The Holy Trinity: A Meaningful Relationship (The Solemnity Of The Most Holy Trinity)

Reflection

The Holy Trinity: A Meaningful Relationship (The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity)

We all know that the Mystery of Trinity is: One God and three persons-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

We get to know the Mystery of Trinity from the book of Genesis. “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).”

What is the meaning of ‘OUR’? We know that our is plural. If there is plural persons, we conclude that there was a community in creation work. So, we, as, Christian understand that the Mystery of Trinity was present in creation work. There are many references to the Trinity in the scripture: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

A scripture scholar, who conducts the class on the Trinity, says after 45 hours of class, the Mystery of Trinity is Mystery. We cannot understand or grasp what is the Mystery of Trinity.

I would like to describe the Mystery of Trinity with an example. The example is simple, practical and at the same time without any complex idea. Still I caution you that it is only an example.

We use rice flour for various purpose. Mainly, rice flour is used to prepare sada dosa, masala dosa, rava dosa, onion dosa, ghee dosa, idli and so on. What is the common thing that is used in all these?It is rice flour. Rice flour is the substance.

Likewise, we can identify the characteristics of the Mystery of Trinity. They are:

Mutual Love,

Connectedness,

Communion, &

Meaningful Relationship.

In other words, I can say that One God and three persons have mutual love, connectedness, communion, and meaningful relationship as common characteristics.

The characteristics of the Trinity witnesses that there is:

Uniqueness of each and everyone, &

Principle of Subsidiarity in their mission.

Here, I would like to point out that the Mystery of Trinity is the idol for our own religious communities and families. To make our community/family vibrant, we need to have the characteristics of the Trinity in our own community/family. Let us reflect on one-by-one how the characteristics of the Mystery of Trinity can guide our life in our families and in our communities.

1. Mutual Love:

All three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, are in deep love. They are in mutual love each other, respect and treat them equal and do not overpower each other. God created the earth and the heaven out of His own love, the same God sent His only Son out of love for creation, again God sent the Spirit out of love for His mission. a. Love: Love is the basic and foundation for our families and communities. We, as, family or community need to possess love, a mutual love for each other, respect and treat equally in spite of their position and possessions. Love further directs us to connectedness.

2. Connectedness:

The Trinity is connected with each other. God, the Father is connected with God, the Son. God, the Son is connected with God, the Spirit. And God, the Spirit is Connected with God, the Father and the Son. We can observe that there is connectedness in the Trinity. So, we understand that there is a connectedness in our family and community. This connectedness is practiced in our in family/community by a. supporting each other (I stand by/support my brother or my sister or my family member, my friend or my near and dear ones whoever they may be and what they are. We need to support each other in our family or in our community to accomplish the common mission, the mission of love in and through connectedness. Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. “He said, “abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want” (Matthew 14: 36)”. “Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength” (Luke 22: 43). God strengthened Jesus by sending an angel.), b. cooperating with each others in our responsibilities (Husband can share equal work at home where woman and man go for work. Cooperation is for a purpose, the purpose is connectedness. We need to cooperate with each other to fulfil our human dependence.), c. encouraging each other when we fail, when we are discouraged, when we are disappointed (Jesus was discouraged when his own village people said we knew him, he was the carpenter Joseph’s son but he was encouraged when God spoke to him in various occasions assuring him.), d. appreciating for the good works, creative works, small works, insignificant works in public, not personal (Jesus appreciated many people publicly in many occasions.). Connectedness further guides us to communion.

3. Communion:

The dictionary defines communion as sharing the intimate thoughts and feelings with each other. God expresses His intimate thoughts and feelings to His Son and His Spirit the intimate thought of/feeling of sending His only Son to this world to crucify him on the Cross to reconcile the world and to make us all His own sons and daughters. It was a thought. It was a feeling. We need to share the intimate thoughts and feelings with each other in our family and community. It is need of the hour. To have a very communion of family or community we need constructive criticism. 1. Constructive Criticism: We know the meaning of criticism. What is the meaning of constructive? Constructive means positive, useful, helpful, encouraging, productive, practical, valuable, profitable, worthwhile, effective, beneficial, advantageous. Constructive criticism builds up communion among the family members and among the community members. We make mistake. We sometimes are not able to do our responsibility with our lack of knowledge. We need constructive criticism from others and even from us. We need accompaniment. We need positive criticism not negative criticism. Constructive criticism builds up our intimate relationship to grow in all aspects and to have a meaningful relationship in our family and in our community.