Raniero Cantalamessa - Contemplating the Trinity: The Path to the Abundant Christian Life

Contemplating
the Trinity

The Path to the Abundant Christian Life

The Path to the Abundant Christian Life

Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap

Translated by Marsha Daigle-Williamson, PhD

English language edition copyright 2007 by Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap First published in Italian under the title, Contemplando la Trinit, by Ancora Editrice, Milan, Italy, copyright 2002 by Ancora S.r.l. All rights reserved

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ISBN: 978-1-59325-097-3

eISBN: 978-1-59325-421-6

Scripture texts used in this work are taken from the Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, 1965 and 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America, copyright 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Cover design by DesignWorks Group

Cover image: Rublev, Andrei (1360c.1430)

Icon of the Old Testament Trinity, c.1410

Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Scala / Art Resource, NY

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other, except for brief quotations in printed reviewswithout the prior permission of the author and publisher.

Made and printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cantalamessa, Raniero.

[Contemplando la Trinit. English]

Contemplating the Trinity : the path to the abundant Christian life / Raniero Cantalamessa ; translated by Marsha Daigle-Williamson.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-59325-097-3 (alk. paper)

1. Trinity. 2. Christian life--Catholic authors. I. Title.

BT111.3.C3613 2007

231.044--dc22

2006036642

Chapter 1
Contemplating the Trinity to Overcome the Hateful Divisions of This World: The Trinity in Eastern Spirituality

Chapter 2
Contemplating the Trinity to Overcome the Great Unhappiness of the World: The Trinity in Western Spirituality

Chapter 3
In the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit: The Trinitarian Dynamics of Prayer

Chapter 4
Being a Trinity, God Is Nonetheless Simple: Contemplating the Trinity to Overcome the Hateful Hypocrisy of the World

Chapter 5
You Are Beauty: Contemplating the Trinity to Overcome the Allure of False Beauty

Chapter 6
Gathered in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: Contemplating the Trinity to Build Communion

Chapter 7
We Will Arrive Where We Started: Contemplating the Trinity to Reach for Eternity

This book contains a series of meditations given at the papal household during Advent of 2000, the Jubilee Year, and in Lent of 2001, the first year of the new millennium. This completes the series of books on the mysteries of Christ in the life of the church, which includes the mystery of the nativity, the baptism of Christ, the transfiguration, the word of God, Easter, and Pentecost. The Trinity is also a mystery of Christ in that he was the one who revealed it to us and is himself part of it.

In his apostolic letter Novo millennio ineunte, Pope John Paul II speaks of a high standard for Christian holiness, and I have attempted to demonstrate how the Trinity itself is that high standard. I have applied the exciting invitation that resounds in that letterDuc in altum, launch out into the deepto the Trinity, because I am convinced of the need for a breath of fresh air, a new perspective on Christian life, that is more clearly trinitarian. The Trinity is the bottomless sea without shores in which Christ invites us to immerse ourselves in everything he continually says about the Father and the Spirit in the gospel.

I was encouraged to take these reflections out of the halls of the papal household by the kindness of the supreme pontiff, who heard these reflections and often asked me to give him the texts to reread. I was also moved by the conviction some cardinals expressed to me that these reflections could help develop a trinitarian spirituality, which the church sees a growing need for, among laypeople as well. All important events and acts of Christianity begin in the name of the Trinity, so it is appropriate for the new millennium to begin this way: in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Given my frequent references to a few famous artistic representations of the Trinity, four colored illustrations have been included to encourage the contemplation of the mystery, as is the nature of icons.

Rublev, Andrei (1360c.1430)

Icon of the Old Testament Trinity, c.1410

Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Scala / Art Resource, NY

Masaccio (Maso di San Giovanni) (14011428)

The Trinity, fresco, full view. c. 1425. Post-restoration

S. Maria Novella, Florence, Italy

Scala / Art Resource, NY

The Holy Trinity (15th century)

The Novgorad School

Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

The Bridgeman Art Library

Robbia, Andrea della (14351525)

Nativity

Sanctuary, La Verna, Italy

Scala / Art Resource, NY

To get to the heart of Eastern and Western spirituality, we can take as our starting point the artistic representation of the Trinity that is the most typical for each of the two churches.

For the Orthodox Church, that would certainly be Rublvs icon of the Trinity. Painted in 1425 for the church of St. Sergius and preserved today in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, this icon was declared to be the model for all representations of the Trinity in 1551 by the Council of 100 Chapters.

One thing should be said immediately about this icon. It does not purport to directly represent the Trinity, which is, by definition, invisible and ineffable. Attempting to do so would be contrary to all the canons of Byzantine ecclesiastical iconography. Instead, it depicts the three angels who appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre (see Genesis 18:1-15). In that tradition, before and after Rublv, Abraham, Sarah, the calf, and an oak tree often appear. This episode, in fact, is read by the patristic tradition as an early prefigurement of the Trinity. The icon is one of the artistic forms that follow a spiritual reading of the Bible. It is, thus, not the atemporal Trinity that is represented, but the Trinity in salvation history.