“Scratchpad Reflections are daily meditations on the scripture readings for the date noted and are written by Dominican Brother Daniel Thomas to help readers gain a deeper understanding of the daily liturgies and Masses of celebration. Here is the reflection for:

 May 22, 2016 – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

About today’s Solemnity

Scripture Readings for today’s Solemnity

Proverbs 8:22-31     –     Psalm 8     –     Romans 5:1-5     –     John 16:12-15

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!”

 These words are so familiar to us that we sometimes rattle them off with quick and sometimes sloppy gestures. But, when we think it through, they are the foundation of our belief – and following – a Sovereign God who is a “Trinity of Oneness.”

Their was a priest in my province who’s now “gone to glory,” Fr. Bede Wilks, who was famous for drawing us into this mystery of the Trinity by catching us up quick and slowing down this gesture that begins our gatherings into the presence of God. He would say, “We begin, in the name of the Father…” then stopping, as he touched his forehead and continued, “where do we begin our awareness of being in God’s presence?   Up here – tapping his head – where we think about things. But we don’t just stop there. We bring it down into our very being and center of our life-force – the heart. ‘…and of the Son’ who came into our flesh-and- blood- world.”

Then, continuing, as he touched his two shoulders, “and the Holy … Spirit…” who ties it all together and keeps it as a solemn trinity in our own oneness.” Then he would blurt out, “Do I hear an “Amen?” And, of course he’d get an enthusiastic, “AMEN!” from the assembled congregation.

I think Fr. Bede’s familiar beginning of the Mass was his way of slowing us down in one of our most familiar gestures in order for us to begin to grasp the meaning of the Trinity. All of us who knew Fr. Bede and knew of his on-going struggle to more fully understand the mystery of God, said, at his funeral, “Well, he finally knows for sure the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Amen!”

The rest of us, left here on earth, continue our own, personal struggles to allow God to be all He wants to be in our lives. Think about that. Let it sink in to the depths of our being and let it pump life into all that we do. May these hands of our’s reach out to all those that we meet and be a cause for them being drawn into this wonderful mystery of God’ love for all people. “Do I hear an AMEN?”