Trinity Sunday

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is pretty special to me. In fact, the name I chose to inspire and dedicate myself to is the Blessed Trinity. My religious name is Sister Faith in the Blessed Trinity. Coincidentally, I recently learned (thank you Sister Vivian, RJM)that my great Aunt Blanche's religious name was Mother Mary of the Trinity.

I love the fact that we are celebrating a doctrine and not an event or a saint. That makes it a special day. Today we honor God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

History shows us that the Trinity is controversial. Not every religion is Trinitarian. And I can see that the concept of three distinct persons into one is mind boggling. But so is quantum physics. What of it? What good would be a religion without mystery. And by mystery, I don't mean puzzle, but rather beyond comprehension. If you understood God, would He still be God?

It has been said that mystery is not a wall to run up against, but an ocean in which to swim. The common wisdom is that if you talk about the Trinity for longer than a few minutes you will slip into heresy because you are probing the depths of God too deeply.

The Trinity is defined in the Nicene Creed. Basically the Trinity is the belief that God is one in essence, but distinct in person. He is an individual reality. We believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are somehow distinct from one another (not divided though), yet completely united in will and essence. How can this be? Well, think of the sight of two eyes. The eyes are distinct, yet one and undivided in their sight. Another illustration to explain the Trinity is St. Patrick's description of the three leaf clover. One flower made up of three separate leaves.

The Nicene definition of the Trinity developed over time, based on Scripture and Tradition. The Scriptures call the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit "God," yet the three are also clearly distinct. For instance, St. John gives Jesus the titles theos and monogenes theos (God and Only-Begotten God) and has Jesus saying that the Father and Son are one, yet in his gospel Jesus also states that the Father and Son are not one witness, but two (John 1:1, 18; 8:17-18; 10:30). So John tells us that Jesus is God but not God the Father? Jesus is one with the Father, but they constitute two witnesses? It is scriptures such as these that led to the development of the Trinity doctrine. The Church had to reconcile the Divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit with Jewish monotheism. Over time, and with the aid of the Holy Spirit, the Church reflected on the implications of God's nature, and even began using the word Trinity by the middle of the 2nd century to describe the relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit. When in the 4th century a presbyter named Arius denied the Father and Son were both true God and co-eternal, his bishop Alexander of Alexandria challenged him and deposed him. Eventually the Arian controversy spread, and the emperor Constantine, newly fascinated with Christianity, convened a council of bishops in AD 325 in Nicaea to deal with Arianism. It is there that the Church drew up the beginnings of the current Nicene Creed. In the latter half of the 4th century the Church dealt with those who specifically denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, adding more text to the creed.

The implications of believing in Arius' God, a God unwilling to involve himself in our redemption, but who instead sent an angel of the highest order, did not escape the earliest Christians. As St. Athanasius was fond of saying "that which has not been assumed has not been redeemed," meaning that unless God truly became completely human, we could not be fully redeemed, because only God Himself is capable of truly redeeming humanity; an angel does not have this ability. Thus, the Trinity is not about Greek philosophy or pointless metaphysical speculation, but about the heart of our salvation.

I repeat: "The Trinity is not about Greek or pagan philosophy, or pointless metaphysicl speculation, but about the heart of our salvation." Amen!
(Info from Churchyear.net)

Retreat Day Four

Every day we, as a group, had a conference with a monk. He was Father Robert. We concentrated on John 18 and 19. Father Robert was a man in love with words. He relished them. He rolled them over and over on his tongue. He'd hesitate and then repeat them again. He was obsessed with "Jesus was One with the Father." And He wants us to be One with Him, too.

Father Robert celebrates Mass like that, also. He emphasizes important words, stops, and then you can see him consciously speaking from his heart to pronounce the words for Consecration.

During meals we listened to a tape of Dr. Joseph Shaw. I don't know the name of it but he was talking about the parables.

I went to Father Robert for direction and we chatted about the Second Coming. It just may be that my dying and going to the Father will be Jesus coming to get me. That's a Second Coming.

In the afternoon, I spent my time waling around the other side of the lake. On the road down the hill, I came face to face with a deer. I tried to take her picture but she was indistinguisable from the shadows. Walking around I saw some pretty flowers, including one lady slipper springing up from the dead leaves. I found Grace House and a road leading out to the main highway. I met the deer, again.

I prayed my Rosary while walking because standing still was an invitation for mosquitoes to come feast. May flies were becoming more numerous, too.

In the afternoon, I went to a video, With Hearts Expanded, which is a history of the monks at St. Joseph's Abbey. They have always been counter cultural. They could legitimately be considered as living a deviant lifestyle.

Only two of us showed up for the video, Sister Vivian and myself. A great blessing happened. I asked Sister Vivian what Order she was from. She responded, "Religious of Jesus and Mary." "Mmmmmm", I thought that was the Order my great Aunt Blanche belonged to, but that was so long ago, after all, she was my Grandmother's sister. I asked her if she had a house in "Goffstown, N.H., because I vaguely remembered visiting Aunt Blanche, there. Vivian said, "Yes." So I told her what I remembered of my Aunt. Gradually, I pieced together enough information for Vivian to pop out, "Mother Mary of the Trinity," better known as "Mother Trinity!"

Wow! Guess what my religious name is--Sister Faith in the Blessed Trinity.
My nickname--"Trinity!"

The blessings kept coming. This time for Sister Vivian. She asked me where I was from. Upon hearing that I was from Franklin, she asked if she could ride home with me because she lives in the town adjacent to Franklin, Plainville. "Of course," I was happy to oblige.

That night, since it was my last night, I lingered a bit, after Vespers, looking at the altar, the church, the Tabernacle. I saw the Abbot, Dom Damian walk around turning the lights off. As he came towards me I saw him pick up something and approach me. "What the hell?" He threw something directly at me!

I jumped right out of my skin as soon as it hit me! But I instantaneously knew what it was as soon as I felt the smack. Holy water, the Abbot was blessing everybody. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. The people behind me were chuckling because they saw me jump out of my skin.

Walking back, I asked them if they knew that the Abbot was going to do that. They all were laughing at me and told me that if I hadn't left so soon after Vespers, all week, I would have known that the Abbot does that every night. He goes around blessing his monks and all visitors.

Well, at least I got a blessing the last night.

Who knew?