We cannot fully understand or grasp God. Yet, as we journey to Him through our finite, imperfect world, we can understand aspects of God through His work and through imperfect human analogies. The primary way that we can begin to comprehend God is through His relationships. He is a Trinity of Persons in one God, all of whom relate to each other. Those three Persons always are with no beginning or end and are in eternal relationship with each other. God the Father is the Begetter, God the Son is the Begotten, and God the Holy Spirit proceeds from both. This happens for eternity in God’s one essence.
Yet, God has extended the relationships of the Trinity beyond Himself to us. He has invited us into relationship with Him and revealed Himself to us through His Word which tells us that God is Love (1 John 4:16). Through this revelation, we understand that God the Father is not just the beggetter, but the Lover. Likewise, the Son is not just the begotten, but the Beloved. Finally, the Holy Spirit that proceeds from Both, is the Love that connects them. The revelation of God being Love does not replace our understanding of the Begetter, Begotten, and Procession. Rather, Love encompasses our previous understanding and enhances its depths.
This has joyous implications for us who believe in God. When God becomes man, it is the Son who takes on our Humanity. He does this to establish an intimate relationship with each of us. He does not wish to stay far off, but to draw near to us. Jesus Christ, who is the second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, takes on our existence so that we can be in relationship with the Trinity. The Son extends His life to us, thus inviting us into the Love of the Trinity. When Jesus gives us His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, He draws us to Himself, and we become one with Him in His Body.
Jesus, the second person in the Trinity, is the beloved of the Father. When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we enter into His ‘belovedness’. Thus, in our reception of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Father looks on us as His beloved sons and daughters.
Originally published in Prime Soil Magazine | Vol. 1 No. 2
Originally presented at The 10th National Eucharistic Congress in July 2024
