Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40
Romans 8:14-17
Matthew 28:16-20
The mystics believed that we are all born with a capacity for God (Capax Dei).
St Augustine believed that this capacity makes it possible for the human person to be re-formed through God’s gracious gift.
It has become common place for society to be described as ‘post Christian’ or as ‘secular’. While it may appear that Christian values are all but forgotten in the way in which our ordinary lives are ordered, I think we may have lost sight of the fundamental truth that we all carry within us the capacity for God. This capacity won’t always be expressed in the traditional ways, but I do believe that in the heart of every human being is the desire to know that they are part of something much bigger than themselves. Every human being wants to be connected to someone or something that gives meaning to their life. We are made for connection.
St Augustine sees our re-forming in terms of the image of the Trinity. Just as there is unity among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so too, there is unity in a person’s memory, understanding and will. At the core of each human being is a mystery which reflects the great mystery of the Godhead. In the ordinary run of life it’s easy to lose sight of this mystery that we carry within us. We are often more of aware of our failures than our triumphs. Maria Boulding, expresses this so well in her book, The Coming of God, which has become for me a personal spiritual classic:
All your hopes and disappointments, your joy and suffering, your achievement and failure, your ups and downs: none of it is wasted. Provided only that you consent without qualification, the work of grace is going on in you through the whole business of living, to hollow you out, to make you Capax Dei, as the old mystics used to say, able to receive God. You yourself are the place of desire and need. All your love, your stretching out, your hope, your thirst, God is creating in you so that he may fill you.
When we celebrate the feast of the The Trinity we celebrate relationship and connection. Each of the readings for today highlights the quality of that connection:
Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children may prosper and live long in the land that the Lord your God gives you for ever. (Deuteronomy 4) Israel is bound in a relationship of covenantal love.
The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory. (Romans 8) Our adoption as sons and daughters is the guarantee of our relationship with the Father.
‘Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.’ Christ promises to be with us always when we speak and act in the name of the Trinity.
How can you live out this Trinitarian love this coming week?