SCRIPTURE/PRAYER

On Relationship to Our God as Trinity

What Distinguishes Christians

Alone among the world's monotheistic religions, we Christians proclaim the profound mystery that our God is absolutely one, yet our God is Trinity: three absolutely equal but distinct persons who are absolutely one in love yet unique in mission. Our Christian faith calls us as Church into a personal relationship with our God as Trinity.

Our Not Thinking it Through

Most of us, however, are what theologians might call undifferentiated in our relationship with the Divine. That is to say, most of us are probably pretty loose about our understanding of whom we are addressing when we pray. For instance, as I have listened over the years, I gather that the One who people address in prayer is usually either God or Jesus. But what do people mean by the word God? Do they mean the First Person of the Trinity, the Father? Do they mean the whole Trinity? Where does Jesus Christ fit? Does anyone pray to the Holy Spirit? Why? Or why not? What are the implications underneath the answers to these questions?

The questions, and the dizziness they create in us when we ponder them, suggest that most of us probably take a simple, relatively unreflective - that is to say, undifferentiated - approach to our relationship with the Triune God, especially in our praying.

The Basics of an Approach

By way of contrast, let me offer a differentiated approach from a well-known contemporary preacher and public speaker, Franciscan Father Richard Rohr. Rohr say this: from a theological point of view, we Christians really ought never address Jesus in our praying, nor ought we address the Holy Spirit. We should always and only address the Father in our prayer. Why?

First of all, we are the Body of Christ whenever we gather to pray. It makes no sense, therefore, to address the Second Person of the Trinity in our prayer because, mystically, we are the Body of Christ in the act of praying. Secondly, whenever we pray we are being inspired and animated by the Holy Spirit, who gives us the attitudes, dispositions, words and feelings of our prayer. It makes no sense, therefore, to address the Third Person of the Trinity in prayer because the Holy Spirit is praying through and in us when we pray. If we are the Body of Christ in our praying, and if the Holy Spirit is praying through, with and in us when we pray, then clearly it follows that the person of the Trinity whom we ought to address in our praying is the First Person of the Trinity, the Father - always and everywhere the Father. Thus Richard Rohr.

The Trinity and Eucharist

If you are like me, Rohr's differentiated reflection might raise your eyebrows. But I would invite us to ponder his reflection in connection with Eucharist because in Eucharist the Church demonstrates for us fairly clearly and carefully how the vast sweep of our ancient tradition across the ages understands whom we are addressing and ought to address when we pray.

In Eucharist, the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is never addressed alone in prayer. The Spirit is always addressed in prayer with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is addressed alone only in a couple of the assembly's hymns - like "Come, Holy Ghost" - that's it. When the Spirit is invoked, the formal prayer of the assembly addresses the Father, whom we ask to send down the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is never addressed alone in formal prayer when we gather for Eucharist.

In Eucharist, the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, is addressed at six moments. Jesus Christ is addressed in the litany of the Introductory Rite with the words, "Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy." Jesus Christ is addressed in praise and entreaty within the "Glory to God in the Highest." Jesus Christ is also addressed in some of the memorial acclamation texts we use after the Last Supper narrative - for instance, with the text beginning, "Dying you destroyed our death ..." All three of the prayers at this moment, however, are occasional, optional, in Eucharist.

Jesus Christ is addressed three times in the Communion Rite. He is addressed in an extended way during the Rite of Peace in the prayer that begins, "Lord, Jesus Christ, you said to your disciples, I leave you peace, my peace I give you ..." He is addressed repeatedly in the litany "Lamb of God" we all sing together while the sacred elements are being fractured for distribution. Jesus Christ is addressed finally in the assembly's response to what is known as the Communion Call, when all respond to the Communion Call with the words, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you ..." Jesus Christ is always addressed in these three places within Eucharist

These six moments exhaust our addressing Jesus Christ in Eucharist. Three of these six are optional, three are within the Communion Rite.

Unless the whole Trinity is invoked, all other prayers within Eucharist are addressed to the First Person of the Trinity, the Father. Whether we use the word Father or use the word Lord, and with whatever adjectives we might attach to either word, in all the orations of Eucharist we address the First Person of the Trinity. In the great Eucharistic Prayer, which is the center and summit of our celebration, though we proclaim the events of our salvation in Jesus Christ, we, the assembly, address our prayer to God, the Father.

Therefore, though Rohr's reflection might seem a little too differentiated for our tastes, Rohr's perspective is essentially correct in reference to Eucharist. Eucharist is a profoundly Trinitarian act, carefully differentiated. We gather here for Eucharist as the mystical Body of Christ who lifts mind and heart and soul in prayer to the Father. The Holy Spirit inspires and animates our prayer, giving us the attitudes, dispositions, words and feelings for our praying as we address the Father in praise and thanksgiving.

How We Might Pray to and with the Trinity

As we ponder what Eucharist teaches us about whom God is as Trinity and what Eucharist offers us as direction for how we ought to relate to the Trinity in prayer, I would invite all of us to consider for ourselves a more differentiated relationship with God and a more differentiated approach to God in our praying. Why? Because it is precisely our belief in the Three in One and One in Three that identifies us as Christians and calls us into relationship with God as Trinity. Even more importantly, if we would be carefully sensitive about whom God is as Trinity, then we would profoundly expand our personal understanding of God and vastly deepen our personal prayer and our spiritual life. So, to move us in this direction, I would suggest for your consideration today two practices for your personal prayer.

First, I would suggest that all of us restrict the use of the word God to the whole of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. All three, we profess, participate fully and equally in the absolute unity we name God. Many among us use the word God in reference to the Father, as if only the First Person of the Trinity were God. While there is some justification for that usage in common practice and in Eucharist, I think the restriction a very helpful spiritual discipline. Therefore, I suggest that all of us in our praying carefully, consciously, thoughtfully restrict the use of the word God to the whole of the Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Second, I would suggest that all of us feel free on occasion to address in our personal prayer one person of the Trinity, and to address that one in accord with the unique role or mission that one person has in the Trinity. That is to say, I am suggesting that we address our prayer sometimes to the Father, sometimes to the Son, sometimes to the Holy Spirit, depending on what desires fuel our prayer at a given moment. This practice is a little tricky, and it requires that we grope around for awhile to gain some clarity. Consequently, I offer the following as a way to begin sorting through the roles of each of the three persons in One God. (I would invite you to follow me by attending to the persons of the Trinity you see written in the Trinity icon at the front of the altar. The Father is at your left, the Son is in the center, the Holy Spirit is to your right.)

The Father is Creator of all things. The Son is the Redeemer of all creation. The Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, the Advocate for all. The Father is the One who is above all the world. The Son is the One who is with us in the midst of the world. The Holy Spirit is the One who is within us. The Father is the Origin of all who live. The Son is the Goal of all who live. The Holy Spirit is the Guide of all who live. And, to push things a little further for you to indicate possibilities ... The Father is the utterer of the Word. The Son is the Word uttered. The Holy Spirit is the Word heard and come to life. The Father is the Source of All Good Gifts. The Son is the One to Whom All Good Gifts have been Given. The Spirit is the One Through Whom All Good Gifts are Shared.

This approach can go on and on, and become very expansive, very exciting and very playful for us in our praying. It can also be wonderfully instructive as we strive to focus on and understand better the unique role each person of the Trinity has within the whole of who God is.

So, I would suggest that all of us consciously restrict the use of the word God to the whole Trinity, and that all of us feel free to address in our personal prayer one person of the Trinity, and to address that one person in accord with the unique role, the distinct mission, that each person has in the Trinity. I suggest both of these disciplines as ways of living into our Christian identity, as ways of coming to understand the Trinity as a whole and each of the three Persons within it and as ways of growing into fuller relationship with our God.

The Call to Trinity in Our Praying

Our Christian faith calls us as Church into a personal relationship with our God as Trinity. For we are the Mystical Body of Christ, inspired and animated by the Holy Spirit, lifting mind and heart and soul in prayer to the Father in praise and thanks for the Father's gifts. If we will dare to enter into a differentiated relationship with the Trinity, if we will dare to take our fork to the mountain that is God, to take our thimble to the ocean that is God, then, in ways abounding and wonderful, we will come to grow in the breadth, length, height and depth of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.