In the prayer room of our formation center in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, is a crucifix with Christ being raised up by the Father and the Holy Spirit.
In his 1998 best-selling book, “Why Christianity Must Change or Die,” Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong refers to the crucifixion as the “final conflict between good and evil…the goodness of God snuffed out by the evil of humanity.”
Bishop Spong presents the springboard for our reflections today, Trinity Sunday. “I believe that this Spirit inevitably creates a community of faith that will come, in time, to open this world to God as the very ground of its life and being,” he says.
A few weeks ago I was in a meeting with seven other persons who belonged to Christian churches. As they talked, two things struck me: one, they had a solid sense of community as a church; two, they had a strong mission zeal in the way they lived out their Christian faith.
I felt sad and joyful—sad because many of the people mentioned in their conversation were Catholics who have left the Catholic Church; and joyful because they found a renewed sense of faith in community and mission.
This is the challenge for us, for our community in the Catholic Church. How do we renew and reinspire our sense of community and mission?
The Ignatian meditation on the Mystery of the Incarnation gives us a framework. Ignatius pictures the Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—with what is going on in the world to formulate a vision. From this vision he is “missioned” into the world.
This vision is articulated in scripture in the baptism of Jesus: “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to Him.” With deeper and broader understanding it is repeated in the Transfiguration; and with articulation and proof it is defined once and for all in the Paschal Mystery—the Cross and the Resurrection.
It is Christ and his Cross and Resurrection that continue to inspire our faith. He is still the “vine” where our individual persons and our communities are to be rooted and grounded in.
Motivators
In his book “Drive,” Daniel Pink points to three elements that motivate us: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Pink talks about autonomy as allowing a person to be self-directing. This is the freedom that will allow the person to discover the best that he can be. It is what “Heroic Leadership” refers to as an environment of love and care that gives the individual the opportunity to achieve full human potential.
The challenge and joy of mastery, meanwhile, is in its pursuit. “Mastery attracts precisely because mastery eludes.” The prize is not the destination, but the journey.
Then there is purpose or meaning. Pink succinctly puts it: “It is our nature to seek purpose.” As Hans Kung, SJ, says, faith and life are about trust, joy and meaning.
Renowned psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of “Flow” fame says, “One cannot lead a life that is truly excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and more permanent than oneself.”
This gives us autonomy, the greatest freedom knowing that meaning lies outside of our self and we are free to seek this, to direct our self in this journey.
This is our prayer this Trinity Sunday, that we may reinspire ourselves and our communities with this renewed vision of a Christian community that lives its mission with great love.