The Holy Trinity Reaching Out to Us

I may be late in writing this reflection because we had already celebrated last Sunday June 7, 2009 the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. But nonetheless, I'd like to share these thoughts here for those who are searching for some ideas about the Holy Trinity from an experiential perspective. They so spontaneously came as I was administering psychological exams to a seminarian in Tagaytay City. The seminary in Tagaytay is simply so serene and I savored it so much. As the examinee was answering the tests, I just made my silent prayer and reflection in preparation for the Sunday Mass homily as I walked outside the testing area. Thank God indeed for inspiring me with these thoughts which I shared in my Mass that Sunday at the Corinthian Hills. It was even a great coincidence(?) that the readers of that day were the Garcia family: the father, the mother and their only daughter. The human trinity?

As we celebrate one of the tenets of the Christian faith, an indispensable core of our faith and life, i.e., the Blessed Trinity, maybe it is good for us to ask WHO and WHAT is the Trinity for us as Christian. Yes, this dogma in Christianity is not so easy to understand, but the Holy Trinity is very much related to us, and yes, it is relating to us. There is this story of St. Augustine who wanted to go into the depths of the Holy Trinity, that he dreamt walking along the seashore and seeing a child digging a hole in the sand. He stopped and asked the boy what he was doing. The boy said, "I am digging this hole so that I can put the water of the sea into it." St. Augustine was supposed to have exclaimed, "Impossible!" At that the boy was supposed to have disappeared, and lo! he realized that it was an experience of the impossibility of understanding the truth of the Holy Trinity.

From our catechism we all know that the Holy Trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let me delineate here the three Persons in this One God, the Holy Trinity.

1. The Father, the First Person in the Holy Trinity is the Source and Origin of life - our life and the life of all around us. Isn't He called the Creator - of heaven and earth. Everything that we are, have and will be, everything above us, below us, and with us, both the seen and the unseen - came from Him, God the Father. We were taught that He created everything IN LOVE, OUT OF LOVE, FOR LOVE. Without Love, He wouldn't have created; without Love, He wouldn't be Father. The Father is thus, LOVE.

This implies that individually and socially, even globally, we all came from God. We have a divine origin, and a divine end. The Father is where we all came from, and we hope to end in Him.

2. The Son, The Father's Only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ - is the Second person of the Holy Trinity. In Him, God for us became a human person, a MALE one (why not female? Please ask God when you meet Him), born of a woman like all of us, had a body, mind and spirit. He walked, He talked, felt, related with others like and me do. The God that we have in Christ is no longer simply an idea. In Jesus Christ, we have seen how it is to live the life of a human person. If we'd like to really live as a human person, we have in Him an excellent MODEL - the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity.

This Jesus, our Lord, suffered, died and was buried like you and me. Everyone of us has sufferings, and we will all die. And how we hope to be buried. He died the most ignominious way of dying - the most shameful way - ON THE CROSS. Jesus Christ really showed us the truth of our lives, that we are all crucified to our sins and will die in them.

Yet this Jesus Christ rose from the dead to show us that our lives, borne from God, are not only meant for dying. He showed us that we are meant to live eternally, to rise from our own graves and deaths, living the Resurrection itself in our lives. He ascended into heaven. His life was brought up to heaven. And when we live like Him and follow Him, we are called to likewise go to heaven and be with Him at the side of the Father. Just look at His Mother who was assumed into heaven.

3. The Holy Spirit is the 3rd Person of the Holy Trinity. He was sent from above by the Father and the Son. He witnesses and points to the Son so we can follow and serve Him. he breathes on us the Father's Love Itself.

If the Father created us and gave us a model in life, He gave us the Holy Spirit to abide by us, protecting us, sustaining us. It is the Holy Spirit Who inspires us to pray, to be good to others, to love them and grow as human persons. When we are in the Holy Spirit, indeed we are blessed in every single moment of our lives. We are not alone, not abandoned when the Holy Spirit is with us. While we believe that God the Father and Son are in heaven, God the Holy Spirit tells us that He is with us, in us, and even through us.

When we look at the sacramental life we live in the Church, the Holy Spirit is there and has been given to us.

At Baptism, the Holy Spirit has made us children of God.

At Confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthens us.

At the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Spirit gives us the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession, the Holy Spirit inspires us to be contrite of heart, amend our lives, and He forgives us.

At the Anointing of the Sick, the Holy Spirit heals us of our ills and restores us to health and life.

At Matrimony, the Holy Spirit makes the couple Jesus Christs, loving and being loved in their mutual service as husband and wife, in their love for their children, like Him Who gave His life for the service of everyone in the human race.

At Holy orders, the Holy Spirit shows us His preference for us, His Choice for us to belong to Him. He continues to teach and renew us.

Just looking at these celebrations of our life in Christ, it is the Holy Spirit Who leads us in every moment of our lives.

Hence now we see that the Holy Trinity is no longer simply an idea of God for us. God is a Person, in fact 3 Persons reaching out to us: in love, loving and constantly abiding. Indeed the Holy Trinity tells us that God is alive, the God of the living. He started life, gave us life, and will lead our lives to eternal life.

That is why we say WE LIVE FOR the FATHER, WITH the SON, IN the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Trinity is really our God, and we belong to Him, Amen.

God bless