The love that exists within the Holy Trinity overflows into love and forgiveness for man, as shown by Christ’s death on the cross. That was the message of Pope Benedict XVI in his Trinity Sunday sermon during his visit to the tiny European state of San Marino June 19.

“So, in the mystery of the cross, there are three Divine Persons,” he told the 25,000 strong congregation at the country’s Serravalle Stadium.

“The Father, who gave his only begotten Son for the salvation of the world, the Son, who carries out the will of the Father to the very end and the Holy Spirit - poured out by Jesus at the moment of his death - who comes to render us participants in divine life, to transform our lives, so that our lives are animated by divine love.”

“The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, because God is love: the Father gives everything to the Son, the Son receives everything from the Father with gratitude, and the Holy Spirit is like the fruit of this mutual love between the Father and Son,” said the Pope describing the Holy Trinity – the Christian proposition that God is three persons but one divine nature - as the “first and greatest mystery of our faith.”

San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world. It was founded in the early 4th century by two missionaries, Marino and Leo, who were fleeing anti-Christian persecution in what is now Croatia.

The Pope noted how “Marino and Leo with their faith in God revealed in Jesus Christ, brought new perspectives and values to the local context, resulting in the birth of a culture and a civilization centered on the human person.”
And he urged the people of St. Marino to stay true to the ancient Christian faith of Marion and Leo.

“The temptation has crept in to believe that the wealth of man is not the faith, but his personal and social power, his intelligence, his culture and his ability to manipulate scientific, technological and social realities.”

“Thus, in these lands, the Christian faith and values have begun to be replaced ​​with a presumed wealth, which in the end reveals itself inconsistent and incapable of containing the great promise of truth, goodness, of beauty and justice, which for centuries your ancestors identified with the experience of faith.”

EWTN News