103 posts 6/30/2007 11:11 pm
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A Trinity of Persons in a Unity of Godhead
A Trinity of Persons in a Unity of Godhead
All rational beings, including non- material beings such as angels, are made of three things; a mind conscious self, an image of that self, and self-love. Let us look at these things as they function in a normal human being. Let us call him Ray.
Ray has a mind capable of insight, knowledge and reasoning. As a baby, he gets to know the world around him. Progressively, he learns to distinguish between himself and others; his mother is not his leg, because his leg is a part of him and stays with him all the time and he can even shake it when he wants to, but his mother comes and goes, and he cannot shake her. Thus he discovers that he is an individual. As he grows up, he also discovers that he has certain gifts and talents that not everybody has or, at least, not to the same degree. For example, he can throw a ball faster than his sister Lucy, he can run faster, too, and he is stronger than she is, even though she is a year older. He is better-looking than his friend Charly; he has better grades than his older friend Ralp. Little by little, Ray forms an image of himself which reflects pretty much what he is. That image is not perfectly objective, of course, and is also quite incomplete. Yet, partly distorted as his self-image is (he doesn’t like to admit his lack of talent in certain areas) and partly incomplete as it is, nevertheless the idea he has gained of himself is substantially correct. So now we have two things: Ray as a source of awareness or a center of consciousness, and Ray ay possessing a self-image or an idea of himself.
Now, since Ray is normal young man, he has a healthy self-regard or self-esteem. When he looks at his self-image, he likes what he sees. Let us remember that this kind of self-love is so spontaneous and ordinary in a normal person that Jesus used it as a reference point; “Love your neighbor as you love your self.” Ray loves himself. Naturally, unthinkingly, he cares for himself. Like every normal person, Ray translates his self-regard into a constant stream of complements; he notices when he does things right. When he play basketball, he may be unsure as to how many points someone else made, but he is certain to know how many points he made. And he does not forget to compliment himself on the achievement. When he looks at a group photo in which he features, he looks for his face first. In general, therefore, Ray knows what is good in himself, and he says it not merely in words to himself and others, but also in his posture, in his way of dressing, in his body language. So now we have the three elements that make up Ray: a self, an awareness of the richness of that self, and a corresponding love of that self. Yet, these three dimensions of his being do not make three Rays. There is only one Ray but three aspects of him or three sides of him.
Now, let us suppose an infinity perfect national being. That being would also be a center of awareness capable of insight, understanding, perception, knowledge, and so on–in other words, a conscious self. He would also have an image or an idea of his own infinite excellence. That image, naturally, would be infinitely perfect as he is himself. And he would love that image of himself with an infinity perfect love. This would not result in three perfect being for so much. We would still have only one perfect being but in three dimensions or three relationship; the source of the self-image, the self-image, and the love relating the source to its image.
In halting and groping language, this is what we, Christians, are trying to say when we state, on the witness of God himself, that God is a Trinity of persons in unity of Godhead. Before God revealed this mystery to us, we did not know it nor could we even imagine it. Yet, when we think about it seriously and analyze what every rational being is–a small trinity–the mystery of the Holy Trinity, while remaining mysterious, does not appear so difficult to believe after all. We are all walking and talking mini-trinities. And, since we are made in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1:26 ), so is God a Trinity, but an infinitely perfect one.
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365 Days with the Lord
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