(Busy, busy, busy… Sorry for not updating the blog lately, but since the beginning of the year I have been working late hours and will be going on business travel the next couple of weeks. On top of that I just started another semester at school, so I have not had much of spare time.)
Regardless of how busy I may be, I still miss writing for the blog and, most importantly, reading your thoughts. I just started a Trinity and Incarnation class and we are, obviously, learning about the Trinity, but because my degree focuses on the pastoral aspects of theology, we are going to be asking ourselves throughout the semester how to talk about the Trinity to parishioners and fellow Christians in simple terms. Our belief in the Triune God is one of the pillars of our faith, but many of us do not know how to explain it or even how to make it meaningful in our own walk of faith. From personal experience, I know that every year when Trinity Sunday comes along, I expect a fruitful homily that would hopefully enlighten further my understanding of this sacred mystery. It turns out that the homilies have helped a lot. Reading books on the side by the saints and theologians has helped me tremendously. I have gotten to the point that I meditate on the Trinity daily when before I just didn’t know where to start thinking about the Trinity! Three in one, One in Three? What? Why would God make one of the fundamental dogmas of the Christian faith such a difficult one? Well, it doesn’t have to be. It is a mystery after all! :)
Many valid questions and many answers too, but for now, I would like to know from you the following:
- How do you incorporate the mystery of the Holy Trinity into your daily living (if at all)? Your spirituality?
- If you have children, how do you explain it to them? Have you even tried?
- What difficulties do you experience with this dogma?
- Do you think it is not emphasized or explained enough at the pulpit?
- What do you think would happen if suddenly we stop talking in Trinitarian terms at Mass or at the parishes or at home?
I have written something on the Trinity before on this blog, where I explain how I’ve dealt with this dogma, in case you’re interested. When I think about the Trinity, I think about the relationship between the Three Persons and the infinite love that reigns among them. I stopped trying to figure out the “three in one and one in three” part, because that didn’t get me anywhere ;)
The main way I reflect on the Trinity in my daily life is praying the “Glory be” during my daily prayer. I read an an abbreviated office each day an follow the Invocation and each Psalm with the Gory be.
This past year is the first year for me to really incorporate the Trinity in my life. I have been closer to Jesus and the Holy Spirit more so than God the Father, but this year I have been bringing the fatherhood of God the Father in my life. This has given me a more accurate picture of who God is(it’s starting to be a glimmer). I also like to think about how I am(we all) Loved immensely by the “family” that God Himself is. The Theology of the Body has really helped me fall in Love with the Doctrine of the Trinity. Christopher West really explains this in a way that I understand in my heart.
I think when the Doctrine of the Trinity is talked about but in a way where it jsut seems like a “doctrine”. When I hear it from the pulpit it sound impersonal and the beauty is lost in translation. Me(not being an intellectual, but praise God for those who have that God given gift, wish I did…keeps me humble(: ) I want to hear it talked about form Heart to Heart. I want to hear those how speak about it “know” the Trinity, not just about Him…..that’s my 2 cents…..maybe a nickel
Blessings
Psalm 17:8
“you are” the apple of His eye;
Michael
Jim,
That’s right. When we pray the office, we say the Glory be so many times… it’s indeed beautiful! The Glory be, the Sign of the Cross…
All little reminders of the “family” that is God (I love how you said that Michael!)
katerina,
i think your first post on the Trinity was good and that’s the best way to “incorporate” the Trinity.
Another factor is a serene excitement of a person who has encountered Christ. It is living without indifference towards God, for to live with indifference towards God is to live with indifference towards yourself. We see that only in Christ can we have compassion on ourselves. The weight of his gaze moves us to lean on his infinite mercy, a change in us that we could not do ourselves. We begin to live in such a way that situations don’t even matter, that what matters is that we change, that we take our desires seriously, our desires which point to a Father. And looking back, we can see that it is truly the Spirit of Christ who has moved us by his beauty; we have seen that we have become new persons. It is the experience of the Resurrection. Only in new life, only in the Resurrection, can we see the triune love of God for our humanity, the humanity He embraces.
Apolonio,,
that was beautiful!
Blessings
Apolonio, that is indeed beautiful!
I recommend Ralph Smith’s Trinity and Reality in which he connects the Trinity to the center of reality in very concrete terms. The Trinity is the locus of the Gospel and no doctrine is so profound, yet it is rarely discussed as to how the reality of the Trinity should permeate our lives.
http://www.amazon.com/Trinity-Reality-Introduction-Christian-Faith/dp/1591280249
Thanks for the recommendation Jeff! I will use it for my class, because I need to write a talk I would hypothetically give to an RCIA class on the Trinity.