Gospel according to Saint John 3:16-18
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
A dialog with three voices
Luis CASASUS President of the Idente Missionaries
Rome, May 31, 2026 | Most Holy Trinity
Exod 34: 4b-6.8-9; 2Cor: 13: 11-13; Jn 3: 16-18
The First Book of Samuel recounts how the army of Israel was paralyzed by fear in the face of the giant Goliath. Then David, a young shepherd, stepped forward without powerful weapons or military experience. His strength did not lie in himself, but in the certainty that God was with him: You come against me with sword and spear, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts (1 Sam 17:45). That awareness of God’s presence transformed the impossible into something unexpectedly simple: with a sling and a stone, he defeated the giant.
The awareness of God’s presence turns difficulties into opportunities for trust, and what seems humanly insurmountable becomes “easy” because it does not depend on our own strength, but on grace.
Later, we read in the Gospel that Paul and Silas were in prison (Acts 16:25–26): they sang hymns in prison, and God’s presence transformed darkness into freedom.
Paul himself, after acknowledging his own weakness and that of everyone else, advises the Corinthians in his Second Epistle (13:11): Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, strive for perfection], encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
All these testimonies and the experience of the saints are truly unquestionable: simply being aware of God’s presence, regardless of our state of mind and without any extraordinary intervention, changes our perspective, renders fear irrelevant, and allows us to discover talents and opportunities we had not considered.
That is why today’s feast can help us awaken to the divine presence, manifested through three distinct voices. Reflecting on these three voices is surely the most direct and fruitful way to enter into the so-called Mystery of the Holy Trinity.
Our Heavenly Father tells us who we are: rather than a collection of virtues and vices, rather than members of a society or beings endowed with certain faculties, we are children—that is, heirs to the vineyard in which we are to carry out a task. This also changes the way we view our neighbor, whom we begin to recognize as an heir to that vineyard as well.
Jesus Christ tells us how we are to work and serve in that vineyard. We need only imitate Him; a serene look at the Gospel confirms that He has already experienced every difficulty, every conflict, and even every temptation that might afflict us.
The Holy Spirit places in our hands the means to work (“giver of life”) and invites us to set aside what is superfluous to the work; that is, He purifies us.
These are the three voices that speak to us unceasingly, not only when “we set out to listen,” which usually happens in moments of overwhelm or a particular sense of helplessness.
Someone might think that these voices are imaginary, or even sometimes pure self-suggestion, but in reality they resonate within us clearly as a gentle suggestion, an invitation, a call that is almost always drowned out by the clamor of the voices of the soul and the world, even though we then sense that something beautiful and valuable has been lost in our lives.
Some time ago, a 51-year-old man was on his deathbed in the hospital; I had met him years earlier. It fell to me to administer the last rites to him, and when I saw him, he was fully conscious and lucid; he knew he had only hours—or at most a few days—left, as his heart was severely and irreversibly damaged.
We talked at length, and he told me how he had managed to have a good relationship with his wife and two children and that he believed he had never treated anyone badly, which seemed likely to me, given his good nature. In the middle of his story, he paused for a moment and said to me: Luis, I die with sadness because I am sure I could have done much more for everyone.
I will never forget those moments, because I am sure I have the same impression regarding my own life, which is something to be grateful for. It is what is already written in the Book of Job (5:17): How blessed is the man whom God corrects; do not despise, then, the discipline of the Almighty.
What happened to my dying friend, I believe, is the same sentiment shared by so many good people who say: I would like to have faith, but the truth is that they have not stopped to listen to those three voices inviting them to undertake a task immediately, not to understand our Heavenly Father’s plan in all its details.
In reality, our Heavenly Father’s plan includes me doing something for Him right now; it is not a form of activism, but rather thinking, acting, or speaking as Christ would in my situation, for which I receive true light and strength from the Holy Spirit. This is what happened to Christ during His baptism and to the disciples on the day of Pentecost.
It is interesting how St. Paul instructs the Ephesians to understand these two truths: that the Spirit inspires us at every moment and that His relationship with us is truly loving and intimate, for by living a mediocre life we are capable of saddening Him. In this way, he is not speaking of a boss-employee relationship, but of true spiritual friendship:
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Eph 4:29–30).
—ooOoo—
Finally, let us consider how the biblical affirmation that we were created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26–27) takes on a special depth when we recognize that God is Trinity, because then, everything we understand and say about the Holy Trinity affects our own nature.
St. John Paul II said in his Letter to Families on the occasion of the International Year of the Family: Before creating man, it seems as if the Creator looked within himself to seek the model and inspiration in the mystery of his own being.
► First of all, God is not solitude, but a communion of three Persons. In the “Let us make” of Genesis, written by an inspired author, the total presence of the Trinity in the act of creation is revealed. Being created in his image means that our deepest identity is relational: we are made to live in communion, not in isolation. Both individualism and selfish tendencies go directly against who we truly are.
The origin of every relationship among us lies in the begetting of the Son by the Father and the proceeding of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son. God the Father begets the Son, from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds as a gift.
Therefore, we can say that sin is unnatural, for it is akin to expecting a stone to sprout from a seed, rather than a plant like the one that produced that seed.
One manifestation of this reality is the sad situation of a multitude of young people, from high or low social classes, who are victims of loneliness in its various forms. Nothing can replace the relationship between parents and children, with siblings, and with true friends.
For believers and non-believers alike, sharing daily experiences with someone—the joy of a discovery or the sadness of a loss—is part of personal development; building personal relationships is one of the most important elements of our being as persons created in the image of the Trinity.
► We say that in God there is a distinction of Persons and a unity of nature. Here, our likeness is reflected in the capacity to be distinct (each person is unique) and at the same time called to unity in love, because if love is the essence of the Trinity, then being the image of God means that our fulfillment lies in loving and being loved. For that love to exist, there must be at least two similar persons to give what has been entrusted by the Trinity to each created person.
► There is something more central than the moral life, even though it is indispensable. It concerns our vocation to the divine life; we are called to participate in the very life of God, to enter into his communion by grace from now on, without having to think about “the hereafter,” about what will happen after death.
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In the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Luis CASASUS
President
