"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you." 2 Cor. 13: 11-13Today we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Following the closing of the Easter season last week with the renewing and energizing fire of Pentecost, it's as if we continue to keep on celebrating God's mystery in our lives so that we do not forget what we have been about during the Lenten and Easter season. The mystery of the Trinity invites us into relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I can remember as a "growing up Catholic girl" memorizing a definition of the Trinity from the traditional Baltimore Catechism:
What do you mean by the Blessed Trinity?
By the Blessed Trinity I mean one God in three persons.
Can we fully understand how the three Divine Persons are one and the same God?
We cannot fully understand how the three Divine Persons are one and the same God because this is a mystery.
Now I must confess I could not find an old Baltimore Catechism on the monastery bookshelves, so I googled my queries and was amazed that my religious education of those primary years was still available and sounded so very familiar. The answer to the second question, that the Trinity cannot be fully understood because it is a mystery, conjured up a chuckle. I can actually remember writing that exact answer on a test. I was relieved I did not have to understand it; I could just accept it as faith. I can remember turning to a boy who kept asking Sister to explain this mystery and saying, "Johnny, we cannot understand it; it's a mystery!!! After I entered the monastery, I remember my novice director teaching us about the hypostatic union of the Trinity, drawing mathematical-like diagrams on the board that made absolutely no sense to me at all. Now she may have used the term "it's a mystery" but I certainly wasn't going to be the one who said that to her.
There is a story told about St. Augustine, who one day was taking a stroll along the seashore, trying to ponder the mystery of the Trinity. He discovered a child with a little pail, who trekked back and forth, emptying bucket after bucket into a hole in the sand. When Augustine asked him what he was doing, the child replied that he was putting the ocean into the hole. When Augustine told him this was impossible, the boy responded that it was just as impossible for him to comprehend the mystery of the Trinity. Bingo! "It's a mystery, Gus! We cannot understand it."
The liturgical celebrations and Scripture readings put us in touch with the three Divine Persons, Creator, Redeemer, and and Spirit. Barbara Reid, O.P. in her reflection entitled, "A Dance of Love," states that today's Gospel (John 3: 16-18) "tells of God's ecstatic love of the world that overflows in the gift of the Son. He was not sent to die, but to share the life and love that is the very essence of the Holy One-in-Three." She goes on to explain the concept of perichoresis which helps us to "envision the dynamic love relationship of the Trinity in a circular fashion. The word means literally "going around" and suggests a vigorous dance-like movement of each person circling, interweaving, whirling in vibrant interaction. The point of this dance of love, however, is not for the sole enjoyment of the divine Dancers. The dance is an open circle that invites all onto the dance floor, drawing them right into the midst of the energetic flow of divine delight. If some hesitate, preferring to sit on the sidelines, the Three-in-One circle back again and again, extending the invitation over and over to each and to all, changing the pace and the rhythm, so that even the most clumsy of us can learn the steps in the dance of divine love." Now this makes perfect sense to me. I love the image of life as a dance. I love the image of circle, the image of inclusivity, unity, and community. I see God the Father creating the universe out of love, sending Jesus to love, and sending the Spirit in ever abiding love. And all Three-in-One beckon us to stay faithful to this dance of love.
I see my living in community as a sacred dance. The Trinity embraces us in the divine dance as we pray together, share meals together and share our gifts with one another. The Three-in-One dances with us as we go about our various ministries, inviting others into this dance of divine love. Because of the daily fidelity to this circle of love to which we have been called, we can understand the Trinity as lived reality, as sacred gift of all-embracing love, and as life-giving breath for our world today.
At our Vigil service last night, three Sisters opened prayer with the following invitatory and candle lighting:
In mystery and grandeur
we see the face of God
in earthiness and the ordinary
we know the love of Christ.
In heights and depths
and life and death:
the spirit of God
is moving around us.
Let us praise God.
I will light a light
in the name of God
who lit the world
and breathed the breath of life into me.
I will light a light
in the name of the Son
who saved the world
and stretched out his hand to me.
I will light a light
in the name of the Spirit
who encompasses the world
and blesses my soul with yearning.
We will light three lights
for the trinity of love:
God above us,
God beside us,
God beneath us:
the end,
the everlasting one.
From In Spirit and In Truth
So, yes, I finally get it, or do I? May this image of the dance of love be an icon in the dailiness of life and may we be faithful to the following invitation of St. Benedict:
What do you mean by the Blessed Trinity?
By the Blessed Trinity I mean one God in three persons.
Can we fully understand how the three Divine Persons are one and the same God?
We cannot fully understand how the three Divine Persons are one and the same God because this is a mystery.
Now I must confess I could not find an old Baltimore Catechism on the monastery bookshelves, so I googled my queries and was amazed that my religious education of those primary years was still available and sounded so very familiar. The answer to the second question, that the Trinity cannot be fully understood because it is a mystery, conjured up a chuckle. I can actually remember writing that exact answer on a test. I was relieved I did not have to understand it; I could just accept it as faith. I can remember turning to a boy who kept asking Sister to explain this mystery and saying, "Johnny, we cannot understand it; it's a mystery!!! After I entered the monastery, I remember my novice director teaching us about the hypostatic union of the Trinity, drawing mathematical-like diagrams on the board that made absolutely no sense to me at all. Now she may have used the term "it's a mystery" but I certainly wasn't going to be the one who said that to her.
There is a story told about St. Augustine, who one day was taking a stroll along the seashore, trying to ponder the mystery of the Trinity. He discovered a child with a little pail, who trekked back and forth, emptying bucket after bucket into a hole in the sand. When Augustine asked him what he was doing, the child replied that he was putting the ocean into the hole. When Augustine told him this was impossible, the boy responded that it was just as impossible for him to comprehend the mystery of the Trinity. Bingo! "It's a mystery, Gus! We cannot understand it."
I see my living in community as a sacred dance. The Trinity embraces us in the divine dance as we pray together, share meals together and share our gifts with one another. The Three-in-One dances with us as we go about our various ministries, inviting others into this dance of divine love. Because of the daily fidelity to this circle of love to which we have been called, we can understand the Trinity as lived reality, as sacred gift of all-embracing love, and as life-giving breath for our world today.
In mystery and grandeur
we see the face of God
in earthiness and the ordinary
we know the love of Christ.
In heights and depths
and life and death:
the spirit of God
is moving around us.
Let us praise God.
I will light a light
in the name of God
who lit the world
and breathed the breath of life into me.
I will light a light
in the name of the Son
who saved the world
and stretched out his hand to me.
I will light a light
in the name of the Spirit
who encompasses the world
and blesses my soul with yearning.
We will light three lights
for the trinity of love:
God above us,
God beside us,
God beneath us:
the end,
the everlasting one.
From In Spirit and In Truth
So, yes, I finally get it, or do I? May this image of the dance of love be an icon in the dailiness of life and may we be faithful to the following invitation of St. Benedict:
"But as we progress
in this way of life and in faith,
we shall run on the path of God's commandments,
our hearts overflowing
with the inexpressible delight of love."
