Tag Archives: Trinity

Educating for the Lived Gospel #137

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. (2 Cor 13:13)

What we now call the Trinity was part of the faith of the earliest disciples of Jesus, but it took the early Church more than four hundred years to be able to put appropriate words on that faith. It is still easy to get tripped up in definitions. For me, the Trinity describes human reality. We are made in the image and likeness of a God whose basic nature is relationship – the mutual in-dwelling of Father-Son-Spirit or Creator-Redeemer-Sustainer. This helps to explain our need for relationship – we are made in the image of God who is relationship. It also shows us why we need community. When we are in community we glimpse more of God’s face – we are sustained in community.

Our role is to help young people glimpse the reality of the Trinity in their lives. Help them to reflect upon and see the people who love them as they are, the relationships that give them freedom to grow, the communities who sustain them, as manifestations of God who says to each of us not “I love you when…”, nor “I love you if…” , but “I love you!”

Have a great week!
Patrick

Educating for the Lived Gospel #116

Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14:23)

As Christians, what we now understand as the Trinity didn’t develop for about another century after the writing of the Gospel of John. But the seeds of an understanding of the Trinity are here. At this point of the Gospel, readers have heard more than once from Jesus that ‘the Father and I are one’. Such mutual in-dwelling is behind this passage. Simply, when we keep God’s word, God is with us. But it is much richer that that. Emphasising God’s relational nature, when we keep God’s word, we become part of the divine in-dwelling. If God is with us or we are with God, it gives us a stable centre for everything else in our lives.
 
The lives of young people can be turbulent – for a variety of reasons. By offering them opportunities for service, for the sacraments, for prayer, we increase the likelihood that they will develop a peaceful centre to which to return. This ground of wholeness, of peace, of goodness… that we call God.
 
Have a great week!
Patrick