Inseparable companion

Allow me to personalize the meaning of the Holy Trinity, whose feast we are celebrating today. And may I invite you, dear readers, to also personalize it in your own lives.

The Triune God is my inseparable companion. My closest and ever-compassionate companion-for-life. "And know that I am with you always until the end of the world." (From today’s Gospel reading, Mt. 28:20). God as Father. God as Son. God as Holy Spirit. My companion-as-father. My companion-as-brother. My companion as my breath-of-life.

My Companion-As-Father. How can I ever express in words the ways God as Father has loved and cared for me from the moment I was conceived in my mother’s womb up to this very moment of my life? Not only that. His divine providence in the beauty and the bounty of creation is simply awesome. Just to contemplate the lovely cloud formations against the stunning blue skies, or the ageless giant trees outside our home, or the lushness of the green grass and flowers down there – all this and more overwhelms me to no end. God as Father-Creator is the greatest artist and the greatest scientist of them all. How He orchestrates everything in place throughout the ages. So that in moments when I feel insecure, helpless, and hopeless, He keeps whispering in my heart what He once said through the prophet Isaiah: "Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for a child of her womb? But even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands, I have written your name" (Is. 49:15-16).

For as long as I trust Him, ask for his forgiveness, and learn to love as He does – I have absolutely nothing to fear. "We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him" (Rom. 8:28). God’s overall providence, not only over my life, but the lives of all mankind, is the meaning of His being Father to us all. And for this to be humanly visible and tangible, He comes to us as God the Son.

My Companion-As-Brother. The human, historical Jesus offers himself to me as brother, friend, companion, and guide in how human life is to be lived in this world of ups-and-downs, laughter and tears, good weather and foul, life and death. He does not invite me to do anything that He himself did not do. He leads me the way of loving without counting the cost, the way of working for justice, even at the cost of suffering injustice. A spirituality of compassion, especially toward the poor, the oppressed, the underprivileged, the sick. A political spirituality that is prophetic rather than pragmatic. This is the life he is inviting me to, if he is to be my companion-for-life.

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." (Mk. 8:34). This is his invitation and challenge, not only to me, but to all of us, as a people and as a nation, as we celebrate our Philippine Independence Day tomorrow, June 12. The great majority of our people continue to suffer under the economic and political forces and systems that perpetuate the abysmal gap between the rich and the poor. We urgently need a nationwide conversion among our economic, political, educational, professional, and religious leaders to the political spirituality of Christ – his boundless compassions for the poor, the oppressed, and the victims of social injustice. And for this to happen in God’s own time, we need to be continually AWARE of his Holy Spirit within each one of us, starting with myself.

My Companion As Breath-Of-Life. As St. Paul keeps reminding us: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy." (1 Cor. 3:16-17). In his contemplation to attain God’s love, St. Ignatius invites us to ponder with great affection "how God dwells in creatures. . ." Finding God in all things. That is the key to experiencing God as my inseparable companion-for-life. God as my Father, my brother, my very breath of life. How then can I ever escape his presence? No way! But I often fall into awareness. Forgive me, Lord. I humbly ask for the gift of greater and continuing awareness. To be a contemplative-in-action. So help me, God. Amen.