Education in Faith
Last Sunday we celebrated Holy Trinity Sunday, recognition of the connection between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - 3 in 1.
Throughout the Last Supper discourse, the Holy Spirit is identified as Gift and Love. The Spirit is the Gift that will be sent by the Father and by the Son so that the world may continue to experience the Love of the Father and the Son. In the discourse, Jesus calls on the disciples to love one another with the same love that they had experienced from him – the love of God. To assist the disciples to continue to love with the same love of God and Jesus, the Spirit is sent to them. The Holy Spirit is the lasting expression of the divine love that had previously been experienced through the Father and the Son, to continue the work of Jesus.
Every time we make the sign of the cross we reaffirm our belief in a God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although some people have difficulties with the gender-specific language of ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ and look for other ways to express this reality, all Christian people profess a belief in the one God who is experienced in three distinct ways. We are baptised ‘in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ and we remind ourselves of this reality when we pray and when we bless ourselves or others.