Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…
It is a veritable truth of nature that we come to know persons through their personality. A person who lives and exemplifies a kind and caring heart, is compassionate and understanding, quick to forgive and slow to anger, is the kind of person that attracts and is sought after as a trusted friend. A person who is meanspirited, narcissistic in every way, a liar and a cheat, a bully and quick-tempered is the kind of person bereft of true friends and intimates. Yes, persons are perceived by their personality, for good or ill.
One of the most profound mysteries of the Christian faith has to do with the very person of the one whom we call, “God.” Hardwired into our human psyche is our thirst for the divine. Down through the ages, in every culture and setting known to humanity, there has been the inner need that has haunted the human heart, acknowledging a supernatural presence, a divine spirit, beckoning humanity to rise able the question of: Is this all there is? And lifting our hearts to a richer and broader horizon that what we just perceive around us.
To that longing of the human heart for ‘more,’ the God who has revealed himself to Jews, Christians and Moslems, through the sacred texts of these ancient traditions, is the Creator, the God of Loving-Kindness, the Merciful. While being a pure spirit, God’s attributes have come to be powerfully known in God’s actions of creation and liberation. For Jews and Christians, God spoke through the Prophets of Old, a searing message of care for widows and orphans, bringing down the powerful from their thrones and raising up the lowly.
In the still-point moment in human history, God the Creator became one with us through his Incarnate Son, Jesus, who, ‘bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh,’ would radiate the very face of God to all humanity. No longer content to just be the God of the past, Jesus would reveal the redeeming love of God the Father through all ages.
Completing his earthly mission, Jesus, the Lord, continues his earthly presence in the Spirit, who now and for all ages, empowers the followers of Christ, to be His Presence in our world today, until he comes in Glory.
Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier – persons are known by their personality. The God of endless ages, radically one in God’s most profound inner being yet experienced down through the ages as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier – Holy Trinity – be with us now and unto the ages unending. Amen.