My Dear People, 

Love, the essence of the Trinity, tells us God is not a monopersonal individual who only loved Himself before creatures were made. Self-love is an imperfect form. God would have been imperfect in Himself. Therefore, God would have needed creatures to love in order to achieve perfection of love.

Self-giving love is the highest form of love: “Greater love has no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). From the beginning, Father and Son exchanged their life for each other. Therefore, the gift of the Son by the Father to the world, and the Son’s gift for the world and for His Father, is nothing other than an invitation for the world to enter into the circle of love that defines God’s essence. 

Why is it necessary to believe in the Son? Because only Jesus reveals to us the full truth about God. Moses revealed some truths about God. Mohammed portrayed God as an omnipotent, nonpersonal master who has no children (in any sense), does not give Himself to or for us, and does not share with us His very being. The Buddha, technically an agnostic, was unconcerned with discovering God’s nature or even clearly affirming the existence of God.

Alone among the religious teachers and philosophers of the world, Jesus claims, in word and deed, that God is a loving Father who gave His only Son for  the salvation of the world. The Son is, finally and mysteriously, the Father’s own Self, for: “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30) and “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father” (14:9). Therefore, whoever does not believe in the Son is condemned forever to labor with an inadequate understanding of God, which leads—perhaps sooner, perhaps later—to estrangement from God. 

 We become what we worship! How important it is then, to truly understand the nature of the God we worship. The worship of the Trinity should lead us to a life of self-giving love. Furthermore, while we struggle on this earth to learn consistently to give of self and never to become selfish, which is another name for sinfulness, we can comfort ourselves with the certain hope that what awaits us after this life is to be assured into that circle of self-giving love which is God, the Holy Trinity.  

Heaven will not be a trip to Disney World or some sleepy half-conscious union with the “infinite divine.” It will be ecstatic, intense, intimate, and eternal communion with persons; first of all the Three Divine Persons, but also all our brothers and sisters who make up the Body of the Second Person, and who like us, are engulfed in the flaming circle of love. 

To have a deeper understanding of the Love of God requires us to self-surrender to the love of God. The more we surrender, the greater God can fill us with His love. In surrendering, our capacity to love becomes greater. Since we are called to love God in this life, it involves a lot of giving of self, to others, and to God.

 God’s love is always perfect. It is fulfilled in the Trinity whereby each and every one of the persons totally and completely gives of oneself to the other.   Each does the will of the other. We call this Divine Will. 

Since we are not perfect in following the Divine Will (from our human standpoint), to participate more deeply in God’s love, we need to follow the words of Jesus when He said  (John 14,15): “He who loves Me obeys My commandments.” 

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente