The Trinitarian Dynamic of Theology
On this Trinity Sunday, I'd like to reflect on something I call the Trinitarian Dynamic of the Theology.
At the beginning of my college experience, when I was engaged in my seminary studies, I had the pleasure of taking liturgy classes from Fr. Marcel Rooney, OSB, former abbot primate of the Benedictine Order. On the first day of class, he entered and said he had something to show us. Drawing a diagram on the board, he told us to remember it, promising that it would be very helpful in all our studies of the liturgy. I believe he was wrong; it is very helpful in all theological study.
The diagram was simple enough. The word "Father" was written above the word "Son" with an arrow going down from the first to the second and another going from the second to the first. The arrows were the Holy Spirit.
I have found this diagram to be extraordinary helpful in theology. Take, for instance, the theology of the Trinity itself. As we know, the Father expresses His Being in His Word (the Son). The Holy Spirit comes forth from the Father (St. Thomas Aquinas used the word "procedes") as that love by which the Father expresses Himself to the Son, who is eternally born (St. Thomas used the term "generated," which is a technical term for "born") through that love. The Son also pours Himself back to the Father, thus making the love a mutual expression, and the Holy Spirit procedes from the Son to the Father.
Very well, it sounds simple enough (the dynamic, not the Trinity), but how does it relate to the rest of theology. I believe that every aspect of theology is either involved itself in this dynamic or reflects it.
Take creation, for instance. God, through His Word (the Son), pours out the Holy Spirit to create the world. It is this Trinitarian dimension which is evident in the account of creation in Genesis. God spoke and the world came into being and the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters. Interesting. So the Word is fruitful--it creates. That's much like the Father is fruitful in generating the Son. The Holy Spirit, likewise, is poured out in that fruitfulness upon the earth. So God pours out His love on the earth. What does that mean creation is supposed to do in response? We're supposed to let that Love bring us to full maturity and offer ourselves back to God.
Okay then, but what about sin? Where does that fit into the picture?
Well, that's simple. Sin is when we refused to return the love. We got very proud of our being, of our growth and maturity, and we decided that we didn't want to give God back what He deserved.
Now, since the Son is the one in the Trinity who returns love, it only seems fitting that He would want to urge us to do so as well. The Son came and became man in order to take on creation, particularly human flesh, and offer it to the Father. The circle is completed by His salvific actions. This is, in fact, precisely what the Scriptures indicate was happening--Jesus Christ came to reclaim the world, the lost sheep, and offer them to the Father. I never understood when I was younger what the Bible meant when it said that all things would be placed under Christ's feet and that when this was complete, He would give it over to His Father. That didn't make much sense to me...did that mean Christ would, at some point, no longer be King or God? Of course not. It meant that Christ would do with creation the same thing He's done for all eternity with His Being: give it back to the Father out of love.
So then what about the Church? Where does that fit in? Well, we know that the Church was born when Christ poured out the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. What does that designate? If we look to the Trinitarian dynamic, whenever the Holy Spirit is flowing, something is either being born or being offered back to God. The Church was born at Pentecost and her entire purpose is to give herself to the Son, who made her by giving her the Spirit. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit moves from the Church into the world via the great work of evangelization and catechesis. He does this in order to draw in more people. As the Holy Spirit goes out from the Church, He gives His guidance (in a way, His very self) to those being evangelized, who then can either reject the grace He offers (that would stop the circle from being complete, which is always a sign of sin) or offer themselves to the Church and through the Church to Jesus and through Jesus to the Father by pouring out their whole being.
Okay, but what about the sacraments? Where do they fit in? Well, the sacraments are the work of Jesus Christ to initiate us, guide us, and support us. The sacraments are means of salvation. That makes them particularly the work of the Holy Spirit. It's no surprise, either. The sacraments bind us more and more closely to Christ. As we receive them, we receive them in Christ, so that the sacraments are a way for God's love to come to us, who are in a way, alteri Christi ("other Christs"). The sacraments, by renewing us in Christ, carry out the work of generation (or "regeneration"), thus giving us new birth. The Holy Spirit is the means of generation of the Son in the Holy Trinity and the sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit operates, are the means of regeneration of the Son in His people. Likewise, the sacraments are liturgical, so that when we, now more deeply bound to Christ, return that love, we do so in the liturgy.
Now it becomes especially clear how this relates to liturgical theology. In the liturgy, we receive love from God. That love regenerates us. We then return our renewed, regenerated selves to God in prayer, worship, and adoration. We also are obliged to return that love in service and works of love to other men, since by loving God's people, we love Him. The liturgy pours forth into the world around us, then, because by working in service and evangelism, the Holy Spirit runs through us as instruments of His love to help in the renewal and regeneration of others, so that they may come to the Church and offer themselves to God.
Last, but certainly not least, I have spoken of our being bound to Christ. This binding more and more greatly conforms us to Him. The end, when all creation is at last under Christ's feet, is when all the circles conjoin into one, which is only possible when all His people are conformed completely to Him in heaven.
I hope that this dynamic helps you to see theology in a new light. I'll try to point it out in future articles.
God bless,
Micah
At the beginning of my college experience, when I was engaged in my seminary studies, I had the pleasure of taking liturgy classes from Fr. Marcel Rooney, OSB, former abbot primate of the Benedictine Order. On the first day of class, he entered and said he had something to show us. Drawing a diagram on the board, he told us to remember it, promising that it would be very helpful in all our studies of the liturgy. I believe he was wrong; it is very helpful in all theological study.
The diagram was simple enough. The word "Father" was written above the word "Son" with an arrow going down from the first to the second and another going from the second to the first. The arrows were the Holy Spirit.
I have found this diagram to be extraordinary helpful in theology. Take, for instance, the theology of the Trinity itself. As we know, the Father expresses His Being in His Word (the Son). The Holy Spirit comes forth from the Father (St. Thomas Aquinas used the word "procedes") as that love by which the Father expresses Himself to the Son, who is eternally born (St. Thomas used the term "generated," which is a technical term for "born") through that love. The Son also pours Himself back to the Father, thus making the love a mutual expression, and the Holy Spirit procedes from the Son to the Father.
Very well, it sounds simple enough (the dynamic, not the Trinity), but how does it relate to the rest of theology. I believe that every aspect of theology is either involved itself in this dynamic or reflects it.
Take creation, for instance. God, through His Word (the Son), pours out the Holy Spirit to create the world. It is this Trinitarian dimension which is evident in the account of creation in Genesis. God spoke and the world came into being and the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters. Interesting. So the Word is fruitful--it creates. That's much like the Father is fruitful in generating the Son. The Holy Spirit, likewise, is poured out in that fruitfulness upon the earth. So God pours out His love on the earth. What does that mean creation is supposed to do in response? We're supposed to let that Love bring us to full maturity and offer ourselves back to God.
Okay then, but what about sin? Where does that fit into the picture?
Well, that's simple. Sin is when we refused to return the love. We got very proud of our being, of our growth and maturity, and we decided that we didn't want to give God back what He deserved.
Now, since the Son is the one in the Trinity who returns love, it only seems fitting that He would want to urge us to do so as well. The Son came and became man in order to take on creation, particularly human flesh, and offer it to the Father. The circle is completed by His salvific actions. This is, in fact, precisely what the Scriptures indicate was happening--Jesus Christ came to reclaim the world, the lost sheep, and offer them to the Father. I never understood when I was younger what the Bible meant when it said that all things would be placed under Christ's feet and that when this was complete, He would give it over to His Father. That didn't make much sense to me...did that mean Christ would, at some point, no longer be King or God? Of course not. It meant that Christ would do with creation the same thing He's done for all eternity with His Being: give it back to the Father out of love.
So then what about the Church? Where does that fit in? Well, we know that the Church was born when Christ poured out the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. What does that designate? If we look to the Trinitarian dynamic, whenever the Holy Spirit is flowing, something is either being born or being offered back to God. The Church was born at Pentecost and her entire purpose is to give herself to the Son, who made her by giving her the Spirit. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit moves from the Church into the world via the great work of evangelization and catechesis. He does this in order to draw in more people. As the Holy Spirit goes out from the Church, He gives His guidance (in a way, His very self) to those being evangelized, who then can either reject the grace He offers (that would stop the circle from being complete, which is always a sign of sin) or offer themselves to the Church and through the Church to Jesus and through Jesus to the Father by pouring out their whole being.
Okay, but what about the sacraments? Where do they fit in? Well, the sacraments are the work of Jesus Christ to initiate us, guide us, and support us. The sacraments are means of salvation. That makes them particularly the work of the Holy Spirit. It's no surprise, either. The sacraments bind us more and more closely to Christ. As we receive them, we receive them in Christ, so that the sacraments are a way for God's love to come to us, who are in a way, alteri Christi ("other Christs"). The sacraments, by renewing us in Christ, carry out the work of generation (or "regeneration"), thus giving us new birth. The Holy Spirit is the means of generation of the Son in the Holy Trinity and the sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit operates, are the means of regeneration of the Son in His people. Likewise, the sacraments are liturgical, so that when we, now more deeply bound to Christ, return that love, we do so in the liturgy.
Now it becomes especially clear how this relates to liturgical theology. In the liturgy, we receive love from God. That love regenerates us. We then return our renewed, regenerated selves to God in prayer, worship, and adoration. We also are obliged to return that love in service and works of love to other men, since by loving God's people, we love Him. The liturgy pours forth into the world around us, then, because by working in service and evangelism, the Holy Spirit runs through us as instruments of His love to help in the renewal and regeneration of others, so that they may come to the Church and offer themselves to God.
Last, but certainly not least, I have spoken of our being bound to Christ. This binding more and more greatly conforms us to Him. The end, when all creation is at last under Christ's feet, is when all the circles conjoin into one, which is only possible when all His people are conformed completely to Him in heaven.
I hope that this dynamic helps you to see theology in a new light. I'll try to point it out in future articles.
God bless,
Micah
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