterwards, listen to, This I believe.

Let’s say: The Apostles’ Creed

Also: Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,

and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

How to use this space

God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand the upcoming Sunday's Scripture readings, helping you to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.