http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/13May/trinisun.htm#haydock

TRINITY SUNDAY

    In the short, but powerfully poignant and pertinent paragraphs from our Lord's mouth in His final assurance of His protection in today's Gospel we have all we need to debunk all Protestant argumentation for Scriptura sola or Fidei sola. Their rationalizations are heresy for the Word alone will not save you, nor will Faith alone, but rather those combined through the Sacraments for only through being in the state of Sanctifying Grace can we hope to achieve Heaven. We arrive at the sacraments through Faith and we learn Faith through the Word. Consider, if you will, a three-legged stool (ideal analogy for Trinity Sunday). If one of those legs are missing the stool cannot stand. To know Jesus is to love Him and obey Him by following all He commands.

Comprehensive Catholic Commentary
by
Fr. George Leo Haydock
provided by
John Gregory

        Today, when political correctness and universal salvation rule the roost the three final verses of Matthew's Gospel are a crash course in polemics that His grace is only shed on and available through the Church He founded, not through or by an offshoot fashioned by man. Thus, whether the man would be a Nestor, an Arius, a Mohammed, a Photius, a Michael Caerularius, a John Hus, a Martin Luther, a John Calvin, a Henry VIII, a John Smith, a Joe Doe, or a Vatican II false pope, the Catholic Church cannot be improved upon and any attempt is a slap in God's face and should be shunted as not Catholic. It simply cannot be considered Catholic or of God for one or all of the four necessary indelible Marks of the Church would be missing. No matter how large (whether it's billions like Islam or the conciliar church) or just a few, if a sect (religious group) is not in full accord with the infallible decrees of the dogmatic Council of Trent which reaffirmed and set in stone all Christ and His Apostles passed down, said sect must be avoided at all costs, especially the cost of one's soul!

Epistle: Romans 11: 33-36

33 O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor?

35 Or who hath first given to Him, and recompense shall be made Him? 36 For of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things: to Him be glory for ever. Amen.

    Commentary on Verse 36 O the depth, & c. After he hath spoken of the mysteries of God’s grace and predestination, of His mercy and justice, which we must not pretend to dive into, he concludes this part of his epistle, by an exclamation, to teach us submission of our judgment, as to the secrets of His providence, which we cannot comprehend. – How incomprehensible are his judgments, & c. – Who hath first given to Him, and recompense shall be made Him? That is, no one, by any merit on his part, can first deserve God’s favors and mercy, by which He prevents us. – For of Him, from God, or from Jesus Christ, as God, and by Him, Who made, preserves, and governs all things, and in Him, is our continual dependence: for in Him we live, we move, and exist. In the Greek, it is unto Him, to signify He is also our last end. See the notes, John c. i. Wi. – All things are from God, as their first cause and creator; all things are by God, as the ruler and governor of the universe; and all things are in God, or (as the Greek has it) for God, because they are all directed to His honor and glory. For He hath made all things for Himself. Ps. xvi. St. Basil, lib. De Spirtu sto. C. 5.


Gospel: St. Matthew 28: 18-20

18 And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to Me in Heaven and in earth.

    Commentary on Verse 18 All power is given to Me. The Arians object that the power which Christ had, is said to be given Him by another. The Catholics answer, that Christ, as man, received this power from God. Secondly, it may also be said, that the eternal Son, though He be equal, and be the same God with the Father, yet He proceeds and receives all from the Father. Wi. – See here the warrant and commission of the apostles and their successors, the bishops and pastors of Christ’s Church. He received from His Father, all power in Heaven and in earth: and in virtue of this power He sends them (even as His Father sent Him, St. John xx 21.) to teach and disciple, not one, but all nations, and instruct them in all truths: and that He may assist them effectually in the execution of this commission, He promises to be with them, (not for three or four hundred years only) but all days, even to the consummation of the world. How then could the Catholic Church go astray? Having always with her pastors, as is here promised, Christ Himself, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. St. John xiv. 6. Ch. – Some hence infer that Jesus Christ, according to His human nature, was sovereign Lord of the whole world; but more properly this may be taken of His spiritual power, such as regards the salvation of souls. For Jesus Christ says to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world. This spiritual power, Jesus Christ communicated in part to His apostles and their successors in the ministry, as to His vicars: As My Father hath sent Me, so I send you. Whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in Heaven: behold here the power both in Heaven and earth. E.

19 Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

    Commentary on Verse 19 Teach all nations. In St. Mark we read, going into the whole world, preach to every creature, that is capable of it; not only to the Jєωs, but to all nations throughout the whole world, baptizing them,& c. The Anabaptists pretend to shew from this place, that none are to be baptized, unless they be first taught and instructed. This is true, as to persons who are already come to an age, in which they are capable of being instructed before their baptism. But according to the tradition and constant doctrine of the Catholic Church, received also by the pretended Reformed Churches, new born children are to be baptized before they are capable of instruction: nor can they enter into the kingdom of Heaven without baptism. – In the name of the Father, & c. We are made Christians in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: we profess to believe, and hope for our salvation, by believing, hoping, serving, and adoring the same three divine Persons, from whence the Fathers prove the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to be one God, and equal in all perfections. Wi. – Had Christ only said, Lo! I am with you all days; it might, in that case, be limited to the natural lives of the apostles; but as he moreover adds, even to the consummation of the world, it must necessarily be extended to their successors in the ministry, till the end of time. E. – By the words Go, teach, he gives them the power of teaching not only what relates to faith, but also what is necessarily connected with piety and holy conversation. For we see added a further explanation, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: which words, beyond all doubt, must be referred to the precepts of a holy life. How egregiously then must those men be deceived, who infer from the words teach all nations, that faith alone will suffice. What follows, baptizing them, shews another part of the pastoral functions, which consists in the administration of the sacraments. Hence also all heretics are refuted, who pretend to affirm that all ecclesiastical ministry consists in barely delivering the word. Estius in dif. loca.

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

    Commentary on Verse 20 Behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world, embraces two points necessary for the Church; viz. integrity of doctrine, and sanctity of life; for, if either of these should be wanting to the Church, it might then be justly said, that she had been left and abandoned by Christ, her Spouse. E. – Jesus Christ will make good His promise: 1. by always dwelling in the hearts of the faithful; 2. by His sacramental presence in the holy Eucharist; 3. by His providential care, and constant protection to His holy Catholic Church. These last six lines of St. Matthew’s gospel, says the bright luminary of France, Bossuet, most clearly demonstrate the infallibility and indefectibility of the one, holy, Catholic Church, which all are commanded to her and to obey.