Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

TRINITY SUNDAY (June 3, 2007)font>

Suggested Emphasis

The Wisdom of God proclaims: "I was beside God as his craftsman; I was God's delight day by day."

Salesian Perspective

God is revealed to us as a creating and loving Father, a nourishing and redeeming Son, and an inspiring and challenging Spirit. It is in the image and likeness of the Trinity that we are created; it is in the image and likeness of the Trinity that we are called to live with one another on this earth; it is in the image and likeness of the Trinity that we are destined for the glory of heaven.

Trinity speaks of creative fullness; Trinity speaks of healing abundance; Trinity speaks of inspiring generosity.

The Holy Spirit, the Wisdom of God, is the source of the gifts that we need to experience and embody this Triune God in our daily lives. St. Francis de Sales wrote in his Treatise on the Love of God: "We need temperance to restrain the rebellious inclinations of sensuality; justice, to do what is right in relation to God, our neighbor and ourselves; fortitude, in order that we might remain faithful in doing what is good and in avoiding what is evil; prudence, to discover the most proper ways for us to pursue what is good and to practice virtue; knowledge, that we might know the true good to which we must aspire, as well as true evil, that we must reject; understanding, to penetrate well into the first and chief foundations or principles of the beauty and excellence of virtue, and; at the very end, wisdom, to contemplate the divine nature, the first source of all that is good." (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 11, Chapter 15)

Sound familiar? They should be: we know them as the "seven gifts" of the Holy Spirit.

The love that comes from this triune God, this love that is part and parcel of who we are, contains all of these gifts. Francis de Sales described this love as "a splendid lily that has six petals whiter than snow, and in its center are the beautiful little golden hammers of wisdom that drive into our hearts the loving taste and flavor of the goodness of the Father, our Creator, the mercy of the Son, our Redeemer, and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier." (Ibid)

As mysterious as the Trinity may be, two things are crystal clear: (1) we are called to embody God's creative fullness, God's healing abundance, and God's inspiring generosity, and: (2) we have been given the gifts to make that call a reality.

Triune God - Father, Son, Spirit -- help us to clearly - and convincingly - reflect your image in our own minds, hearts, attitudes and actions. Give us the grace to be your delight day by day in the lives of one another.

Rev. Michael S. Murray, OSFS, is the Executive Director of the De Sales Spirituality Center.