THE TRINITARIAN COMMUNION - Archdiocese of Ernakulam ...

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in the same way the Holy Spirit surrenders everything to the Son and the Fatherexcept which cannot be surrendered i.e., his Spirithood. Hence they are related as Oneand at the same time they are distinct. 73The Trinity as persons relate to one another in love, fraternity and equality.Though they are distinct from one another yet they live in perfect harmony, fidelity,peace and unity. They live in interpenetration of one another. Their union is expressedas an eternal perichoresis i.e., “each person contains the other two; each onepenetrates the others and is penetrated by them, one lives in the other and viceversa.”74 Theirs is not a static relationship being in one another but a dynamicrelationship i.e., an active interpenetration of one another. 75 Further they are acommunity of equals, a community of love and community for justice. Thefoundation of perichoresic relationship is the mutual surrender of the Father, the Sonand the Holy Spirit. 76 In this way the Father gives everything to the Son except hisFatherhood. In the same way the Son gives everything to the Father except hisSonship. Likewise the Holy Spirit gives everything to the Father and the Son excepthis Spirithood. Therefore we acknowledge in the Triune God’s relationships theperfect equal, love and just community. We will explore further the relationships inthe Triune God.2.4.1. Community of EqualsCommunity always comprises of persons. In human communities we observealways and everywhere inequality based on characters, personality, caste, race,gender, language, economic, social, ethnic dimensions. But within the Godhead thereis perfect equality and the persons are equal in all spheres. The community of theTriune God is a community of equals. They are equal in all ways: “the Father, the Sonand the Holy Spirit have one Godhead, one might, one majesty, one power, one glory,one Lordship, one Kingdom, one will and truth.” 77 The Father is God, the Son is Godand the Holy Spirit is God; they are not three gods but one God. In essence (ousia),nature and dignity as persons they are equal.There is perfect equality in nature and dignity between the Persons.Fatherhood belongs to the very essence of the first Person and it was so from all
eternity. It is a personal property of God “from whom every family in heaven and onearth is named” (Eph 3:15). The Son is called the ‘only-begotten’ may be to suggestuniqueness rather than derivation. Christ always claimed for himself a uniquerelationship to God as Father (Abba), and the Jews who listened to him apparently hadno illusions about his claims. Indeed they sought to kill him because he “called Godhis ‘own Father’, making himself equal with God” (Jn 5:18). The Spirit is revealed asthe One who alone knows the depths of God’s nature: “For the Spirit searcheseverything, even the depths of God…No one comprehends the thoughts of God exceptthe Spirit of God” (1Cor 2:10f). This implies that the Spirit is “just God himself in theinnermost essence of his being’. This puts the seal of the New Testament teachingupon the doctrine of the equality of the three Persons. Adding further to this LeonardoBoff, while discussing the equality that exists in the Trinity and the relationship thatdevelop the Trinitarian community, says “In the three persons, nothing is anterior,superior, greater, lesser or posterior. They are co-eternal, co-almighty. The reasonadduced by the magisterium is that the unity of nature, substance or essence is sharedby all three. Because of this one nature, each of the Persons is wholly in others,penetrates and is penetrated by the others.” 78 Therefore all the three persons in theTrinity are equal in everything and equality exists in them from all eternity. Love isthe foundation for this equality.2.4.2. Community of LoveThe highest revelation in Scripture is that the absolute mystery is acommunion of persons – a radical relativity, an absolute intercommunion. Scripturereveals to us the relationship between Father, Son and the Spirit. “God is a mystery oflove, Trinitarian love. The Father loves the Son in the bond of the Holy Spirit, who istheir reciprocal love.” 79 It is an absolute loving relationship; it cannot be understoodexcept in terms of personal relationship. We are called to enter into this lovingrelationship of and to live in communion with the Trinitarian communion by ourhaving been created in the image and likeness of God. 80Love is possible only among persons. 81 We are persons by birth itself arerelated with one another. A person in a family is related first of all with her/hisparents, then with her/his siblings and with the whole community. This relationship is
Page 3: the unjust structures of the societ
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Page 8 and 9: Triune God’s communion, a relatio
Page 10 and 11: God as father, Wisdom/Word and Spir
Page 12 and 13: ightly says, “The vivid personifi
Page 14 and 15: the experience of the Spirit, the H
Page 16 and 17: Trinity. The development of the Tri
Page 20 and 21: mostly built upon love which in a w
Page 23 and 24: Son Jesus Christ (Jn 3:16-17). God
Page 25 and 26: the principle of perestroika, recon
Page 27 and 28: future one. It is present because o
Page 29 and 30: should constitute a single family,
Page 31 and 32: and the presbyterate for pastoral c
Page 33 and 34: God. Rather, we learn from Matthew
Page 35 and 36: 75. Ibid.76. Nonna Verma Harrison,
Page 37: is currently doing Ph.D in Ecclesio

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