Trinity Sunday

The spirituality of  St Francis is deeply Trinitarian. His writings reveal a profound awareness of even now being immersed, sharing in the Communion that is God.

The grace of his baptism had come alive in Francis in his experience.  The same awakening of the gift  is offered to each of us.

So tomorrow's feast of the Holy Trinity is not meant as a theology lesson. It stirs up in us not only a spirit of awe and adoration before the Most High, but also confidence, assurance and joy in the God who has lifted us up into his own intimate fellowship.

The Spirit of God penetrates our most intimate personal depths. From there we can cry out in love and trust: 'Abba, dear Father.'  The Spirit places us within the very rhythm of the divine life, allowing us participate personally in the love that exist between the Father and the Son.

That is why love and prayer are going on in us, at the deepest level where our spirit has been touched and enlivened by the Holy Spirit. Our prayer can seem to us such a poor thing,  so distracted, so ‘unsuccessful’. But we do not see the reality. Our prayer is one with the communion of love between Jesus and the Father, this communion which is the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit becomes the soul of our soul, the most secret part of our being, from which rises unceasingly to God a movement of prayer.

I can see why Francis and the other saints keep reminding us: be careful that your understanding of the gift is not too small, your vision too limited, your hope too paltry.

The deepest things we need are not elsewhere. We  are in God; we live in God; we journey to God in God.

 

Trinity: God is not lonely!

We could never have known – God had to reveal it.

The Creator is not some lonely deity living in eternal isolation but Father, Son and Spirit - a communion of boundless joy, a fountain of light and life and love that is the source of all that is. This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday when the liturgy especially rejoices in the God who has been revealed to us. 

And the delight is we do not just look in wonder at this mystery of God from the outside. No, God holds nothing back from us. God’s humble, vast goodness invites us in. Through the giving of the Beloved Son to the world, God’s willing abasement elevates humanity.  A saint said: 'His richness wears the face of my poverty that I may be enriched by his divinity.'

St John writes:  'To all who believe in him, he gave power to become children of God.' This power is God’s own Spirit. We are brought into this love relationship that exists within God from all eternity. We are embraced and caught up into God, children in the one beloved Child.  We are loved by the Father with the selfsame love with which he has loved and loves Christ before time began, with the same torrent of self-giving goodness and delight. The Spirit is nothing less than the love between the Father and the Son, their communion. 

The Holy Spirit carries us into the heart of God. By the Spirit we so share God’s life that our very 'I' can become part of the 'I' of God. We are not displaced by some vague, oppressive spirit but recreated from within by the Holy Spirit. What Paul claims is true for all of us who share in the Spirit of the Lord: 'It is not I who live but Christ lives in me.'

I know it takes a lifetime to even begin to understand and live this reality.

But how wonderful to know in faith the gift given.

How precious to catch glimpses of the divine splendour.

How sweet to taste God's joy within.