Although the Trinity is not explicitly revealed in the Old Testament, there are indications in the references to God the Creator, the Word and the Spirit
January 26, 2000
At the General Audience of Wednesday, 26 January, the
Holy Father reflected on the glory of the Trinity reflected in creation:
"Nature thus becomes a gospel which speaks to us of God: "from
the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of
their Creator' (Wis 13: 5)". In response to this glory man must
"contemplate, sing and rediscover wonder". Here is a translation of
the Pope's catechesis, which was the second in the series on the Trinity and
was given in Italian.
1. "How greatly to be desired are all his works, and how sparkling they
are to see!... He has made nothing incomplete.... Who can have enough of
beholding his glory? Though we speak much we cannot reach the end, and the sum
of our words is: "He is the all'. Where shall we find strength to
praise him? He is greater than all his works..." (Sir 42: 22, 24-25;
43: 27-28). With these words full of wonder, Sirach, a biblical sage,
contemplated the splendour of creation and sang God's praises. It is a tiny
piece of the thread of contemplation and meditation which runs throughout
Sacred Scripture, from the first lines of Genesis when creatures, summoned by
the powerful Word of the Creator, spring from the silence of nothingness.
God's majesty is exalted above the heavens
"God said, "Let there be light'; and there was light" (Gn 1: 3).
In this part of the first account of creation the Word of God is already seen
in action; John will say of him: "In the beginning was the Word ...
the Word was God ... all things were made through him, and without him was not
anything made that was made" (Jn 1: 1-3). Paul will emphasize in the
hymn in the Letter to the Colossians that "in him [Christ] all things
were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created
through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold
together" (Col 1: 16-17). But at the very first moment of creation
the Spirit also seems to be foreshadowed: "the Spirit of God was
moving over the face of the waters" (Gn 1: 2). The glory of the
Trinity - we can say with Christian tradition - is resplendent in creation.
2. We can see in the light of Revelation how the creative act is appropriated
in the first place to the "Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shadow due to change" (Jas 1: 17). He shines
resplendently over the whole horizon, as the Psalmist sings: "O
Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth! You have exalted
your majesty above the heavens" (Ps 8: 2). God "has made the
world firm, not to be moved" (Ps 96: 10), and as he faces
nothingness, symbolized by the chaotic waters which lift up their voice, the
Creator arises, giving firmness and safety: "The floods have lifted
up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their
roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of
the sea, the Lord on high is mighty" (Ps 93: 3-4).
3. In Sacred Scripture creation is also often linked to the divine Word which
breaks in and acts: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.... He spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood forth.... He sends forth his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly" (Ps 33: 6, 9; 147: 15). In the Wisdom
literature of the Old Testament it is divine Wisdom personified that brings
forth the universe, carrying out the plan God has in mind (cf. Prv 8: 22-31).
It has been said that in God's Word and Wisdom John and Paul saw the
foretelling of the action of Christ "from whom are all things and for
whom we exist" (1 Cor 8: 6), because it is "through [Christ]
also [that God] created the world" (Heb 1: 2).
4. At other times Scripture stresses the role of God's Spirit in the act of
creation: "When you send forth your Spirit, they are created; and
you renew the face of the earth" (Ps 104: 30). The same Spirit is
symbolically described as the breath of God's mouth. He gives life and
consciousness to man (cf. Gn 2: 7), and brings him back to life in the
resurrection, as the prophet Ezekiel announces in an evocative passage where
the Spirit is at work breathing life into dry bones (cf. 37: 1-14). This
same breath subdues the waters of the sea at Israel's exodus from Egypt (cf.
Ex 15: 8, 10). Again the Spirit regenerates the human creature, as Jesus
will say in his night-time conversation with Nicodemus: "Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (Jn 3: 5-6).
God's invisible reality can be perceived in creation
5. So, in beholding the glory of the Trinity in creation, man must
contemplate, sing and rediscover wonder. In contemporary society people become
indifferent "not for lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder" (G. K.
Chesterton). For the believer, to contemplate creation is also to hear a
message, to listen to a paradoxical and silent voice, as the "Psalm of
the sun" suggests: "The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and
night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and
their words to the end of the world" (Ps 19: 1-5).
Nature thus becomes a gospel which speaks to us of God: "from the
greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of
their Creator" (Wis 13: 5). Paul teaches us that "ever since
the creation of the world his [God's] invisible nature, namely, his eternal
power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been
made" (Rom 1: 20). But this capacity for contemplation and
knowledge, this discovery of a transcendent presence in created things must
lead us also to rediscover our kinship with the earth, to which we have been
linked since our own creation (cf. Gn 2: 7). This is precisely the goal
which the Old Testament wished for the Hebrew Jubilee, when the land was at
rest and man ate what the fields spontaneously gave him (cf. Lv 25: 11-12).
If nature is not violated and degraded, it once again becomes man's sister.
To the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, the Holy Father said:
I extend a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, in
particular to the group from St Denis Parish in Hanover, New Hampshire, and to
the Chapman University Choir from Orange, California. I wish to assure the
pilgrims from Seton Hall University that I have prayed for the dead and the
injured in last week's tragic fire at the university. Upon you all I invoke
the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(©L'Osservatore Romano - 2 February 2000)