The Catholic Church invites us to remember that our communion with the Trinity and with one another is something we develop — through our cooperation with the grace of God. There is a strong sense in which we have already received this incomparably beautiful, unearned gift! We’re both cooperating with God in deepening this relationship with the persons of the Trinity, and we already possess it.
For starters, each of us is created in the “imago Dei,” the image of a Trinitarian God. Trinitarian communion is our default operating system. Relationships and community are inscribed in our innermost selves. And with our baptism, this image is vivified with a divine indwelling in our souls.
And just as breathtaking: the Trinity is the default operating system of every family. As the Catechism memorably states, “The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit” (2205).
Your family is a “little Trinity,” and your home a domestic church, a “Trinity House,” a dwelling place of our Trinitarian God.
Your interview with the Church is going well … but what about that second part of the question: “…can you tell me about how that shows up for you on a typical day”?
What we have learned over the years at the Trinity House Community is that the answer to this question is five-fold, reflecting a growing and then overflowing communion with the Trinity as we move through five “levels” of home and family life.
Here, let’s just look at Level 1, Faith Life (and check out Levels 2-5, Person & Relationships, Household Economy, Family Culture, and Hospitality & Service at our website, where you can access a free 60-minute workshop).
Level 1: Faith Life. On this ground-floor level of your family life, you receive your family’s communion from God. What a relief! You don’t need to create this from scratch! Remember, you already fundamentally have this communion by the sacraments and your participation in the Mass.
3 Steps
And yes, you can develop this communion. Here are some practical steps to get you started:
Create a beautiful home altar. An attractive home altar — perhaps with a statue, flowers, crucifix, Bible, and devotionals — will give your family a focal point, a spiritual center of gravity, and a place to come together in daily prayer.
Practice “surrender” in daily life. We all know how prone we are to default to self-reliance, our “self-justification project,” and “meeting my needs.” To counter this powerful vestige of original sin, we need to surrender daily to the Lord, inviting His grace to flow through our “Trinity House,” into our marriages, families, friendships, and work.
And just as our family life can reflect the loving communion of the Trinity, so can our lives in community — in relationship with other families in our parishes. That’s why we’ve launched Trinity House Community Groups — families gathering regularly, learning together how to bring a “taste of heaven” into their homes and communities.
If what one poet says — that “love calls us to the things of this world” — is true, then how much more does the love of God, which we glimpse in such a special way to communion in friendship, marriage, family and community? Glory be to the Father and to the Son and the Holy Spirit!
(This Article is adapted and edited from Aleteia.)