Three in One

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contemplation, divine Spirit, grace, Holy Trinity, mystery, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Trinity

For centuries, in countries all over the world, scholars and theologians have tried to explain the mystery at the heart of Christianity: the Trinity. We Christians have struggled to find a way to explain “three Persons in one God” well enough to satisfy. Images of three-leaf clovers, triangles and so many others have been part of our religious education. Recently many have been aided by the wildly popular book, The Shack but still the depth of our faith can only admit that “it’s a mystery.”

Letting go of intellect and accepting the fact that our God as Trinity means, as someone once said (very wisely, I think), “not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived.” Sometimes I need to just sit and marvel at the generosity of a Creator of such a glorious universe as ours and the benevolence of the love poured out to the finite creation that is humanity. At other moments my need is for a God who is like me, living as part of the great creation, understanding what it means to live a human life with all its joys and suffering. And the potential of deeper contemplation that touches into the life of the Spirit in each of us and all of us, allowing us to catch meaning in ways that bring us ever closer to the meaning of Love is thrilling. That “still, small voice” inside us that cannot be attributed to any power of our own but is clearly a gift of the Divine Spirit living in us defines the work of that “Third Person of the Blessed Trinity” like no other facet of our experience.

So today, on this feast of the Holy Trinity, I am happy to greet you in the familiar words of St. Paul: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”

Purely Personal

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blog, divine Spirit, kind, love, nurture, patient, practice, ready to forgive, spirit, St. Paul, synchronicity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, uplift

This weekend has been all about family for me – and about the love that we hope will last forever for Paul and Gemma who were married on Friday. That was the message that I proclaimed for them, one of the most commonly quoted Scripture passages of St. Paul. It’s the one that tells us all about the qualities of love (kindness, patience, never boastful…) and ends with the certainty that “love never ends.” I would add: if we continue to nurture it. Actually there was a lot of love being spread around the venue then and into yesterday morning at breakfast.

It is a great grace that not only my generation of cousins (the “old guys”) are truly fond of one another. The 16 cousins in the younger generation – all of whom but one attending the event – traveled from near and far and were delighted to be together as well. The eldest, the ‘missing one’ (my godson) was even there by the miracle called FaceTime, so he was included in the “cousins photo” where they all held up their numbers in the birth order over a span of 30 years. Even the fact that Peter now resides in South Korea couldn’t ruin the perfect joy of the night; he was there as surely as the love that conjured him on a telephone screen. And then there were the several babies & little folks who were incredibly happy and well-behaved. It was the kind of experience that lifts the spirit and calls us to be our best selves.

Speaking of things that help us grow, I was surprised to realize that this blog post is number 1,200 for me! It seems uncanny that I have been able to sustain such a practice in the early hours of most days (although not today!) for the better part of four years. What drives me, however, is my desire to do something – no matter how small – to uplift the spirits of good people, some of whom are struggling to make sense of our world. And although I use the prompts of Scripture on many days, in addition to various contemporary writers on others, I am quite often astounded at the message that unfolds. Some call that synchronicity; I believe it is the divine Spirit directing what needs to be said. I sometimes think it might be time to close up my computer and find another path to roam. Days like that are the ones on which someone usually writes or calls to say something like, “Your blog this morning was so helpful for me! Keep them coming.” Then I go back to read it again and find it helpful for me too! It’s all part of the mystery and beauty of how God works.

So if you can keep reading on the days when the result is a bit “ho hum” I guess I’ll keep listening and writing what comes for a while, remembering that love is patient, love is kind…love is always ready to forgive.