Weekly Reflection 052602AD

Sunday May 26, 2002 AD

Trinity Sunday

The Songwriting Father

Hundreds of years ago, at the great Ecumenical councils in the first 500 years of Christianity, the Church tried to explain, in human language, as best they could, the mystery of the Trinity, one God in three persons. The result which is still with us today is the Nicene Creed, which we pray on Sundays after the sermon at Mass.

All human language is incapable of describing adequately the Mystery of God. God is infinite and transcendent and beyond our imagination. Even the inspired language of the Bible is incapable of expressing God adequately.

According to legend, in the fifth century, St Augustine of Hippo walked along the north African shore of the Mediterranean and thought about how he would explain more clearly the doctrine of the Trinity. He saw a young boy trying to pour the sea into a hole that he had dug on the shore. Augustine had the insight that the child had as much chance pouring the sea into the hole as Augustine himself had at explaining the Trinity.

However best we can try to understand the Trinity, it is always pivotal to remember the inadequacy of human language. It is humbling to remember that just as God is a mystery, so also is every human person. We are mystery to ourselves. We cannot know ourselves totally.

It is important to remember that the Creed reminds us that all three persons of the Trinity are co-equal. We believe that the equality of human persons is a result of our creation in the image and likeness of God. (Interesting it is that, in some places, the very idea of human equality is subversive to unjust social and political structures.)

Finally, we believe that the Trinity thrives in relationship among Father and Son and Spirit. There can be no surprise that humans, created in the image and likeness of the Triune God need relationships to survive.

Still, there will always be infinitely more to learn. St Thomas Aquinas taught that God is greater than the human mind.

Recently, a theologian in Boston College spoke of God the Father as a Songwriter with a tune brewing. Jesus Christ is the written score that the Songwriter puts down on paper. The Holy Spirit is the Way in which every possible rendition of the Song can be done, in the various experiences of each person.

He used the analogy of the Father as a Divine Architect with an idea for a new building. Jesus Christ is the Blueprint for the building. The Holy Spirit is the actual building which can be done in a variety of settings and locales, using the Blueprint.

We celebrate the belief that each of us is created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, as God is incomprehensible, co-equal, and relational, so also are we. However, did you ever think of yourself as a written expression of God the Songwriter or an edifice designed by God the Architect? Think about it. 052602 AD jfq