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Sunday comment:
By Fr Wynand Katende |
Holy Trinity bond of love
June 06, 2004
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Read John 16:12-15 �Everything the Father has is mine; all the Spirit tells you will be taken from what is mine�. A non-Christian friend once confessed to me how he admired Christianity in many ways, but yet fell short of appreciating the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. �How can God be three and one at the same time? How come God has a Son and that Son is equal to his Father? And who is the Holy Spirit? Is it the mother of the Son? And then you people go on tell us that God has a Son Jesus in a woman called Mary? All this is very confusing and even scandalous to me!� Believe me, Christians are not spared from such challenges either. Some think the Trinity is a mere gymnastics of the mind, meant for theologians. One lady could not resist expressing her discontent, however, �It disturbs me so much to learn that the female gender is not represented in the Trinity. This smacks of male chauvinism! No wonder women are considered inferior to men and issues pertaining to the female gender have often been misunderstood and mishandled�, she complained. Indeed no one in one�s right senses can claim to understand and to attempt to explain away the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Great sages, like Augustine, tried but failed miserably. We are in the realm of mysteries. A mystery is something beyond the grasp of the human mind. Mystery pertains to God. We can never say the final word about the Holy Trinity, for that matter. All we can do, however, and what God is inviting us to do this Sunday, is to approach the mystery with humility, contemplation, and enter into it with appreciation for the good of our salvation and our own happiness. We probably, need to begin with a fundamental question regarding the existence of God. Is God simply an idea of the mind, as philosopher Immanuel Kant and others would like to make us believe? I am personally aware of the hierarchy of beings (ontological order). I believe in the existence of a supreme being, outside of me, responsible for all lesser beings, including myself. I perceive him to be the prime mover, without whose prompts anything can move. At the same time I appreciate Christianity to be a revealed religion, based on the initiative of God. God�s revelations are found in the sacred scriptures. God has historically revealed himself to humans like Abraham, Moses and many others. In the New Testament God reveals himself as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct, yet so intimately related and inseparably one and equal to each other. They make a perfect unity or community. The Holy Spirit is said to be the bond of love that exists between father and Son. This love is so perfect that it is personified. The three persons of the Trinity are distinguished by different activities or ministries, which are done for the benefit of humans. They work together. As creator, God is father of all. He is the epitome of parenthood. As savior, God is Son sent by the Father. He took on our human form in order to teach us how to live properly. For our sake the Father and the Son are said to release their Spirit of love and unity to come and dwell in us. The Spirit of God enters, awakens, animates, inspires and drives one into creative action. We see him active in artists, great thinkers, heroes, martyrs, and upright people. The example of the resurrection of Jesus makes me strongly believe that the Holy Spirit is orienting human history to a purposeful and victorious end. He is guiding us into the truth that makes us free. I appreciate the Holy Trinity as a meeting point between God and humanity, so we may live in peace, joy and perfect communion. In the Trinity I am able to approach, touch and even become a child and friend of God already down here. That is good news. |
� 2004 The Monitor Publications
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