• The Trinity dwells in our soul

• The love of the Father, the Son and the Spirit

• The Holy Spirit leads us to Christ and to the Father

THE SOLEMNITY of the Most Holy Trinity recapitulates everything that has been revealed to us during Easter: the death and resurrection of our Lord, his ascension to the right hand of the Father and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. On this feast, the liturgy begins by praising and adoring the Blessed Trinity, made known to us in Jesus Christ: “Blessed be God the Father, and the Only Begotten Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, for he has shown us his merciful love” (Entrance Antiphon). The Blessed Trinity is not only a mystery about the identity of God. It is, in a special way, the mystery of his merciful love for the world and for each one of us.

“I baptize you,” a priest said as he poured water three times over our heads, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And Saint Hilary remarked: “The Lord told us to baptize in the profession of faith in the Creator, in the only Son and in the one who is called Gift. One alone is the Creator of everything, since one alone is God the Father, from whom everything proceeds; and one only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom everything has been made; and one Spirit, who has been given to all of us.”^[1]

The Blessed Trinity brought us into God’s intimacy as his children. The water of baptism sealed in us a relationship with the three divine Persons. Indeed, we were created for that relationship of love: to give glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. “You have often heard me tell you,” Saint Josemaría said in a meditation, “that God is in the center of our soul in grace; and that therefore we all have a direct line to God Our Lord. What are all human comparisons worth, with that wonderful, divine reality? On the other side of the line, waiting for us, is the entire Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Because where one of the divine Persons is found, the other two are also present. We are never alone.”^[2]

EVERY TIME we make the sign of the cross, we remember the name of God in which we were baptized. The Eucharistic celebration begins and ends with the sign of the cross. And often we do the same when we start to pray or when we finish praying. Some people also have the habit of making the sign of the cross when entering or leaving their home, and in many other moments. “The sign of the Cross and the name of the living God contain the proclamation that generates faith and inspires prayer.”^[3]

Saint Paul reminds us that in Christ God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). This is a hope that does not disappoint. In the fullness of time, God has wanted to reveal to us his divine intimacy, to make us children of God the Father, through the redemption by God the Son, by virtue of the grace of God the Holy Spirit. His love continues to carry out the work of our salvation and sanctification. Saint Teresa of Calcutta one day found an old woman on the street, covered in sores, so she began to clean her. At one point the old woman asked, “Why are you doing this? People don’t do things like this. Who taught you this?” Saint Teresa replied: “My God taught me.” The woman replied: “Who is this God?” And Teresa of Calcutta said with simplicity: “You already know my God. My God is called Love.”

God is Love, “not in the unity of a single person, but in a Trinity of one substance” (Preface). “His is not a sentimental, emotional kind of love but the love of the Father who is the origin of all life, the love of the Son who dies on the Cross and is raised, the love of the Spirit who renews human beings and the world.”^[4] God is not a solitary being, who lives far away and is unconcerned about the destiny of mankind. He is a family, an inexhaustible source of life that is poured out for us.

IN THE DISCOURSE at the Last Supper, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will be sent to comfort and strengthen his disciples. Our Lord calls him the Spirit of truth, because he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come (Jn 16:13). The Holy Spirit does not add anything new to the Messiah’s message: he will take what is mine and declare it to you, Jesus says (Jn 16:14). Just as Jesus tells us only what he hears and receives from the Father, “the Holy Spirit is Christ’s interpreter. He does not lead us to other places, far from Christ, but takes us further and further into Christ’s light.”^[5]

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus said that “the Old Testament manifested the Father clearly, the Son obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son and hinted at the divinity of the Spirit. Today the Spirit lives among us, and makes himself seen clearly.”^[6] The Paraclete “now teaches the faithful all the spiritual truths each one is capable of grasping, and enkindles a desire to grow in the charity that leads them to love what is already known and to long for what still remains to be known.”^[7]

“This love with the action of the Holy Spirit has shined a new light on the earth and into every human heart that welcomes him; a light that reveals the dark corners, the hardships that impede us from bearing the good fruits of charity and of mercy.”^[8] Just as when a bottle of perfume is broken, the aroma spreads everywhere, so when the Body of Christ was broken on the Cross, his Spirit was poured out into our hearts.^[9] We ask Mary, Daughter, Mother and Spouse of God, to teach us to enter into the Trinitarian communion, in order to experience and bear witness to the love that gives meaning to our lives.

^[1] Saint Hilary, Treatise on the Holy Trinity, Book 2, 1, 33. 35.

^[2] Saint Josemaría, Notes from his preaching, 8 December 1972.

^[3] Benedict XVI, Angelus, 30 May 2010.

^[4] Francis, Angelus, 26 May 2013.

^[5] Benedict XVI, Homily, 7 May 2005.

^[6] Saint Gregory of Nazianzen, Discourse 31, 25-27 (PG 36, 159).

^[7] Saint Augustine, Treatise 97.1 (On the Gospel of Saint John).

^[8] Francis, Angelus, 11 June 2017.

^[9] Cf. Saint Hippolytus, Commentary on the Song of Songs 13.1.