5 June 2010: ‘... and of the Holy Spirit’.

The Sign of the Cross reminds us of the Holy Trinity

‘... and of the Holy Spirit’.

Again, add -- ‘who has sanctified me, and adopted me as the child of God’.

‘Sanctified’ by his mysterious operations in the Sacraments, particularly in Baptism and Confirmation; by his divine inspirations and graces, especially by the grace of my vocation.

‘And adopted as the child of God’: in the fullest sense and with all privileges of a true adoption.

These thoughts will remind us of the solemn obligations of our Baptism, Confirmation, and vocation. They will make us docile and obedient to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and true children of God. We may thus derive great benefit from making the sign of the cross this way:

In the name of the Father, ‘who has created me in his image and for heaven’; and of the Son, ‘who has redeemed me with his blood and with so much love’; and of the Holy Spirit, ‘who has sanctified me and adopted me as the child of God’.

I desire to begin and end this day, this action, etc. with the Sign of the Cross.

Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp314-5

The divine works and the Trinitarian mission

‘O blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!’ God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God freely wills to communicate the glory of his blessed life. Such is the ‘plan of his loving kindness’, conceived by the Father before the foundation of the world, in his beloved Son:

‘He destined us in love to be his sons’ and ‘to be conformed to the image of his Son’, through ‘the spirit of sonship’. This plan is a ‘grace [which] was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began’, stemming immediately from Trinitarian love.

It unfolds in the work of creation, the whole history of salvation after the fall, and the missions of the Son and the Spirit, which are continued in the mission of the Church.

The whole divine economy is the common work of the three divine persons. For the Trinity has only one and the same nature; only one and the same operation: ‘The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not three principles of creation but one principle.’ ... each divine person performs the common work according to his unique personal property.

Thus the Church confesses, following the New Testament, one God and Father ‘from’ whom all things are, and one Lord Jesus Christ, ‘through’ whom all things are, and one Holy Spirit ‘in’ whom all things are.

It is above all the divine missions of the Son’s Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit that show forth the properties of the divine persons.

As a common and personal work, the whole divine economy reveals what is proper to the divine person, and their one divine nature. Hence, the whole Christian life is a communion with each of the divine persons, without in any way separating them.

Everyone who glorifes the Father does so through the Son in the Holy Spirit; everyone who follows Christ does so because the Father draws him and the Spirit moves him.

The final end of the whole divine economy is entry of God’s creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity. Even now we must be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity:

“If a man loves me”, says the Lord, “he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.” (Jn 14:23)

“By the grace of Baptism ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’, we are called to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity, here on earth in the obscurity of faith, and after death in eternal light.

“Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance, for the person of the Father is one, the Son’s is another, the Holy Spirit’s another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty co-eternal. (‘Athanasian Creed’)

“Inseparable in what they are, the divine persons are also inseparable in what they do. But within the single divine operation each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, especially in the divine missions of the Son’s Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Ref: “Catechism of the Catholic Church”, Nos. 257-260, 265-267

The Mystery of the Trinity

“O Lord our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth.” (Ps 8:2) These words bring us trembling and adoring before the great mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity.

Before him, we must more than ever humbly accept the call of the wise man when he says: “Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.” (Eccl 5:2)

God is the only reality beyond our powers of measuring, observing, controlling, gaining exhaustive knowledge. That is why he is God. If this be true for the Godhead in general, it is all truer for the mystery of the Trinity, of God himself.

But it is not a matter of three separate Gods (a blasphemy), nor of simply diverse impersonal modes of presenting himself on the part of one Divine person. This would mean radically impoverishing the richness of his interpersonal communion.

This Christian novelty: ‘the Father’ loved us so much as to give us his Only Begotten Son; through love, ‘the Son’ poured out his blood for our sake; and ‘the Holy Spirit’ was actually “given to us” in such a way as to bring into us that same love with which God loves us. (cf Rom 5:5)

Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp445-6

Our Lady

“Sweet Mother, lead us to that madness that will make others fall madly in love with our Christ.

“Sweet Lady Mary, may Love not be in us a flash in the pan, or a will-o’-the-wisp, such as decomposing corpses sometimes produce. May it be a true devouring fire, which sets alight and burns everything it touches.”

Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 57

The chronicle relates that in the year 1428, Our Lady of Haut, in Hainault, restored a child to life, who had been dead several days, that he might receive baptism; that he lived five hours after receiving that sacrament, and then melted away by degrees, like snow, in the presence of seventy persons. — Justus Lipsius (History of Our Lady of Hal, ch. 21). (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)

Our Lady of Haut (France, 1428). (http://www.divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm); (http://www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html); (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)

Another feast of Our Lady of Haut (in Hainaut, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)