May 18,2008 John 3:16-18

Connie May © 4/18/08

Drawing with permission by Fr. Robert Beck

Additional Beck

ENTERING THE SCENE:

Trinity. We try to give voice to what we mean by this word and we have to reach for symbols to accomplish even the most basic explanation. Fr. Beck, in his drawing does just this by placing a fire in the midst of a triangle whose heat is melting the boundary of the form. The fire of love has this effect on us as well. Love melts our boundaries and reveals that we cannot be ourselves without each other. God, in creating, started the whole thing in loving us. The Incarnation, the expression of this love, and then the coming of the Holy Spirit, the experience of God presence in a new and more powerful way, completes the Eternal Triangle. Now we are included in this LOVE that has NO boundaries.

Jn. 3:16-18

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: Trinity! How has loving and being loved helped you to understand the reality that we call the Trinity?

PRAYER: Lord, you knew that we could only begin to get a grasp on what loving means by first being loved. So You came to us within our boundaries of space and time in Jesus. Then you knew that we would be forever trapped by thinking that this was all there is for us. We, (like Thomas) had to have a hands on experience to prove that this is not the end, but merely the true beginning. Help me as I reflect on my experience of loving and being loved, to get my hands on what You want for me, and to shine with joy at this realization. Amen.