“When my wife passed away, it was like a part of me went missing. I could still feel her presence, see her in all those things that reminded me of her, but nothing could fill the hole her dying left in me.” The hospice patient shared his memories that still burned with the flame of love even several years after he lost his wife of 45 years to cancer and just weeks before he passed away. “But I do know we will be together again,” he shared with a smile the last time we had met.
For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
– Genesis 2:24
I recall that visit in the light of this Sunday being the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, commemorating the Christian belief in the triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The shared love and connection my patient had with his wife united them forever, making them feel as one. This helps me to better understand the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity, a wonderful and insightful way to explain the complexity and three-fold experience of God.
God revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14 as “I am who I am,” which can also be translated as “he who exists” or “he who causes to be.” This is one reason we can speak of God as being, i.e., existence, itself. The Trinity helps us see God as personal and relational; that we, in our very being, are in relationship with God who is being. It helps us see how God relates to Himself and to us with love as the connection – the Holy Spirit is the shared love between the Father and Son, creating the Trinity – the fullness of God, a relational God, a God who is love as His very existence, who connects with us through His being, i.e., love. That patient expressed this beautifully from his own experience – the God-shaped hole inside of all of us that can only be filled by love.
“When my wife passed away, it was like a part of me went missing. I could still feel her presence, see her in all those things that reminded me of her, but nothing could fill the hole her dying left in me.”
Creation is our reality of existence expressed in time and space. God, of course, transcends time and space since “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1). God, the Word, through the Son, entered creation to be with us, to relate with us, connect with us, to save us – when He left to return to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit which is God’s relational love that remains with us. The Trinity helps us to understand that we are connected to God through love – love of Him, but also the love we share with one another.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
– John 1:1-5
The Trinity explains the manifestation of a God who is love. These three persons, or personalities of the Trinity help us to see and relate through creation to that love. Sin gets in the way, breaking that communion with God. God’s response to sin, that separation between us and Him, was to humble Himself and become human (Philippians 2:6-8), sending His Son to bring us back into right relationship with Him (John 3:16). The Trinity is God’s way of showing us the path of salvation and how it leads us back into communion, to be united with God through love.
The God of the universe, creator of all things, expresses that love to its fullest by giving us the freedom to reject Him, but by accepting and joining Him, His love becomes even greater, more complete, eternal. We are blessed to see God in Creation in beauty, in relationship, and in love. To join Him through love is to join in the Trinity and to be one with God: Bridegroom, bride, and their shared love that makes them one.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
– John 3:16-17
For me, it was not a great leap of faith when I witnessed the love expressed by my patient for his deceased wife to get a sense of the love our Creator God has for all His creation – especially those graced to love Him and to share that love with one another.
For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. – Wisdom 13:5
Reflection questions:
- How is the Trinity another way of saying that God is love?
- Reflect on these truths of the Christian Faith: God is love; God is being, i.e., existence, itself; We have been created in the image and likeness of God.
- Considering the Trinity discussion above, reflect on this statement from Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) in his book Signs of New Life: “Man is willed by the Creator as a relational being, as someone who is not sufficient unto himself but, rather, needs relationship, who is supposed to live with another for another. Only in this relatedness to the other and for the other can he fulfill God’s will.”
Scripture References
Genesis 2:24 Exodus 3:14 John 1:1-5, 3:16-17
Philippians 2:6-8 Wisdom 13:5
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