Perhaps the most astounding discovery of my last ten years or so has been the realization that God is a community of persons existing in an eternal relationship of love. The Father loves the Son. This is more than a source of doctrinal acknowledgement or confession. It is even more than a source of inspiration. We actually share in this community of persons because He loves each of us with that same unconditional love. This is what St. John tells us when he says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”

trinity To be a Christian is much more than imitating Jesus. It is certainly more than following his commandments, as important as this really is to living faith. Authentic faith leads us beyond these limits into the richness of a divine relationship. We are called to not only imitate Jesus but to live our lives in Him.

Through faith and Christian baptism we share in the glory that was his before the world began. This gift enables us to share in the interpersonal life of the Trinity. Jesus’ prayer to the Father during his Last Supper (the prayer that began to shape and change my life in the early 1990s) was “As you Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.” In our baptism we are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is proper to Christian baptism because we are baptized into the triune love of God.

Contemplate this mystery: “The glory I gave to him, he has now given to you (those who believe), so that you may be one in love with us and with all believers” (John 17:22).

Related Posts

Comments

  1. Vic Woody July 31, 2011 at 5:24 am

    Beautiful John! I hope that all of his children read this today…thanks for sharing His love, grace and truth.

  2. Brian Karcher July 31, 2011 at 10:22 am

    Yes, John, yes! God has been leading me to this same thought: a community of persons. I think our Christian life is an amazing journey of knowing God. As a child, I knew only God the Father. In college, I met Jesus the Son. Now in my middle-age years, I have met the Holy Spirit, our Counselor and Guide. I’ve never seen the diagram above, but it is quite true. There is perfect unity in the Three Persons. Yet this unity exits with three distinct and very different Persons. This is the answer and message the church desperately needs today. We can (and should be) different, yet united in mission and faith.

  3. John Metz August 1, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    John,
    I always appreciate your writing on the Trinity and especially John 17. Our Triune God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit–is indeed our salvation, not merely a doctrine but a wonderful three-in-one and one-in-three reality for our enjoyment.
    As you point out, the Trinity is a rich mystery for us to explore and experience. Although the historically familiar diagram you use illustrates some aspects of the truth of the Trinity, it falls far short of other aspects. For instance, how does one illustrate in a diagram the coinherence of the three of the Divine Trinity? I cannot conceive of such a diagram! Yet, the Son, speaking to the Father says, “even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You.” Wonderful! The Three persons are distinct yet coinherent; distinguishable yet never separated; three yet one; one yet three. Marvelous!
    Thanks again for the post.

  4. cheap nba jerseys August 2, 2011 at 3:42 am

    As you point out, the Trinity is a rich mystery for us to explore and experience. Although the historically familiar diagram you use illustrates some aspects of the truth of the Trinity, it falls far short of other aspects. For instance, how does one illustrate in a diagram the coinherence of the three of the Divine Trinity? I cannot conceive of such a diagram! Yet, the Son, speaking to the Father says, “even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You.” Wonderful! The Three persons are distinct yet coinherent; distinguishable yet never separated; three yet one; one yet three. Marvelous!

Comments are closed.

My Latest Book!

Use Promo code UNITY for 40% discount!

Recent Articles

Search

Archive