Easter - Holy Trinity
Holy Trinity
(From Conversation with God, Fernandez Carvajal)Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Blessed Trinity. This, the ineffable mystery of God's intimate life, is the central truth of our faith and the source of all gifts and graces. The liturgy of the Mass invites us to loving union with each of the Three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This feast was established for the Latin Church by Pope John XXII, to be celebrated on the Sunday after the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is the last of the mysteries of our salvation.
In his infinitely wise providence God gradually revealed to mankind his inmost being, that is, as he is in himself, and not just as the cause of created things. In the Old Testament he makes known above all his oneness, and his complete transcendence from the world as its creator and lord. We learn that God, unlike the world, is uncreated; that he is not limited in space (he is immense) or in time (he is eternal); and that his power knows no limits (he is omnipotent). Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, says the liturgy, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Only you, Lord, are God.
The Old Testament proclaims above all the greatness of Yahweh, the one God, Creator and Lord of the universe. But he is also revealed as the shepherd who seeks his flock, who looks after his own indulgently and tenderly, who forgives and forgets the frequent infidelities of his chosen people. At the same time we get glimpses of the paternity of God the Father, of the Incarnation of God the Son (whose advent is foretold by the prophets), and of the action of the Holy Spirit, who vivifies all things.
But it is Christ who reveals to us in all its fullness the inner workings of the Trinitarian mystery and calls us to participate in it. No one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. It is he who speaks to us of the co-existence of the Holy Spirit with the Father, and who sends him to the Church to sanctify it until the end of time; and he it is who reveals to us the perfect oneness of life of the Three Divine Persons.
The mystery of the Trinity is the starting point of all revealed truth, the fountain from which proceeds supernatural life, and the goal whether we are headed: we are children of the Father, brothers and co-heirs with the Son, and continually sanctified by the Holy Spirit to make us ever more and more resemble Christ; accordingly, we deepen in the understanding of our divine filiation and become living temples of the Blessed Trinity.
Since it is the central mystery of the Church's faith, the Blessed Trinity is continually invoked in the liturgy. We were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and in their name also are our sins forgiven. We begin and end many prayers by invoking the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Often during the day we may say the prayer: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
"God is my Father! If you meditate on it, you will never let go of this consoling thought! Jesus is my dear Friend (another thrilling discovery) who loves me with all the divine madness of his Heart. The Holy Spirit is my Consoler, who guides my every step along the road. Consider this often: you are God's - and God is yours." (Saint Josemaria)