To be Closer to God, be Closer to People

Today we celebrate the central mystery of our Faith, that God is a Trinity of Persons. The Jewish people believe in God. The Muslims believe in God. Many other religions express their faith in God. But for us as Christians, it is very distinctive to believe that God is One in Three Persons. There is a tendency to regard the mystery of the Holy Trinity as something remote, mysterious, abstract and consider it as irrelevant to our daily lives. This is mostly because many people try to comprehend what is not totally possible. It is indeed impossible for us to fully understand God because God is a mystery. At the same time, this doesn’t mean that we can’t know anything about the mystery of God. But it means that we can’t know everything about God.  In fact, we are invited to reflect on how great and beyond our comprehension is our God. At the same time, we recognize God’s closeness to us. God has revealed His very nature as Trinity and invites us into a relationship with Him.

Many people wonder about what the Trinity has to do with our lives. And so, I would like to highlight the theme of relationship that exists between them and how they are a model for our lives. First of all, this doctrine of Trinity is profound and very personal. God is three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Three are distinct. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. It is God who gave us a glimpse into His own inner life as a powerful circle of love. The Father gives the Son all He has and the Son is the perfect image of the Father. The powerful bond of love between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. In truth, the Christian God is a little community of love. This community consists of three distinct persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who want to share their love with us.

What kind of community is the Trinity?  The Trinity is a community where there is an intimate loving and sharing. There is a true communion among them that the Father initiates, the Son implements and the Spirit empowers. We Christians should strive for community because God is a community. We are created in God’s image: “God made human beings in the image of himself, male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27.) Right from the beginning God’s will was that we be a community of brothers and sisters, in the image of the Trinity. In this community there can be differences but there must be no divisions.  Not only should there be intimacy and good relationships, but there should also be equality among the members, full participation of all in the life of the community. Today’s second reading reminds us of our unique identity as Christians, that we are all the children of God. St. Paul asks us to help one another, be united and live in peace. Where love is God is. The Trinity is a great mystery – a mystery of love.

One way we can grow closer in relationship with the Trinity is through our personal prayer. Each night before going to sleep, we can set aside three minutes. During these three minutes, examine the day that has just ended. During the first minute, pick out the high point of your day, something good happened to you. Speak to the Father about it and thank him for it. During the second minute, pick out a low point of the day. Speak to Jesus about it and ask him for forgiveness. During the third minute, look ahead to tomorrow, to some critical point and then speak to the Holy Spirit about it and ask for wisdom and courage to deal with it properly.

There is a saying, “To be closer to God, be closer to people.” A call to religious life, as a brother or sister, is a call to enter into a community of persons not chosen by us, but by God. We then learn to love one another and share life with others that becomes an icon of our God as intimate and loving relationship here on earth. We are actually given the opportunity to build up the reign of God here on earth by our life together, forgiving all slights and apologizing for any of our hurtful behavior, as we become an icon of who our God is – a life-giving community meant to be shared with all humanity.

By Susai Jesu, OMI
OMI Lacombe Vocation Team
587-335-2015