The Gospel for the Second Sunday after Trinity tells of three men who were invited to a great supper but could not go because they had something more important to do – at least that’s what they thought. One had acquired a piece of land, another had bought five yokes of oxen, the third was on his honeymoon.

The Epistle for the First Sunday after Trinity speaks of love. Love, in the sense of the Holy Scripture, is not a feeling or even good deeds by which we serve our fellow man. Love should be our nature. God is love, says St. John, and we are the children of God, created in His image and likeness. We can have no greater or nobler goal than to grow into the fullness of love so that we would see God, who is love, face to face, and reflect His love so that everyone around us can share in it.

The message of the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity is twofold: on the one hand, it testifies to the greatness of the Triune God, and on the other hand, it reminds us that the God in whom we believe has loved us so much that He has given His only-begotten Son for our redemption. He sent His Spirit to regenerate us as His children and lead us to eternal life, where we too can join in the most wonderful liturgy before the throne of God and His Lamb in heaven.

Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter, is the day of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. It is sometimes called the birthday of the Church, because on that day the apostles baptized the first three thousand new Christians after Jesus’ ascension.

The last Sunday before Pentecost is the Sunday within the Octave of Ascension. With the Feast of the Ascension, the Church celebrates the reality of Christ as true God and true man.
During the forty days after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus revealed Himself to those who loved Him and believed in Him. On the fortieth day they saw Him ascend into heaven. This vision was necessary, not for Jesus Himself, but for His disciples so that they might know that He is with His Father.