Ordinary Time: June 15th

MASS READINGS

June 15, 2025 (Readings on USCCB website)

PROPERS [Show]

Mass Propers for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity:

Entrance Antiphon: Blest be God the Father, and the Only Begotten Son of God, and also the Holy Spirit, for he has shown us his merciful love.

Alleluia Verse, Cf. Rev 1:8: Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was, and who is to come.

Preface: The Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity: It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God.

For with your Only Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit you are one God, one Lord: not in the unity of a single person, but in a Trinity of one substance. For what you have revealed to us of your glory we believe equally of your Son and of the Holy Spirit, so that, in the confession of the true and eternal Godhead, you might be adored in what is proper to each Person, their unity in substance, and their equality in majesty.

For this praised by Angels and Archangels, Cherubim, too and Seraphim, who never cease to cry out each day, as with one voice they acclaim:

Communion Antiphon, Gal 4:6: Since you are children of God, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of his Son, the Spirit who cries out: Abba, Father.

COLLECT PRAYER

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity: God our Father, who by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification made known to the human race your wondrous mystery, grant us, we pray, that in professing the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

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Recipes (4)

• Elegant Barbecued Chicken
• God Cakes
• Seed Cake
• Superb Barbecue Sauce

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Activities (7)

• Feast of the Holy Trinity
• Prayers to the Blessed Trinity
• Religion in the Home for Elementary School: June
• Religion in the Home for Preschool: June
• Stitching Feast-Day Symbols
• Teaching the Trinity
• The Trinity and the Mass

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Prayers (4)

• Prayer for Trinity Sunday
• Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter (1st Plan)
• Te Deum
• Litany of the Most Holy Trinity

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Library (16)

• Catechesis on the Holy Trinity | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Christ's Passion Reveals Glory of the Trinity | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Glory of the Trinity in Christ's Ascension | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Glory of the Trinity in the Heavenly Jerusalem | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Glory of the Trinity Is Revealed in History | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Holy Trinity Is Revealed at Jesus' Baptism | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Incarnation Reveals Glory of the Trinity | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Presence of the Trinity in Human Life | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Saints Reflect Infinite Love of Trinity | Pope Saint John Paul II
• The Divine Romance: The Blessed Trinity | Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
• The Father as the Source of the Whole Trinity: The Procession of the Holy Spirit in Greek and Latin Traditions | Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• The Name of the Holy Trinity Is Engraved In the Universe | Pope Benedict XVI
• The Trinity in the Life of the Church | Pope Saint John Paul II
• The Trinity: Fountain of Love and Light | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Trinity Is Mysteriously Present in Creation | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Trinity Is Present in Christ's Resurrection | Pope Saint John Paul II

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Blog & Podcasts (1)

• Celebrating Trinity Sunday at Home

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

The fundamental dogma, on which everything in Christianity is based, is that of the Blessed Trinity in whose name all Christians are baptized. The Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity needs to be understood and celebrated as a prolongation of the mysteries of Christ and as the solemn expression of our faith in this triune life of the Divine Persons, to which we have been given access by Baptism and by the Redemption won for us by Christ. Only in heaven shall we properly understand what it means, in union with Christ, to share as sons in the very life of God.

The feast of the Blessed Trinity was introduced in the ninth century and was only inserted in the General Roman Calendar of the Church in the fourteenth century by Pope John XXII. But the cultus of the Trinity is, of course, to be found throughout the liturgy. Constantly the Church causes us to praise and adore the thrice-holy God who has so shown His mercy towards us and has given us to share in His life.

Commentary for the Sunday Mass Readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Cycle C:
The First Reading is from Proverbs 8:22-31. The fact that there are three Persons in the one God has been clearly revealed by Christ himself. He spoke of being equal to the Father yet a distinct Person from the Father; yet a distinct Person from the Father; then he spoke of the Holy Spirit as a Person with distinct actions of his own, whom he and the Father would send on earth, to complete the work of man's salvation. The Church accepted this fact and this doctrine without hesitation from its very beginning, as it was given to it on Christ's undoubted and undoubtable authority.

This doctrine was not revealed to the Jews of the Old Testament, and for a very good reason. They were surrounded by pagan nations who had many gods, and anything that even remotely looked like polytheism was anathema to their strict monotheism. But there were many hints at the possibility of more than one Person in their God—one of which we have just read in Proverbs today—but the Jews did not see the hints for their minds were closed against any such idea.

The Second Reading is from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 5:1-5. These verses of St. Paul's letter to the Romans bring out very clearly the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. Each of the three divine Persons has a part in our justification. We are at peace with God the Father through the death and resurrection of the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit continually lives in us, keeping the love of God alive and active in our hearts.

The Gospel is from John 16:12-15. During his discourse at the Last Supper, Christ had promised his disciples that he would send them the Holy Spirit—-the Paraclete—(See John 14:16-26), to strengthen and console them and recall to their minds the truths he had taught them. In today's text, he repeats the promise and tells them the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and that the truths he will reveal to them will be those which the Father and the Son want revealed.

In St. Paul's letter to the Romans, read at today's Mass, we have a clear statement of the faith of the infant Church in the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. In these verses from St. John—a part of the discourse at the Last Supper—we have St. Paul's, and the Church's, source of the truth of that doctrine, Christ himself, who was the second Person of the Blessed Trinity became man for our salvation. As regards this basic dogma of our Faith then, that there are three Persons in the One God, there is no room for doubt, we have it on the authority of Christ who is God. If we cannot understand how this can be, we need not be surprised—our human minds are very limited, they depend on our human senses for their images of things. A man, deaf from birth, has no image in his mind of sound, a man blind from birth has no mental idea of color, but it would be irrational of these to deny the existence of sound and color.

We Christians, however, have no difficulty in admitting the existence of the Blessed Trinity, and today as we honor the three divine Persons, our central thought should concentrate on gratitude to each of the three: the loving Father who planned not only our creation but our elevation to adopted sonship; the all-obedient loving Son, who carried out the Father's plan, sharing with us our humanity so that we could share in the divinity; the Holy Spirit, fruit of the love of Father and Son, who has come to dwell in the Church and in each individual member, in order to fill our hearts with a true love of God.

We know we are unworthy of this divine generosity. The greatest saints that ever lived on earth were unworthy of such divine interest. That should not and must not stop us from availing of this divine generosity. We can show our gratitude in one way only, that is by appreciating our privilege and by striving to show our appreciation of it in our daily lives.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit know all our human weaknesses, they knew them before they arranged to make us sharers in their own eternal happiness. They know also that it is those of us who try and try again to rise above our human weaknesses, who will finally share their heaven with them.

This possibility is open to all. The Blessed Trinity will exclude nobody from heaven. What we know of their plans for man's sanctification makes such a thought impossible. If some fail the fault will lie completely and entirely with themselves; they did not do the little that was asked of them.

May God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit grant us the strength to overcome our human weaknesses and live and die in their love so that we may share their eternal kingdom with them.
—Excerpted from The Sunday Readings, Cycle C, Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

Trinity Sunday
The dogma of faith which forms the object of the feast is this: There is one God and in this one God there are three Divine Persons; the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods, but one, eternal, incomprehensible God! The Father is not more God than the Son, neither is the Son more God than the Holy Spirit. The Father is the first Divine Person; the Son is the second Divine Person, begotten from the nature of the Father from eternity; the Holy Spirit is the third Divine Person, proceeding from the Father and the Son. No mortal can fully fathom this sublime truth. But I submit humbly and say: Lord, I believe, help my weak faith.

Why is this feast celebrated at this particular time? It may be interpreted as a finale to all the preceding feasts. All three Persons contributed to and shared in the work of redemption. The Father sent His Son to earth, for "God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son." The Father called us to the faith. The Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, became man and died for us. He redeemed us and made us children of God. He ever remains the liturgist par excellence to whom we are united in all sacred functions. After Christ's ascension the Holy Spirit, however, became our Teacher, our Leader, our Guide, our Consoler. On solemn occasions a thanksgiving Te Deum rises spontaneously from Christian hearts.

The feast of the Most Holy Trinity may well be regarded as the Church's Te Deum of gratitude over all the blessings of the Christmas and Easter seasons; for this mystery is a synthesis of Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. This feast, which falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost, should make us mindful that actually every Sunday is devoted to the honor of the Most Holy Trinity, that every Sunday is sanctified and consecrated to the triune God. Sunday after Sunday we should recall in a spirit of gratitude the gifts which the Blessed Trinity is bestowing upon us. The Father created and predestined us; on the first day of the week He began the work of creation. The Son redeemed us; Sunday is the "Day of the Lord," the day of His resurrection. The Holy Spirit sanctified us, made us His temple; on Sunday the Holy Spirit descended upon the infant Church. Sunday, therefore, is the day of the Most Holy Trinity.
—Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Symbols of the Trinity: Equilateral Triangle; Circle of Eternity; Three interwoven Circles; Triangle in Circle; Circle within Triangle; Interwoven Circle and Triangle; Two Triangles interwoven in shape of Star of David; Two Triangles in shape of Star of David interwoven with Circle; Trefoil; Trefoil and Triangle; Trefoil with points; Triquetra; Triquetra and circle; Shield of the Holy Trinity; Three Fishes linked together in shape of a triangle; Cross and Triangle overlapping; Fleur de Lys; St. Patrick's Shamrock

Highlights and Things to Do:

• Depending on the ages of family members, research symbols of the Trinity and create something for the centerpiece of your family table, or something for your family altar, such as a small banner or poster. It can be as little as a 4 x 6 photograph or something to use every year as a backdrop or wall hanging.
• Think of different foods to serve that can reflect the symbolism of the Trinity. One example is clover leaf rolls. These rolls are formed with three balls of dough put into one hole of the muffin tin for each roll. They are easy to make. Use your favorite roll recipe (you can even buy frozen bread or roll dough), or search on the Internet for one of many examples. See Catholic Cuisine for other ideas.
• The Directory on Popular Piety explains some of the pious exercises related to the devotion of the Holy or Blessed Trinity. Three very simple prayers are the Sign of the Cross, Gloria Patri (Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, etc.) and the Trisagion (meaning "thrice holy"): "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy on us." This is just one version, there are many others, and it is usually found in the Eastern liturgies.