Ex 34: 4-6; 8-9. 2 Cor 13: 11-13. John 3: 16-18
The image above us is the famous icon of the Trinity by the Russian artist, Andrei Rublev. It shows action. The three persons of the Trinity are dining. They are active. They are relating to each other and then, to the world.
The three persons of the Trinity love each other and then go out to the world — creating and renewing people and situations in need of it, like our present day of virus and protests and riots. In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola describes them this way:
“The three divine persons…look upon our world: Men and women being born and being laid to rest, some getting married and others getting divorced, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the happy and the sad, so many people aimless, despairing, hateful, and killing, so many undernourished, sick and dying, so many struggling with life and blind to any meaning.…They say, ‘Let us work the redemption of the whole human race; let us respond to the groaning of all creation.’” (Fleming 91-93).
In the face of this, they decide to send the Son to redeem the world. The Son sends the Holy Spirit who continually renews “the face of the earth,” prompting us to act like the Father and the Son in the world.
Pope Francis asks: “Do we tend to stay closed in on ourselves, on our group, or do we let the Holy Spirit open us to mission?” (May 19, 2013). Opening himself is what Jesus did on earth, and we do likewise, prompted by the Spirit. Whenever we move out from ourselves to others, we show the Trinity at work in us.