EVERYTHING IS ABOUT RELATIONSHIP
The Trinity is the nature in which God has chosen to reveal himself to us. He revealed himself as the Father- the Creator, as the Son- the Saviour, and as the Holy- the Sanctifier. In God, there are community of persons. The Father empties himself into the son, the son empties himself into the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit empties himself back into the Father. And so, it continues. This is what we call the perichoresis or the divine dance. This is the nature of God, where the three persons of the Trinity relate with one another.
Here is the point. Relationship is so important that God had to make his own nature to be a reflection of that. God is trying to tell us that he is not a concept or an ideology but a person. He is someone we can relate with and he can relate with us. No wonder the Bible is about the old covenant and new covenant. God keeps telling us that he wants to be our God and we, his people. God is a relational being. In one God, there is a community of love, internal friendship or sharing in the Godhead. That is why God equally establishes this same friendship with us, his creatures. Our God not only relates within himself but also created men and women, in order that he may reach out to us.
So, every part of the liturgical rituals we perform in the Church is an attempt, on our path, to respond to God’s invitation who wishes to relate with his beloved creatures. From Genesis to Revelation, God enters a relationship with us, with people in the Bible. For example, the first was with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), the Call of Moses and God’s friendship with him (Exodus3:1-12), the call of Joshua (Joshua 1:1-6), the call of prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-10) and so many others.
God is inviting you and me into a relationship with him in much the same way as he invites the above-named Patriarchs and Prophets. Jesus has revealed to us that we have a Father who cares for us very deeply, a Son who dies for us who promises to be with us always and then Holy Spirit who guides us in the path that leads to the kingdom.
Our God is a Triune God. The Trinity is a mystery upon which our faith is founded. The Church is here to guide us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, in the relationship of love with the Trinity. If we relate well with the Trinity, we will relate well with one another. When we make the sign of the cross, we are inviting the Trinity to come and strengthen us to live out this vocation of love.
We human beings are not independent substances, nor is any part of creation. We all exist as radical relationship. The Way of Jesus is an invitation to a Trinitarian way of living, loving, and relating—on earth as it is in the Godhead. We are intrinsically like the Trinity, living in absolute relatedness. To choose to stand outside of this Flow is the deepest and most obvious meaning of sin.
We call the Flow love. We really were made for love, and outside of it we die very quickly.
Fr. Charles Chididebere Mmaduekwe