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From the Pastor’s Desk
As a student of the Sacred Liturgy, I am often fascinated to learn the history behind certain actions the Church does within the course of celebration its Rites. As well, the history of certain feasts in the Church can tell us a lot about where we have come from and why we do what we do.
The celebration of today’s Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is a case in point. As the Church continued to grow after it gained formal recognition in the early 4th century, she also had to continue to define its Faith, especially from the threat of Arianism and other heresies of the time. The councils of the Church in that century were a result of the need to best state what we believed about Christ, the Blessed Mother as well as the Holy Trinity. This led to prayers and hymns being composed for use in the Liturgy, particularly at Mass.
The Preface (the prayer that leads into the singing of the “Holy, Holy, Holy”) of today’s feast dates from the Gelasian Sacramentary (c. 800 A.D.), the second oldest liturgical book of the Roman Church available. That Preface has been used in the Roman Catholic Church for over 1300 years! The other prayers for today’s Mass probably originated in the Benedictine monasteries of present day France from about the same time. A fixed date for today’s feast – the Sunday after Pentecost – came in the 11th century and became mandatory for the Universal Church in 1334 by Pope John XXII.
After having celebrated the fullness of God’s love in Jesus Death and Resurrection during the Easter season and crowning these celebrations in the Solemnity of Pentecost, today’s focus on the Holy Trinity can be seen as a way of looking back at how God has so wondrously revealed Himself in human history; and He does so down to our days and beyond.
“To you, O blessed Trinity, be worship and honor,
glory and power, praise and joyful adoration
through all ages. Amen.”
Love,
Fr. Tom