Consider the following description: “Looking 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.”
Does it sound familiar? This is an early 16th-century description of how the Trinity—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit— viewed the world, from the Contemplation of the Incarnation in the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola.
This particular contemplation begins the meditations on the life of Christ, through which the graces Ignatius prescribed to ask for are “developed”: “to see Christ more clearly, to love him more dearly, to follow him more nearly.”
The picture of the Trinity here is one who is “looking upon our world,” and seeing what is described above, they decide to enter our world and send the Son. “Let us work on the redemption of the whole human race; let us respond to the groaning of all creation.” (from the Contemplation of the Incarnation)
In this “first encounter” of the Trinity with the world in the Spiritual Exercises, we see three qualities of the Trinity I invite you to reflect on.
First, they are watching us and, second, they are moved by what they see. This feeling of “love, compassion and understanding” brings us to the third quality of the Trinity: They make a choice leading to the divine action—to send the Son as God incarnate, to be one with us “in all things but sin.”
To watch, to be moved and to choose to act—“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” Through this divine action of love, the Trinity speaks to a world torn by violence and hate, wounded by injustice and broken by sin.
Plan of salvation
The Trinity enters a conversation with the world and humanity, first with Mary to whom the message, the plan of salvation is first revealed by an angel. She listens and says “yes.” She obeys. Thus, humanity enters the conversation with the divine through Mary’s “yes.”
It is interesting to note that in Ignatius’ contemplation, the Trinity is in conversation. Their choice to act and send the Son is the fruit of conversation on what they saw and what they felt. The external experience and the internal or interior movements are processed in conversation. The fruit is the action, God’s saving act in human history—the Trinity’s intervention in love.
We often cite the Trinity as a model of community, as the icon of the church. I invite you now to view it and reflect on its conversation as a process to build community; conversation where we can watch, be present to one another and also listen to one another; a conversation where we can feel for one another and be moved by each other, to be in solidarity with one another.
Finally, a conversation where we come to a choice to act, and all action flowing from this kind of conversation is an action of love and service.
Every time we enter this kind of conversation, we experience the Trinity, and in the experience we enter the conversation and, we pray, like Mary, we will be able to add our “yes” to the conversation.
Like Mary, our “yes” will make the saving of the world possible—not just saving the world, but adding to its pilgrimage toward this fullness of redemption, and making our corner of the world better.
The beauty of the Ignatian Contemplation of the Incarnation is it gives us an entry point into a relationship with the community that is very much our context. Paradoxical as it may sound—hopefully not heretical—it humanizes the Trinity.
The Trinity is not simply the Three-Persons-in-One-God who is out there, but one who watches us, feels with us and acts for and with us out of love.
Now, more than ever, we need to renew our devotion to the Trinity, a devotion that will bring us into a conversation with them and with one another; a conversation that will help us watch, feel with and act lovingly with each other to make our world better. –CONTRIBUTED