“The Holy Mystery” that is God….is always a reality that is infinitely beyond my understanding….and St. Augustine’s as well, who proclaimed that God was a mystery beyond our understanding, and that if we think we have come to understand God…whatever it is that we understand, it is not God…God will always remain a mystery. A deep and profound truth…beyond my grasp as a human being but one I become willing to enter into and to engage with…not seeking to fully understand it, but rather allowing the Mystery to envelope me.
The principle of an unshakeable human dignity is grounded in the faith conviction that we are made in the image and likeness of God. If we are made in the image of God this means in the image of the Trinity, our personhood and consequently our dignity may be more than we imagine it to be. In the Trinity, three Persons engage in a mutual and self-giving activity that is so complete it makes them a dynamic unity. This activity has been characterized as a relational dance. If we are made like this, as persons we are essentially social beings, in relationship to others, and in relationship with The Mystery by the very essence of who we are.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises us a Divine indwelling, a reality that one could argue is the cornerstone of the theology of the Gospel of John. Jesus tells the disciples that the Father will send the Holy Spirit who will remain within them, and he and his Father will come and make them their dwelling place. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are inheritors of that promise, we are the dwelling place of the Holy Trinity!
As we celebrate the Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity, as it does most years, my mind returns to an 8th grade classroom and a tall red-haired nun, in full habit, named Sister Mary Janelle. I recall her patiently helping my classmates and myself as we wrestled with the concept of the Holy Trinity, three Persons who were at the same time separate but one. As she went through theological gymnastics trying to help us understand, ultimately, she conceded that it was a mystery…a mystery with a capital “M”.
At the time my classmates and I felt it was a bit of a “cop-out” on her part…but now over 50 years later I have come to see her wisdom, and have come to be comfortable with it, and truly enjoy the concept of mystery.
We live in a society that demands to know all things, to have concrete explanations for everything. All we have to do is ask Google or better yet, ask Claude! But the reality is that ultimately God is beyond our understanding…beyond even Claude’s, although Claude can go a long way in helping you understand St. Augustine’s treatise on the Holy Trinity!
Today I realize that I am part of a religious tradition that has passed on a faith…a faith filled with mystery and awe in our God.
There is a consensus of our ancestors that harbors and passes on “revealed truths” that are essentials of our faith, some of which will always lie just beyond our capacity to fully understand them.
The Holy Spirit has been sent into our hearts to lead us headlong into “The Mystery”…to live out in concrete terms what we say we believe even though we may not fully understand.
Our lack of understanding has no impact on The Mystery itself… The Mystery desires us and loves us just as we are… often conflicted and wrestling with our faith.
The principle of unshakeable human dignity is grounded in the faith conviction that we are made in the image and likeness of God. If we are made in the image of God, this means in the image of the Trinity. Our personhood and consequently our dignity may be more than we imagine it to be. In the Trinity, three Persons engage in a mutual and self-giving activity that is so complete it makes them “a dynamic unity.” This activity has been characterized as a relational dance. If we are made like this, as human beings we are essentially created to be in relationship to, and with others. There is an ongoing interrelating and interpersonal flow of energy between us as individuals. We are essentially social beings, in relationship to others, and in relationship to The Mystery by the very essence of who we are!
One of the most important realities is that we remain engaged…wrestling with our faith…engaged with God… wrestling with the Holy Trinity!
We must also remain engaged in the struggle for understanding, with hearts and minds open to the Holy Spirit, the bringer of wisdom.
And what wisdom and insight is the Holy Spirit trying to bring us today in the midst of the light that is being shined on sins and the darkness of our society, like greed, systemic racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and a growing lack of care and concern for the most vulnerable of our society, and how we need to respond to these sins? What wisdom is being spoken to us about the heartbreaking violence in our society and how we should be responding to it?
How comfortable am I with the concept of “mystery” of not fully understanding? How am I engaged in living out my faith? What am I wrestling with at this point in my faith journey?
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
The principle of an unshakeable human dignity is grounded in the faith conviction that we are made in the image and likeness of God. If we are made in the image of God this means in the image of the Trinity, our personhood and consequently our dignity may be more than we imagine it to be. In the Trinity, three Persons engage in a mutual and self-giving activity that is so complete it makes them a dynamic unity. This activity has been characterized as a relational dance. If we are made like this, as persons we are essentially social beings, in relationship to others, and in relationship with The Mystery by the very essence of who we are.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises us a Divine indwelling, a reality that one could argue is the cornerstone of the theology of the Gospel of John. Jesus tells the disciples that the Father will send the Holy Spirit who will remain within them, and he and his Father will come and make them their dwelling place. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are inheritors of that promise, we are the dwelling place of the Holy Trinity!
As we celebrate the Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity, as it does most years, my mind returns to an 8th grade classroom and a tall red-haired nun, in full habit, named Sister Mary Janelle. I recall her patiently helping my classmates and myself as we wrestled with the concept of the Holy Trinity, three Persons who were at the same time separate but one. As she went through theological gymnastics trying to help us understand, ultimately, she conceded that it was a mystery…a mystery with a capital “M”.
At the time my classmates and I felt it was a bit of a “cop-out” on her part…but now over 50 years later I have come to see her wisdom, and have come to be comfortable with it, and truly enjoy the concept of mystery.
We live in a society that demands to know all things, to have concrete explanations for everything. All we have to do is ask Google or better yet, ask Claude! But the reality is that ultimately God is beyond our understanding…beyond even Claude’s, although Claude can go a long way in helping you understand St. Augustine’s treatise on the Holy Trinity!
Today I realize that I am part of a religious tradition that has passed on a faith…a faith filled with mystery and awe in our God.
There is a consensus of our ancestors that harbors and passes on “revealed truths” that are essentials of our faith, some of which will always lie just beyond our capacity to fully understand them.
The Holy Spirit has been sent into our hearts to lead us headlong into “The Mystery”…to live out in concrete terms what we say we believe even though we may not fully understand.
Our lack of understanding has no impact on The Mystery itself… The Mystery desires us and loves us just as we are… often conflicted and wrestling with our faith.
The principle of unshakeable human dignity is grounded in the faith conviction that we are made in the image and likeness of God. If we are made in the image of God, this means in the image of the Trinity. Our personhood and consequently our dignity may be more than we imagine it to be. In the Trinity, three Persons engage in a mutual and self-giving activity that is so complete it makes them “a dynamic unity.” This activity has been characterized as a relational dance. If we are made like this, as human beings we are essentially created to be in relationship to, and with others. There is an ongoing interrelating and interpersonal flow of energy between us as individuals. We are essentially social beings, in relationship to others, and in relationship to The Mystery by the very essence of who we are!
One of the most important realities is that we remain engaged…wrestling with our faith…engaged with God… wrestling with the Holy Trinity!
We must also remain engaged in the struggle for understanding, with hearts and minds open to the Holy Spirit, the bringer of wisdom.
And what wisdom and insight is the Holy Spirit trying to bring us today in the midst of the light that is being shined on sins and the darkness of our society, like greed, systemic racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and a growing lack of care and concern for the most vulnerable of our society, and how we need to respond to these sins? What wisdom is being spoken to us about the heartbreaking violence in our society and how we should be responding to it?
How comfortable am I with the concept of “mystery” of not fully understanding? How am I engaged in living out my faith? What am I wrestling with at this point in my faith journey?
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
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