[Salvation]

Sunday Gospel Reflections

Trinity Sunday
Reading I: Exodus 34:4-6,8-9 II: 2Cor 13:11-13

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Gospel
John 3:16-18

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
¹⁷ For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
¹⁸ He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

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Interesting Details

• This gospel is extracted from the dialog between Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21). Nicodemus, a Jewish leader and a educator, came to question Jesus about his teachings of the kingdom of God.
• The encounter of Jesus with Nicodemus is one of the four accounts which emphasize the "newness" that Jesus has brought into the world.

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One Main Point

God's love for the world is so great that he sent his son, Jesus, to save us. Whoever believes in Jesus will have the eternal life.

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Reflections

1. John insisted on the intimate relationship between faith and love. Faith is a loving union with Jesus. Is my faith a "loving faith?" Is my faith closely tied to the standards and principles?
2. What experiences in my life have helped me see God's love for me?
3. How does Jesus' teaching lead me close to God?
4. Through what activities do I nourish my faith?

[Salvation]

And wilt Thou pardon, Lord,

A sinner such as I,

Although Thy book his crimes record,

Of such a crimson dye?

 

So deep are they engraved,

So terrible their fear,

The righteous scarcely shall be saved,

And where shall I appear?

 

O Thou Physician blest,

Make clean my guilty soul

And me, by many a sin oppressed,

Restore and keep me whole.

 

I know not how to praise

Thy mercy and Thy love;

But deign my soul from earth to raise

And learn from Thee above.

 

 

-- Saint Joseph the Hymnographer