This Sunday is a very special one. It’s Trinity Sunday, and it’s also the day that 30 children of the parish will receive JESUS in Holy Communion for the very first time. At first glance, it may seem as if these two celebrations are unrelated, but this would be a mistake.

The Trinity is one God in three Persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is a relationship and God is love. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, and that love between them is the Holy Spirit. This is the mystery of God’s inner life, hidden for ages, but revealed in the fullness of time. And this same God, Who is full of love, wants to live in us. And that’s what Holy Communion is all about.

In Holy Communion, JESUS, the Son of God and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity gives Himself to us out of pure love. We receive Him Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. But JESUS is not alone. Although JESUS as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit, He is never separated from them. So wherever JESUS is, the Father and the Holy Spirit are there too. Therefore, when we receive JESUS in Holy Communion, we are receiving the fullness of the Trinity and are being drawn into the very heart of God.

So this weekend, when our children walk up and kneel at the communion rail, and receive the little white Host, it’s not a symbol. It’s the living JESUS truly present – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, and so the whole Trinity will come to dwell in their hearts. This is not something sweet and sentimental. It’s a spiritual reality.

We must always receive Holy Communion with the utmost reverence and in a state of grace.  JESUS said, “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:54). So each Holy Communion received in a state of grace brings us closer to God and increases the glory we will one day have in Heaven. Conversely, as St Paul warns, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily …” (ie. in a state of mortal sin) “eateth and drinketh judgement to himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29). In other words, it can lead to eternal punishment if unrepented.

So let us always remind ourselves, we come to Mass to worship God, and if we’re in a state of grace and observe the one hour fast, to receive Him in the most intimate way possible which is Holy CommunionolyH. So let us pray for these innocent young children as they approach this most sacred moment in their lives. We ask the Lord to guide and protect them, and to give them a real hunger for Him in this most holy Sacrament of the Altar. The world is full of so many distractions, and yet there is only one thing that can truly satisfy us, and that is God.

Therefore, on this Trinity Sunday, let us thank God for revealing Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and for giving Himself to us so completely in the Holy Eucharist. Let us never take for granted the miracle that happens at every Mass.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC