In the first of two catechesis on the relationship of prayer to the Trinity, Pope Francis explained how Jesus Christ has opened up this mystery and enabled us to have a relationship with the Holy Trinity: “he threw wide open this door of the mystery of the love of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We are called to share in the very life of the Trinity, as Jesus opened for us this relationship with the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Before the coming of Jesus, humanity did not properly know how to pray to God, as evidenced by the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. We, like the disciples, can cry out “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Through Jesus and His grace, we are opened to dialogue with God, despite not being worthy on our own merits or having the right words. Pope Francis emphasized that “God’s closeness and love for humanity is a revelation” in contrast to indifferent gods of mythologies. He remarked, “We would not have believed in a God who loves and cares for us if not for the revelation through Jesus.”
Jesus reveals God’s compassionate heart: He is a Father who seeks the lost, unlike how we would have imagined God on our own. Parables like the lost sheep and merciful father / prodigal son (see Luke 15) reveal the heart of the Father, the nature of God. God’s identity, his paternity is one of closeness, compassion and tenderness. He is a God who loves humanity: we would never have had the courage to believe in him, had we not known Jesus.
Although beyond our understanding, the love between the Persons of the Trinity is revealed though the humanity of Christ. The Catechism explains: “The sacred humanity of Jesus is therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our Father” (2664).
You are invited to read and pray with Jesus’ Last Supper discourse in John chapter 14:
- Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
- I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth.
- Because I live, you also will live… you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
May our prayer draw us ever more fully into the loving communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
