FEAST OF THE HOLY TRINITY - John 16:12-15
It is always difficult to speak about God. Whatever we may say about him is always far from the whole truth. The prophet Isaiah had already realised that, when he has God saying: my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways (Is 55:8). God is always the Different, the utterly different, who cannot be controlled and fully understood by our minds. When we speak about him, we speak from our side, the human side, in a constant search, so that we may understand a little more; however, our thoughts remain human, and therefore limited. It is possible to go beyond our limitations, only if God himself lifts a bit of the veil that hides him from us.
Speaking about our human relationships, the Bemba proverb says: Munda ya mubiyo tamwingilwa. One cannot enter the entrails of his friend, and cannot know what is deep inside his heart, unless he opens it and allows his friend to go in. And it is much more so with God. In spite of all efforts and attempts, we are very far from understanding the mystery of our own self; it is not surprising that we only have glimpses of truth about God.
With our human reason, we can come to the conclusion that there is a creator, who is the source of everything else. However, it is much more difficult to know what kind of being is that creator. And that is why God is thought of in many different ways. There are those who believe in many gods; and those who believe that everything is god. Some think that the many gods are just different modalities of the same Supreme Being, others that they are independent gods. And there are those who believe in two opposing gods - the god of light and good and the god of darkness and evil, who fight each other. In old times, the people of Israel alone believed in one God, and following them we have the Christians and the Muslims who are monotheists as well, that is they believe in one God. Only God is God, and there is no other.
However, the Jewish and Christian concepts of God are quite different from the islamic concept of God. Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; he is a God who enters into a personal relationship with people. He is a God who does not pride himself upon being a very distant and lonely being; on the contrary, he wants to share his life and his love. In his decision to share, he interacts with human history and intervenes in it for the sake of the people he loves. The Bible is written about this interaction, that is about God’s intervention in human history to transform it into salvation history. The God of Islam is a lonely God, with whom it is impossible to have a personal relationship. He is high and far and he decides whatever he will without consideration for us, who are no more than slaves, his slaves, who must submit to whatever fate he imposes on them.
In the New Testament, through Jesus Christ, God reveals his inner self as relationship. In himself, God is communication, dialogue, relationship, love. In his first letter, St. John makes it clear that God is love (1 Jn 4:8), and he wants to establish a relationship of love with us. That is the mystery of Holy Trinity: God is one and only one, but this one God is communion and relationship, because he is love. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Within our hearts, we feel the deep desire of being one, without destroying our diversity, and this deep desire comes from God who in himself is one and yet diverse; he is communion and love.
“O the depth of the riches and wisdom
and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments
and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him,
to receive a gift in return?”
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