Such great love: Ex 34, 2 Cor 13, and the gift of the only-begotten Son in Jn 3

A Santíssima Trindade C: Tão Grande Amor

The Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity, the first after Pentecost, celebrates the central mystery of the Christian faith: God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons in one single nature. The revelation of the name of God to Moses on Sinai, in Exodus 34,4b-6.8-9, describes the Lord as merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 2 Corinthians 13,11-13 offers the most explicit Trinitarian blessing in Paul’s letters: the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. Jn 3,16-18 reveals the basis of the Trinitarian mystery: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

I. Tão Grande Amor: A Primeira Leitura e Êxodo 34,4b-6.8-9

So great a love is manifested in Exodus 34, where Moses ascends Mount Sinai with the replacement stone tablets. The Lord descends in a cloud and reveals His name: “The Lord, the Lord, God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). This self-proclamation is the most quoted text of the Old Testament within itself. Moses prostrates himself and worships, asking for forgiveness and that God be among them.

The liturgy of the Most Holy Trinity C chooses this passage from Paul as the second reading because it contains the oldest and most complete Trinitarian formula in the New Testament.

II. Tão Grande Amor: O Saudar Trinitário em 2 Coríntios 13,11-13

Such great love is expressed by Paul as he concludes his Second Letter to the Corinthians with brief exhortations: “Rejoice, advance toward perfection, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace” (2 Corinthians 13:11). He promises: “The God of love and peace will be with you.” And he concludes with the Trinitarian blessing: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (v. 13). This blessing structures the life of the Christian community, not as an abstract formula but as a lived experience of the Son who gives grace, the Father who gives love, and the Spirit who brings fellowship.

III. Tão Grande Amor: O Evangelho de João 3,16-18

In the dialogue with Nicodemus, Jesus reveals God’s love for the world: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (Jn 3,16). The logic is of the gift, not of demand. “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (v.17). Judgment is a consequence of refusal, not of intention. “Whoever believes in him may not be condemned; but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because they do not believe in the name of the only Son of God” (v.18).

The Sunday of the Trinity focuses on this verse because it reveals the inner reason for the Trinitarian mystery: the Father gives the Son out of love for the world, and the Spirit is that love with which the Father and the Son love each other and by which they love us. This “so great love” of the Trinity is the source of all grace in Mary.

IV. Tão Grande Amor: Maria e a Trindade

The Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity invites us to contemplate the Trinitarian economy as a movement of love that finds in Mary its most beloved creature. As Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Mary is the perfect icon of the communion of the Three Divine Persons.

The liturgy proclaims with Paul: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.” Mary lived this grace, this love, and this communion in a unique way, anticipating the destiny of the entire Church.

In the Most Holy Trinity, the gospel of Jn 3,16 illuminates the Marian mystery: Mary is the virginal womb where the Only Begotten Son becomes a gift for the world. The immense love of the Father passes through the “fiat” of the Mother. Therefore, Catholic piety indissolubly associates the Most Holy Trinity with the icon of Mary, especially on the Marian Saturday that follows Trinitarian Sunday. The Virgin prolongs in the life of the Church the eternal doxology to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Ex 34 reveals God as merciful and gracious: in Christian tradition, Mary is the paramount icon of this mercy of God, the Mother of Mercy who intercedes for sinners before the Son. The trinitarian formula of 2Cor 13:13 structures Mary’s relationship with the Three Persons: patristic and medieval tradition describes Mary as the Father’s beloved Daughter, the Mother of the Eternal Son, and the Spouse or Sacrament of the Holy Spirit. The three relationships are unique: no other creature stands in personal relation to the Three Persons as Mary does. Jo 3:16 states that God so loved the world that he gave his Son: Mary was the human instrument of this gift. God’s love for the world passed through Mary’s fiat: without her yes, the Only-Begotten Son would not have assumed human flesh. Therefore, tradition calls her “the cause of our joy” and “the gate to heaven”: the “great love” of the Father finds its way into the world through her: she is the point of contact where the trinitarian love entered time and became accessible to the world. The Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity contemplates the mystery that Mary received in full at the Annunciation, more so than any other human being.