Born to Live in Relationship with God

Rublev's Icon of the Trinity

Today we celebrate the mystery of the triune God, a fundamental truth of Christianity: one God in three; completely beyond us and yet completely within us. The God of this universe, a God of wonder and awe, became flesh in Jesus (the mystery of the incarnation, a second fundamental truth) and lives among us by the power of the Spirit. Yes, one God in three distinct modes or movements: Father, Son and Spirit.

In our better moments, or when some crisis may begin to overwhelm us, we may think about fundamental questions, like: what is the meaning of life? The will to live requires that we discover some purpose for living. The mathematician/philosopher Pascal concluded that within each one of us is a space which “can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” (Pensées VII) Pascal likely read Saint Augustine who wrote in his autobiographical Confessions, “You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.” Yes, we were born to live in relationship with God--the triune God--and that's what today's feast highlights.

The Gospel according to John describes God as the Tremendous Lover who became one of us so that we might have eternal life. The mystery of the triune God--utterly beyond us and yet utterly within us, one as well as diverse, a God of distinctive relationships--invites us to ask ourselves: What kind of a relationship do we have with God?

Most people have this perhaps more subconscious than conscious. We are forever trying to find answers to those fundamental questions. As we grow old, we may begin to wonder:  what was my life all about? We appear to have accomplished so little.  Moreover, there are senseless tragedies.

But we also have experiences that shake us out of our dull routine—moments of awe and wonder. Perhaps it’s a glorious sunset or the joy of a friendship or the accomplishment of a goal. Such experiences can lift us out of ourselves and we begin to experience the transcendent dimension of our own lives. Yes, we say, there must be an awesome power beyond us, a purposeful, merciful and compassionate God who is responsible not only for this incredible universe but also for our own lives.

Our God is indeed a merciful God who can heal the brokenness of human life. God became flesh in Jesus and is alive among us. That is the mystery of the triune God: Father, Son and Spirit. This is the same God who freed the Hebrews in Ancient Egypt, who renewed His covenant with them at Mt. Sinai. This God showed his face to us in Jesus of Nazareth. Through Him, with Him and in Him, we live in God’s triune life and the triune God lives in us. And in reaching out to one another in love, we become like the triune God in self-giving love.