Presence of God

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, teach me to know You and to love You.

Meditation

I. We had no right, as creatures, to know the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity, which is the mystery of God’s intimate life. However, God has made it known to us, for He did not wish to leave us in our natural state, that of a simple creature, but willed to raise us to the dignity of sons, of friends. The Son of God said, I will not now call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you (Jo. 15, 15). The all things is precisely the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity which Jesus, the Son of God, has seen and heard in the bosom of the Father.

In the Old Testament we find some references to this mystery, but its perfect revelation belongs to the New Testament, to the Testament of Love; and we might say that God wanted to reserve this manifestation for Himself. He did not reveal it to us by the prophets but by His only- begotten Son, who is one with Him. No man hath seen God at any time, says the Evangelist; the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him (Jo. 1, 18). Jesus came to reveal to us the mystery of the intimate life of God; He spoke of Himself as the Son of God, equal to the Father in all things : He that seeth Me, seeth the Father also, because I am in the Father and the Father [is] in Me (Jo. 14, 9-11). He spoke to us of the Holy Spirit, without whom we cannot attain eternal life : Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Jo. 3, 5), and He promised us that He Himself, with the Father, would send us the Spirit who proceeds both from Him, the Word, and from the Father : It is expedient to you that I go. For. . .if I go, I will send Him to you (Jo. 16, 7); I will ask the Father and He shall give you another Paraclete. . . the Spirit of truth {ibid. 14,16). Jesus often repeated these ideas, thus teaching us that it is good for us to fix our gaze on the sublime mystery of the Blessed Trinity : to admire, to praise, and to return love to this One Triune God, who loves us so much that He wishes to bring us into the secrecy of His own intimate life.

II. God, the sovereign, infinite Good, is self-sufficient. He finds all His happiness in knowing and loving Himself. Because He is the infinitely perfect Being, knowledge and love are essentially fruitful in Him, and from this fecundity comes the mystery of His intimate life, the mystery of the Trinity. The Father knows Himself perfectly from all eternity, and knowing Himself, He generates the Word, the substantial Idea in which the Father expresses, and to whom He communicates, His whole essence, divinity and infinite goodness. Thus the Word is the brightness of the glory and the figure of the substance of the Father (Hb. 1, 3); but He is a substantial brightness and figure, because He possesses the same nature and the same perfections as the Father. From all eternity, the Father and the Son contemplate and love each other infinitely, by reason of the infinite, indivisible perfection which they have in common.

In this eternal love, there is a mutual attraction, a mutual giving of Themselves, one to the other, diffusing Their whole nature and divine essence into a third Person, the Holy Spirit, who is the terminus, the pledge, and the substantial gift of Their mutual love. Thus the same nature, the same divine life circulates among the three divine Persons : from the Father to the Son, and from the Father and the Son to the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity is therefore the mystery of the intimate life of God, a mystery surging from the most perfect operations of knowledge and love by which God knows and loves Himself.

More than any other mystery, that of the Trinity shows us our God as the living God, as One whose life is essentially fruitful, so fruitful that the whole divine nature and essence can be communicated by the Father to the Son, and from the Father and the Son to the Holy Spirit without any loss or diminution, all Three thereby possessing the same infinite perfection. This mystery, above all others, reveals to us the perfection of God’s goodness. It tells us that God is good, not only because He is the infinite Good, but also because this infinite good that He is is communicated : from the Father to the Son, and from the Father and the Son to the Holy Spirit. Whereas in works outside Himself God communicates His good only partially, in the bosom of the Trinity He communicates it integrally and necessarily, so that His intimate life consists precisely in this eternal, necessary and absolute communication of His whole good, His whole Being. The mystery of the Trinity teaches us that in God there is a boundless, inexhaustible ocean of goodness, love, fruitfulness and life. Precious knowledge this, because more than any other, it enables us to develop a sense of the infinite greatness of God.

Colloquy

O incomprehensible God, Your greatness is eternal, and Your goodness ineffable. I see the three divine Persons flowing one into another in an indescribable, inscrutable way, and I rejoice in this sight. The Father flows into the Son, the Son into the Father, and the Father and the Son flow into the Holy Spirit. Eternal God, You are unspeakably good, You who, out of goodness, communicate to a creature, aware of its nothingness, some knowledge of Your eternal Being; but although this communication is wonderful, it might be called in all truth a mere nothing, in comparison with what You really are (cf. St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).

O sovereign, eternal good, what has moved You, O infinite God, to enlighten me, Your finite creature, with the light of Your truth? You Yourself, O Fire of Love, You are the cause. For it is love which has constrained You and which always constrains You to be merciful to us, giving immense and infinite graces to Your creatures. O goodness which surpasses all goodness! You alone are He who is sovereignly good! You have given us the Word, Your only-begotten Son, that He might dwell among us who are nothing but wretchedness and darkness. What is the reason for this gift? Love, for you loved us before we ever were.

O eternal Trinity! Who can reach You to thank You for the immeasurable gifts and unlimited favors You have showered upon me, as well as for the doctrine of the truth You have taught me? Answer me, O Lord!. . . Enlighten me with Your grace, so that by this very light, I may thank You (St. Catherine of Siena).