My dear friends, there are three things that all of us either seek to know or realize in our lives:

A)   our identity:

 Each one of us wants to know who or she is and what our purpose or meaning in life is. When we become confused as to whom we are, we end up suffering an identity crisis.

B)   our freedom:

All of us want to be free in order to be ourselves. We struggle against things that enslave us or threaten the freedom so essential to our lives.

C)   our happiness:

Every one of us searches for his or her happiness. We want to know where it is or what it consists in.

 

Some people seek these three things in atheism. They search for their meaning, identity, freedom and happiness outside of God. They are under the illusion that God is a threat to their freedom and happiness. They plan their lives outside the presence of God. Their bitter experience, however is, that after many years, they have found no meaning, freedom, joy or purpose in life. It is not possible to know who one is or be happy outside of God’s life. Others seek to answer the three questions in the following of Oriental philosophies or religions. Though there are many positive things in these beliefs, they are still insufficient to give a satisfactory answer to the longings of the heart and mind. Others search for the answers in a monotheistic religion like Judaism or Islam. Though these people reverence, worship, adore and serve this one God, they are unable to relate closely to Him. This god is a lonely and distant one, extremely incomprehensible and difficult of access. The despair and frustration in trying to reach this god often creates confusion in their mind and even leads them towards hate and destruction of others.

 

Then we have the Christians and Catholics who believe in the Holy Trinity. There is a difference, however, between the Trinity of Puritanized Protestantism and Catholicism. The Puritans have an extremely masculinized concept of God. It is a religion of men and the leaders and theologians are all males. Their god, therefore, is a god of glory, armies, destruction, judgment, justice, swift execution and action, etc. It is a god to be feared and worshipped. The relation of humans to the Puritan Trinity is based on fear. One must submit to him. The puritans submit themselves to this god in fear, the women submit themselves to men and the children submit themselves to the family. He will provide the moral code by which they will abide and obey him. In the Puritan Trinity, the father is a strict, stern, just and demanding person. The son is a hard judge who will return at the end of the world to send the majority of people to hell. The holy spirit is the financial administrator of the trinity who will give out his gifts, talents and miracles only to those who can prove themselves worthy of him. The followers will need to do things to show to the holy spirit that they are ready to receive his blessings.

 

Man’s relation to the Catholic Trinity is based on love. Didn’t St. John the Evangelist reveal to us that God is love by nature? The Father of the Catholic Trinity is a tender, loving, forgiving and merciful Person capable of sacrificing His Son for our salvation. He cares for all of us and rejects none of His children. The Son is the Person who eagerly came down from heaven to die on the cross for us and open the gates of paradise. He searches for every one of us, in whose image we were created. He loves the children, poor, sick, lonely, oppressed, rich, powerful, weak, women, etc. and looks for them wherever they are. He cares for our good and wants to give us everlasting joy and friendship. The Holy Spirit is Love by nature and fills our heart with comfort, light, strength and peace. He is our Advocate, ever ready to defend and protect us. If we are therefore created in this image of love, our dignity is a very high and noble one. If we are truly devoted to the Holy Trinity, we will respect this image in each one of us. We therefore will not efface nor damage this image in our brothers and sisters through internet pornography, abortion, contraception, adultery, violence, murder, wars, etc. Men, women and children will love and respect each other because of God’s image present in all of us.

 

We must also remember that God created both man and woman in His image. God’s nature is not only reflected in masculinity, but also in femininity. If God created woman in His image, then it means that there is, in His very Divine nature, a feminine aspect to Him. I am not saying that God is a woman (feminine aspects mean receptivity, mercy, tenderness, etc), but that in His Trinitarian nature exists an aspect which was manifested in the nature and creation of woman. This should make women feel very happy and tranquil, knowing that they can identify with and relate to the Trinity in the same equal manner that a man does. They no longer need to fear the Trinity, but realize that it too, possesses their nature in its nature. Realizing this great truth, they will no longer need the feminist movement to attempt to tell them who they are or where their intrinsic value lies in. They have found it in the very Trinity that created them and which is also feminine. If women no longer fear God, they will no longer fear men either. Relating in a good, wholesome and openly loving way to the Trinity in which they discover their true nature, they will relate to men in a mature and open way also, capable of sharing and living a deep and lasting friendship with them. The barriers will finally fall once the glorious nature of the Trinity is truly understood and accepted. I would like to mention that a Catholic philosopher named Mary Joyce has had some wonderful and deep intuitions into the mystery of the Holy Trinity and her thesis explains this powerful and beautiful aspect of its nature.

 

Father Anthony Mellace