15th June - Mary's Meals - Trinity Sunday (Year A)

This week we are joined by Aoife Martin, the Fundraising Coordinator for Mary's Meals in Ireland and Martina O'Sullivan from Abbeyfeale.  The podcast of the full programme is available HERE.  

Martina O'Sullivan joined us for our Gospel reflection and on behalf of the Apostolate of Eucharistic Adoration told us of their upcoming trip from Abbeyfeale to Knock next Sunday, June 22nd, where there will be Eucharistic Adoration for children in the Adoration Chapel from 11.30am to 3.00pm.  

Aoife Martin shared a little of her faith journey with us including staying for 14 months with the Craig Lodge Community in the Family House of Prayer in Argyll in Scotland.  Her main focus today was Mary's Meals which began in 2002 as a one-off school feeding programme. Today Mary's Meals provide daily life changing meals to over 890,000 hungry children.  


Although the main focus of Mary's Meals is their school feeding programme, they also provide emergency relief and aid delivery and residential care for children when fund's allow. 

Aoife's interview on Mary's Meals is available HERE.  To find out more about Mary's Meals and how you can help, visit their website HERE.  The video Child31 also explains more about the origin and purpose of Mary's Meals:

Gospel - John 16:12-15

"Jesus said to Nicodemus, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.  For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God's only Son.'"

On this solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we are invited to reflect this great mystery.  "The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the great mystery of Christian life and faith.  God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 261).

In this sense, the mystery of the Trinity is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be entered into.  Love is at the heart of the mystery... the mutual love of the Father, Son and Spirit within the Trinity which they desire to share with us. Rublev's Icon expresses this desire beautifully. God the Father, Son and Spirit invites us into a profound relationship of love with them... a relationship which will change our lives forever... a relationship which will make us children of God.

In Ireland today is Father's Day.  We give thanks for the gift of our fathers, those still living and those who have travelled before us to their eternal reward.  We give thanks too for our Heavenly Father who revealed Himself to us as Father through His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Have you wished our Heavenly Father a Happy Father's Day today?  What do you think would make our Heavenly Father happy today?  There is a glimpse of an answer to this question in today's Second Reading of St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians: "we wish you happiness; try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; living in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you" (2 Cor 13:11-12).

More reflections on the Trinity:

The Trinity: On Loving Love Living
God is Three and God is One
Paul, Trinity and Community

Our good friend Phil has some excellent thoughts on Trinity Sunday HERE.

A reflection for Father's Day:
What would Joseph Do?

As we are in the midst of the World Cup which Brazil is hosting, here is a thought-provoking article on Rich and Poor: Faith and Life in Brazil.

Other reflections on today's Gospel are available here:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds and ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 3; 11th Week of Ordinary Time

As we return to Ordinary Time, this is a great reflection on Ordinary in an Extraordinary Way by another great friend of the programme Sr. Louise.

Saints of the Week

June 16th- St. John Francis Regis
June 17th- St. George Barbarigo
June 18th- St. Marcus and St. Marcellinus
June 19th- St. Romuld
June 20th- St. Silverius
June 21st - St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Notices

The Meaning of Religious Freedom
The Iona Institute and the Irish Catholic are co-hosting a talk on 'The Meaning of Religious Freedom' by Bishop Brendan Leahy (Chair: Professor Eamonn Conway) in The Strand Hotel, Limerick at 8.00pm on Tuesday, June 17th.  Admission is free.  If you would like to attend, please email bconroy@ionainstitute.ie or phone 01-6619204.