Gospel Commentary: The Real World

By Fr. Paul Scalia
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 6/12/03)

Catholic life begins with the Trinity. We are baptized, according to the Lord’s command, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." (Mt. 28:19) Catholic life ends with the Trinity when we enter the presence of God. In between baptism and heaven we should love "in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit," that is, participating in the life of the Blessed Trinity.

Some object that the Trinity has nothing to do with the "real world." Why waste our time talking about a triune God — one nature and three persons! Let’s skip the theology and just try to make the world a better place." Never mind the arrogance of such objections (which presume that our lives are, somehow, more "real" than God’s). They still deserve a response. The Trinity not only gives life, but also reveals the truth about love, the family and fatherhood.

When St. John tells us "God is love," (1 Jn. 4:7) he does not mean that God is a solitary loving figure. Whoever heard of love with just one person? That is not love, but a lonely heart. "God is love" means that His very life is love, which means a relationship: the Father eternally loves the Son, giving everything of Himself; the Son loves the Father in return, giving everything of Himself; and the Holy Spirit proceeded eternally as the love between them.

Is anything in the world more desired and, at the same time, more misunderstood than love? God’s inner life demonstrates the completeness that love requires. If we contemplate the complete self-giving between the three Persons of God more often, then we will begin to understand the total self-giving which our baptism demands.

The Trinity contains the truth about our most endangered institution: the family. Pope John Paul II says that the family "ultimately derives from the mystery of God," from the Trinity. What is the Trinity in a family? A community of persons with a common life. Since the family comes from the Trinity, it should make every effort to become a true community of persons united in love — not the random collection of persons that many families appear to be.

The family’s sacred character comes not from its benefits to society but from its origins in, and resemblance to, the Trinity. And although there are many threats to the family (divorce, contraception, homosexuality, etc.), the greatest threat is ignorance of the Trinity. Recovery of the family will not come from programs, policies or laws. It will come from the worship of the Triune God.

Finally, the Trinity reveals the truth about fatherhood. We always name God the Father first, because He is the source of all divinity — the first to give Himself by eternally begetting the Son. In short, God the Father is the first step to love. To be Father means to take the initiative in love. This is the standard for all human fatherhood: to imitate God the Father in self-giving and taking the initiative to love.

Theological details with no meaning for daily life? Useless speculations that have no bearing in the real world? Hardly. The Triune God is the source of all reality and, therefore, all meaning. Our problem is not that we think too much about the Trinity, but that we can not think about it enough. Only by lifting our eyes to heaven can we hope to live, as our Baptism obliges us, "in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Fr. Scalia is parochial vicar at St. Patrick Parish in Chancellorsville.

Copyright ©2003 Arlington Catholic Herald.  All rights reserved.