Gospel Reflections by Fr. Abbot Denis Farkasfalvy.
Feast of the Holy Trinity And so it may be helpful to look at a sequence of other passages that may help us catch the "the Trinitarian logic" of the Christian faith. Their impact is cumulative. For it is not by chance that the only text of the New Testament in which the doctrine of the three divine persons is expressed in explicit juxtaposition of the three divine Persons -- Father and Son and Holy Spirit -- is in the concluding scene of Matthew's gospel, a text which gives final and full sense to the whole book (Mt 28:16-20). Equally important are, however, the many Pauline texts -- in his earliest epistles like First Thessalonians and Galatians, and (possibly) also Philippians, as well as in the late or deutero-pauline writings like Ephesians, in which thoughts about Father, Son and Spirit appear as if linked by the inner logic of a comprehensive vision. According to this vision God's full and perfect self-giving and self-expression takes place through the Son who became man and through the outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit. A fine example is found at the beginning of First Thessalonians, possibly the oldest document among the books that constitute the New Testament: “Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, beloved by God, that he has chosen you because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction" (1 Thess 1:3-5). This logic is also embedded in John's Farewell Discourse, except that there the divine persons are mentioned in reverse order: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me (the Son), because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine." (Jn 16:13-15a) The passage selected for today’s epistle concludes with a greeting that brings a third variation to the listing of the Divine Persons: “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor 13:13). Grace means merciful kindness revealed through the love of Jesus and bringing about a response of love toward the Father and connecting us in a “fellowship” – i.e., the discovery of communion among human beings alienated by sin but brought back to each other when they are reconciled with their common Father. We meet God as the ultimate Origin (Father) reaching out to us in his Incarnate Self-Expression (Son) and taking home in our inner life as a Personal Bond of Love between the two (the Spirit) who draws us also into the heart of their divine communion that has no beginning and no end. Trinity Sunday is a call to confront the ultimate issue of our call, our destiny and goal. God has loved the world so much that he did not allow us to go astray but wants to lead us to himself into an intimacy of knowledge and love with God that reaches far beyond the potential of the human being and fulfills more than what we can desire. The final human response is not a mere pondering or an effort of comprehension but allowing God’s grace to overwhelm us by embracing our existence into his own. [ |
