Our God is a God of relationships
The first image that came to my mind was the wonderful icon of the Trinity painted by the Russian monk Andrew Rublev in the 15th century.
It is a picture of three figures seated at a table upon which is a large goblet. What is striking is the equality of the figures. They have a similar form of dress; the same posture and they appear to be the same age. Three sides of the table are occupied but the fourth side is empty. It is open and inviting and it is generally suggested by people who comment on the icon, that the empty place is for us – for you and me – the guest invited to share the table and to enter into this relationship which is at its very heart Trinitarian.
So for me the doctrine of the Trinity tells us that God is not alone. God is not a remote detached figure seated somewhere on high, in splendid isolation. On the contrary, God is a God of relationships; a God of communion; a God who wishes to draw us into this relationship of love. God-Trinity is relatedness par excellence.
John Paul II expressed it thus: “There is a profound and beautiful saying that our God, in God’s innermost mystery, is not aloneness, but a family, since God embodies paternity, filiation, and, the essence of the family, that is love. In the Divine Family that love is the Holy Spirit” (Quoted in Boff, 1997, p.155).
Our Founder, Father Noailles had this same intuition when he speaks of the Holy Family of Nazareth as the “earthly image of the Trinity”.
“As the gentle image of the Trinity, this family [of three persons] was one because of its perfect harmony with the Father’s will” (Constitutions, Article 2).
The Trinity mysteriously present in Creation
Just as the Holy Family at Nazareth mirrored on earth the Blessed Trinity, so too, in the whole of creation, we see the image of the triune God. At the first magnificent flaring forth, 13.7 billion years ago, the Trinity - the Creator, the Spirit and the Word - was mysteriously present.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth …the Spirit of God was hovering over the deep” (Genesis 1:1-2)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2), and again Paul emphasises in the letter to the Colossians that “in him [Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth … all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).
God continues to be with God’s creation, endlessly creating, constantly bringing forth new life, always healing and restoring. The cosmos, created in the image and likeness of God-Trinity becomes a Gospel that speaks to us of God. Thomas Berry (1988) calls creation the primary revelation of the Divine, the primary scripture, the primary mode of numinous presence. So the interconnectedness and communion of each reality of the universe with every other reality; the unity in the diversity of life forms and the interdependence of all created beings, which we experience in creation are all revelations of God-Trinity-Communion.
We too are created in the image and likeness of God.
The doctrine of the Trinity reminds us, not only of our identity as beings created in the image of God but also of our call to live in right relationship with God, creation, and the whole earth community. Trinity tells us that we are called to build community. Pope John Paul II reminds us: “this discovery of a transcendent presence in creation must lead us also to rediscover our kinship with the earth, to which we have been linked since our own creation”.
What does this challenge us to? It calls us to a conversion of mentality; a change in the way we see ourselves, not as superior beings living on the earth and exploiting it for our own immediate gratification but as an integral part of the earth and indeed of the universe itself.
It calls us to a different way of living our lives so that God’s project for the whole of creation be realised. This means living with simplicity and in a way that ensures the sustainability of our planet, which though rich in resources is also limited. Simplicity means turning our backs on the consumerist culture and adopting a life style that involves a respectful use of all that we need and a willingness to recycle it when it has fulfilled its purpose. After all that is the way of nature which uses everything and wastes nothing.
It calls us to live in faith, hope and love. We believe that a commitment to care for the earth and all created beings is a participation in the work of the Creator, who at each moment is sustaining all things in being.
Hope assures us that despite the threats to our planet, the cosmos and this earth belong to the Spirit and the Word who will fulfil the promise to make all things new.
Love leads us to identify more and more with our earth home. Love impels us to treat the earth as we would treat ourselves – with respect, compassion, justice and love.
So what did I say to my little niece? Trinity is about relationships, about family, about all that concerns us human beings, about all that can make us truly happy.
Références:
Berry, T., (1988). “The Dream of the Earth”. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco.
Boff, L., (1997). “Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor”. Orbis Books,
Maryknoll, New York.
John Paul II (2000) Trinity is mysteriously present in Creation. General Audience 26th January 2000.
Gemma Corbett ( Prov.B &I)
