Sunday, June 11, 2006

The Holy Trinity, badge of believers

timesofmalta.com

Trinity Sunday
The Christian badge


Maurice Eminyan, SJ

The feast of the Holy Trinity, which we observe today, not only marks the conclusion of Our Lord's visible ministry on earth, but also indicates the very beginnings of the apostle's preachings throughout the whole world.

If we may use a more down-to-earth analogy, the Church was born at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, but it started operating when Jesus commanded his disciples to go to the whole world baptising all men and women in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, has always been regarded as the badge of all those who choose to follow Christ and accept his teachings. As Christians we are familiar enough with this mystery, which is the most important one for us, but also the most difficult to understand. After all, what is most important is not to understand, but to accept by supernatural faith: faith in God Himself, but also faith in Christ who has taught it to us, and faith in the Church which passes it on to us.

The sign of the cross, which we often make during the day before we begin something of importance, has become the 'label' of our Christian faith. It might be of interest to note hear that, according to its original Greek version, the phrase "in the name of" is not equivalent to "on the authority of", but "by way of consecration". With baptism, the neophyte becomes the 'property', and therefore the 'protégé' of the Person named.
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