Reflection for the Feast of the Holy Trinity by Creation Care Advocacy Associate Sr. Louise Lears, SC
This reflection was originally posted in our May 21 newsletter
For centuries, the Western Church has celebrated Trinity Sunday the week after Pentecost, which is 50 days after Easter. Interestingly, neither the word “Trinity” nor anything explicit about the doctrine of the Trinity appears in the New Testament. Instead, theologians and others have developed the concept of the Triune God gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. In its essence, Trinity Sunday honors the mystery of who God is, how God is, and what that means for us who are made in God’s image and likeness.
Theologians, artists, authors, even builders have described the Trinity with creative metaphors and symbols through the years. Catherine of Siena envisioned the Holy Trinity as the Spirit who serves us the Word who is our Food – a powerful eucharistic image. Russian painter Andrei Rublev imaged the Trinity as three equal figures seated around a table with a cup in the middle. In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis says the Triune God is “not a static thing…but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost…a kind of dance.” For theologian Elizabeth Johnson, belief in the Trinity commits us to inclusivity of all peoples and all creatures of the earth. An Austrian builder dedicated a small chapel to the Trinity – it has a triangular floor plan and three equal-size walls, each with a door.
I have been praying with Pope Francis’ image of the Trinity as a communion of love, a divine dance that invites us to make the church a loving home whose table and door are open to everyone. For Francis, our acts of love for neighbor and care for creation are the perfect response to the divine dance of the Trinity. We too are called to create communion in the name of God as love, God as community, God as family.
We find traces of the trinitarian God wherever and whenever we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, share our resources, visit the sick, stand up to oppression. We find fragments of the trinitarian God wherever and whenever we protect ecological habitats, cause good trouble, practice nonviolence, protect voting rights, and stand in solidarity with those most often left out.
How do you image the Trinity?
Sr. Louise Lears, SC
Creation Care Advocacy
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