God lives a most mysterious form of life. High above all things, dwelling in unapproachable light, God is the eternal Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The life of the Holy Trinity is resplendent with glory. The three-in-one rejoice in abundant bliss simply over being God.
No human being can fathom the life or bliss of the Trinity. Analogies may give us a glimpse, but all comparisons fall short. Yet it pleases God, who loves us, to share his triune life with us.
It was generous enough for God to create the world and give us life and breath. But God did not stop there. In a gift beyond anything creatures could expect, he chose to give us not only the world, but himself.
Beginning
From the beginning, God planned not only to reveal his triune life but to draw us into it. He calls us to know him, love him and enjoy his life within our hearts. In baptism, he grants sanctifying grace – a real participation in the life of the Holy Trinity.
We have no natural right to such a gift. Yet God lavishes it upon us simply because he is good.
For this reason, the Father sent his eternal Son into the world. Jesus of Nazareth, true God and true man, freely chose to die for us. God raised him from the dead, and now he stands before the Father, pleading for us to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks to Jesus Christ, all who are baptised can say: “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).
The grace poured into our hearts is not merely a higher form of natural life. It is not simply human life, nor angelic life. It is something supernatural. God’s own life animating the depths of the soul.
Those who live in grace still eat, sleep and walk the earth like anyone else. Yet in the depths of their souls, something divine is unfolding. They are living something of the life of the Trinity.
Many are unaware of the greatness of this gift. Yet the baptised are called to awaken to it. Sanctifying grace is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field of the heart. It is meant to grow into a conscious union with the Most High.
For this growth, the most essential quality is a listening heart. Solomon did not ask for wisdom but for a listening heart (cf. 1 Kgs 3:9), and God gave him wisdom in abundance.
Wisdom
If we ask for the grace to listen and take practical steps to cultivate it, true wisdom – a loving awareness of God’s presence – will dawn in due time.
One special way to listen is to meditate on the seven last words of Jesus. The last words of a person reveal the heart. If the final words of saints move us, how much more should the last words of the Lord?
“Jesus died praying,” Joseph Ratzinger observed. Even on the cross, his heart was turned toward the Father. His first words were: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
Jesus lived and died in prayer. His heart was entirely turned toward the Father.
Among all the prayers of Israel, Jesus’ prayer was unique. He called God, “Abba” – Father – in an intimate and personal way. No patriarch or prophet had dared to speak so. In doing so, he lived out his eternal Sonship in a human way. Prayer is profoundly human, and Jesus simply called upon his Father.
When he taught his disciples the Our Father, he did not intend merely that we imitate him outwardly. He intended that our hearts be united with his in one prayer. When the Spirit descended, the first Christians began to cry out “Abba, Father!” (cf. Rom 8:15). The prayer of heaven and the prayer of the Church became one.
Even now, heaven and earth are united in the prayer life of Christian hearts.
On the cross, Jesus forgave his persecutors, practicing what he had preached: “Love your enemies” (cf. Mt 5:44). In the Our Father, we ask for the grace to forgive as we have been forgiven. Forgiveness is the way home to the Father.
Participation in the Trinity may seem abstract. Yet Jesus has made it concrete. How do we enter this mystery? We begin with prayer.
One Our Father devoutly said is a greater reality, in heaven and on earth, than we can imagine.
Dominican Fr James Dominic Brent is the author of The Father’s House: Discovering Our Home in the Trinity.
