Pursuing the Trinitarian life

WITH the celebration of the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity, we are reminded of the most important mystery of our faith, the fount of all the other truths and mysteries of our faith, since it shows us the inmost and intimate life of God in himself, even before being the Creator of the universe. 

 The relevance of this mystery in our life stems from the basic truth that we, as man, are created in God’s image and likeness, adopted children of his, and therefore made to reflect and, in fact, participate in this very Trinitarian life of God. The implications and consequences of this truth are endless, but let’s tackle at least a few of them for now. 

 Through this mystery, which was revealed to us in full by Christ, we are told that God, though one, are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, because the absolutely one and simple God is never an idle God, nor a lonely God. 

 He is rather a God who is full of dynamism, an eternal dynamism of knowing and loving. His knowing and loving are no mere acts that begin and end, that come from potency to act, but are so perfect that they create the three eternal persons in that one God. 

 Since the life of God is Trinitarian, we need to know how to deal even while here on earth, even while pursuing our exciting earthly affairs, with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This will guarantee that whatever we do here would redound to our authentic good, that they are done with God and for God, and not just for ourselves. 

 In fact, our life should somehow reflect the Trinitarian character of divine life. God, though absolutely simple and one, is triune. That’s because even though he is one, he is not alone nor idle. 

 With his eternal dynamic life of knowing and loving, he generates within himself an eternal kind of spiral of relationship of Father, he who knows, the Son, the self-knowledge of God, and the Holy Spirit, the love between the Father and the Son. 

 These are persons who are consubstantial with each other, that is, each one of them is the fullness of God, and not just a part of God. They cannot be separated from one another. In the very one God, there’s one person who knows, another one who is known, and a third one who is the love. All these acting in eternity, and all at once. 

 For our life to reflect this Trinitarian life, we need to follow the teaching and example of Christ, the Son of God who became man who revealed to us this mystery of the Blessed Trinity. 

 Like him, we have to do no other than the will of the Father, and to do it in the Holy Spirit for it to acquire its ultimate eternal value proper to us. This is how our life and all our activities and concerns should be developed. 

 Perhaps as a guiding formula, we can use the expression: “By the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.” Such motto would also give us ideas of how to deal with each person of the Blessed Trinity, and really live in a Trinitarian way daily, as we ought. 

 We have to learn to deal with God in his Trinitarian life—that is with the Father who knows and loves, and with the Son who is the known and the loved, and the Holy Spirit who is the very love of God. Our knowing and loving should reflect the eternal knowing and loving of the Trinitarian God.

Be fruitful in season or out of season

THIS is what we can draw from that gospel episode where Christ saw a fig tree with a lot of leaves but without the fruit. (cfr. Mk 11,12-13) Disappointed, he said: “May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee any more for ever.” 

 His statement may sound unfair, since it was said that it was not the season for figs. But upon considering who said it and what the tree was to him, it could not be said that it was unfair. Christ wanted to give the lesson that everyone should always be consistent of who we truly are and why we have to be fruitful all the time. 

 Christ is the source of all good things. No one can bear fruit, the real fruit, if he is not vitally connected to Christ, like a branch can only be alive and fruitful when united to the vine. We are expected to be fruitful always because we are expected to always be united to Christ. 

 Everyday, we should be keenly aware that we need to be fruitful and productive. That’s simply because even from the beginning of our creation in Adam and Eve, this has always been God’s will for us. 

 “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it,” (Gen 1,28) God told our first parents, clearly outlining his mandate to them. It’s a mandate that continues to be repeated up to now. Christ himself said as much. 

 In his parable of the three servants (cfr Mr 25,14-30), a master clearly told each one to trade with the amount given to them. He was happy with the first two who gained as much as was given. But he was mad at the third one who did nothing with the amount given. 

 We have to realize that God has already given us everything that we need not only to survive but also to improve our lot that ultimately translates into realizing the fullness of our dignity as image and likeness of God, as children of his. 

 In this regard, we truly should be most enterprising, coming up with daily plans and strategies such that at the end of the day, when we make our examination of conscience, we can show God that we have gained something, and that the daily balance sheet of our spiritual life is in the black, not in the red. 

 We have to realize that the capitalization of this enterprise cannot be any better. God has given us everything–life, talents, intelligence, freedom, all kinds of capacities, his graces, etc. 

 And even if we commit mistakes or we fall into sin, no matter how grave, his mercy is always available. It’s really just up to us to make use of what is all there for the taking. 

 We have to assume the attitude of a shrewd businessman who is keen in discovering new possibilities of making money and expanding his business. Thus, in our spiritual life, in our relationship with God and with others, we should never say enough in loving them. 

 We have to increasingly go deeper, higher and beyond what is already attained. We should avoid complacency and self-satisfaction. Our attitude should reflect the lyrics of a Spiral Staircase song: “I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow.” 

 Of course, we should do all this with rectitude of intention, otherwise whatever good we can derive in being enterprising in our spiritual and moral life can only spoil us. In this, sad to say, we have many examples. We have to realize that the more we gain, the more we have to give. “Freely you have received, freely give,” Christ said. (Mt 10,8)

Desire for God despite our spiritual blindness

THE story of the blind Bartimaeus who reacted strongly upon hearing that Christ was passing by (cfr. Mk 10,46-52) reminds us that despite our blindness to spiritual and supernatural realities, there remains in the heart of man, as created by God, an innate desire for him. 

 This truth of our faith is clearly articulated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which says: “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself.” (#27) 

 Just the same, this desire for God can be thwarted by a variety of reasons and, thus, cause bad consequences. So, let’s just prepare for the worst scenario and try our best to imitate Christ himself who, in redeeming us, prepared himself for the worst. In fact, he already knew about his death and how it was to be. 

 Toward this end, we should just make sure that our love of God is always vibrant. We have to make it grow day by day. We have to feel that love so intensely such that it is actually what would energize us in any endeavor we have. 

 We have to see to it that we do not take this love for granted. This is the best and ultimate weapon we have to prepare for the worst scenario in our life. With this love, we would be willing to go through what Christ himself went through—suffering all the indignities of the world and ultimately dying on the cross. 

 But then, after death, there is the resurrection, the final victory that is meant for all of us, irrespective of how we fare in this life. 

 Just the same, given our fickle and fragile human condition here on earth, we have to feel the need to feed our desire for God daily. We know all too well that such desire, when we have it, would not last long unless we do something to keep it burning. We are notorious for being easily carried away by merely worldly and temporal interests. 

 Toward this end, we should avail of certain spiritual exercises, like prayer, sacrifices and mortifications, recourse to the sacraments, continuing spiritual and doctrinal formation, etc., to develop in us a true and deep devotion, sharpening our attraction always to Christ. 

 It’s important to realize that the net effect of all these should be a strong and abiding feeling of intimacy with God, a strong attraction to him. We should not allow our attractions to stop at the level of some earthly and temporal goods only. It should be God and his will and ways that should attract us most. 

 Let’s always remember that if it is not God who attracts us, then it would be something else. And that something else can be none other than what is opposed to God. Remember Christ saying, “Whoever is not with me is against me…” (Mt 12,30) 

 We should be always mindful of our need to have the proper focus in our life. We should do everything to be able to have that focus, given the fact that in our earthly life, we cannot help but get immersed in so many earthly and temporal things. We need to sharpen our longing for God in every circumstance of our life. 

 In this way, we can remain faithful in pursuing the real and ultimate purpose and mission of our life.