And the Word Became Flesh

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I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God.
Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified.

This is our faith: one God, three distinct persons, the Most Holy Trinity.[i]  

Preachers across the world today are trying to help their congregations understand this ineffable mystery.

Last year I was privileged to proclaim the Gospel and preach on this, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. I pulled together a number of quotes from the Church Councils, the Church Fathers and the Catechism in an effort of Fides quaerens intellectum, faith seeking understanding.  I left a copy of that old homily in the narthex.

Even if it was possible, understanding the Divine Mystery isn’t enough.  We are called to live it. 

When we pray to God, we may image the Triune God in all of his persons: “Oh, God, help me.” 

I’ve been encouraged to also address my prayers to the particular Person of the Trinity:  the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit. 

As I understand that our Father through love creates us, that he loves us so much that he sacrifices his only begotten Son to save us…

As I understand the Son who loves his Father so much, that he does the Father’s will, pays the price of our salvation and remains with us …

And as I understand the Holy Spirit, the anima through whose power Jesus was incarnate in the womb of a virgin, who descended upon Him at His baptism, by whose power Jesus was raised on the third day, and by who guides and animates the Church, the Body of Christ…

As I understand these, the three distinct persons of the Holy Trinity, it affects and guides my prayer.   It also makes it more personal for me, more of a reality for me.

So, even as I confess our common faith with all sincerity and devotion, how can I make myself available for the indwelling of God?

Our path to our Father is through Jesus: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No man cometh to the Father, but by me. (Jn 14:6)

And yet our way to Jesus is through the Holy Spirit.

Fr. José a few weeks ago recommended a book by Luis M. Martinez, late archbishop of Mexico.  The book is titled The Sanctifier.  It is a wonderful spiritual work about the person of the Holy Spirit, the one person of the Holy Trinity who is the least understood. 

The late archbishop speaks that the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work is to form Jesus in our souls, thus producing in us the ideal of the Father.  (p.125).

Allow me to share more from the late archbishop. 

The Spirit brought to the Virgin Mary the divine fecundity of the Father and the Word was made flesh.(Lk 1:35)[ii]

The Holy Spirit leads Jesus to the desert when he begins his public life.(Mt 4:1)[iii]

At the Last Supper and Calvary, Christ “through the Holy Spirit offered himself unblemished unto God.(Heb 9:14)[iv]

The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. (Rom 6:10-11)

The Gift of God will come to each one of them as it came to the Virgin Mary; and since, after Love itself, the Gift of divine love is Jesus, the Holy Spirit will bring to each soul the divine fecundity of the Father; in each the Word will take flesh mystically,[v]

Let me paraphrase:  As the Word became Flesh, so also the Holy Spirit brings to each of you the divine fecundity of the Father. In each of you, the Word will take flesh mystically.

Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus unites himself with us, especially through the sacraments, in a manner so that every voice might be his voice, every love his love, and all glory his glory that in him the heavenly Father might receive all honor and glory.[vi]

The Spirit’s intimate and very special movement is the work of love. It is founded on love, caused by love, and leads to love.[vii]

On our pilgrimage, on our Way, as we seek the One who created our restless hearts so that they may rest with Him in Paradise[viii], may we invoke the Holy Spirit, Veni Sancte Spiritus.  May that be our daily practice of devotion.  May we cry out for the Spirit, even, as during the consecration at Mass, that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are called to share in the divinity of Christ who humbles himself to share in our humanity.[ix]

Come to the Most Holy Trinity.

Jesus is the way to the Father.

Come, Holy Spirit, sanctify and animate us so that we may be the very Body of Christ to all we meet and serve.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

Dcn. Pat

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