What does an intimate relationship with God look like?
Though it may be difficult to grasp entirely, we have our
model in the Holy Trinity, a manifestation of the relationship of perfect union
for which we strive throughout the entire journey of our lives. To come to know and experience God is the
ultimate task of our lives as Christians, for God is relational: God chooses relationship, chooses to be in
relationship with humankind.
Hence Moses, in Deuteronomy, asks the people to ask themselves: have I encountered and engaged the God who
created all things? Do I have an
appreciation of the singular relationship God calls me to? God made us, Psalm 33 reminds us; God
breathed his Spirit into us, spoke one Word and we were created. Blessed
are we whom the Lord has chosen to be
his own! This is, implicitly, an
evocation of Trinity.
Jesus, Matthew tells us, has the power of the Father to give
life, and he passes that power on to the Church through the Spirit: Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all nations… The Church gives life by
baptizing and by teaching what Jesus has commanded, namely, love of God and
love of neighbor. Witnessing the
disciples’ doubt, Jesus draws closer
to them, reminding them that he is with
them always, until the end of the age.
And thus is His Spirit passed on to us, the Church, so that we might
remain in him, remain, that is, in the relationship that is so central to our
identity as Christians. This is why we
can call God Abba, Daddy, as Paul
tells the Romans: the word is an
affectionate expression of connection based in intimacy and origin, signaling our
hope to be united in relationship with God.
We are not simply creatures, created
to exist on this earth: we are children of God, and joint heirs with Christ, because God has
chosen to enter into relationship with us, a relationship exemplified by the
Trinity, a relationship shared, in all its awesome wonder, with us as God draws
us ever closer into the love that is Trinitarian, the love that is eternal
life.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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