The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
This is why you must now know and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other. Deuteronomy 4:39
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Romans 8:16-17
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always. Matthew 28:19-20
Piety
Come, Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
Study
The
ecstatic existence of the Trinity is the supreme confidence of love that love
offered will be returned and more than returned via replenished giving that no
one can diminish or exhaust. In Latin: Esse
Deus dare: to be God is to
give.
Consider the words and nightly deeds of
Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. In wartime, she made her
systematic rounds of all the medical tents, saw patients, and regularly cleaned
the tents.
She said, “I have very ordinary ability...
God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that’s it, and
I have never refused God anything.”
Like the Most Holy Trinity: the universe,
including human beings, is intrinsically relational. For example, a writer in a
current journal says, “Most persons find that their faith in a future life is a
belief only, not a conviction. And why? Because the self for whose immortality
they hope is an unreal abstraction.”[i]
To illustrate this, somebody asked, “I heard
the Catechism teaches that human beings can become God. How is this possible?”
The answer is that we make our soul a habitation for God beginning at baptism.
No matter how busy you are: you can have a cloistered heart. We have Heaven
within us. This idea and ideal is the core of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity’s
message. She wanted us to understand that if union with God is our end, then
Heaven is not a destination but rather a completion, a perfection of a state of
being. This blessed existence can begin now, anticipating the eternal present.
Matt Chandler said, “God doesn’t need to
have emergency meetings. He’s never gathered the Trinity and asked, `What
happened there?’”
If you want to sense the Trinity dwelling
in you, 2 Peter 1:4 gives a clue: “….that…you may participate in the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
The Trinity is our protection.
A painting called “Shield of the Trinity”
featured in manuscripts and many stained-glass windows has the word “Deus,”
inscribed in the center with lines leading out to three points, which are
labeled:
“The Father is God”
“The Son is God”
“The Holy Spirit is God”
“God is the Father”
“God is the Son”
“God is the Holy Spirit”
The whole purpose is liberation from
spiritual bondage in the battlefield of our thoughts by renouncing sinful
thoughts and desires. This attitude frees us to receive the blessing God has
given us in his Son so we might live for the praise of His glory. Our Second
Reading speaks of “a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God.”
It is perfectly acceptable to orient our
prayers to the Son or the Spirit even though all prayer speaks to the Father.
“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your
faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and
they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.”
Prayers to Jesus are very common. For example, devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that begin, “Most sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus;” and the Fatima prayer after each decade of the Rosary, “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need of your mercy.”
Action
Refuse God nothing like the Trinity, that in giving being is replenished not diminished or exhausted.
Understand that heaven can dwell within you when you are in the state of grace. This blessed existence can begin now by indwelling of the Holy Trinity.
A spiritual militancy is required daily in this life through renunciation and faith by the “Shield of the Trinity.”
AMEN.
[i] H.
Heath Bawden, in the Review of Religion, May 1950, p. 410.
Image Credit: By Unknown (13th-century scribe/illuminator)
- British Library, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1288638
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