Teachings of Pope Francis

Pope presents in conclusive points of Laudato Si God the Father who creates family, who is the Son in relationships of fraternity, who is Spirit who animates community. He refers to God always in relationship with humans, whom he created for happiness in harmony with the universe, that we will achieve plenty as persons. Gos is not define by dominion but by love and desire to fill with live all he has created, particularly human being, who is the image of his Trinitarian reality. For this theme he dedicates part of chapter VI called The Trinity and the relationship between creatures:

„The Father is the ultimate source of everything, the loving and self-communicating foundation of all that exists. The Son, his reflection, through whom all things were created, united himself to this earth when he was formed in the womb of Mary. The Spirit, infinite bond of love, is intimately present at the very heart of the universe, inspiring and bringing new pathways” (n.238).

„For Christians, believing in one God who is Trinitarian communion suggests that the Trinity has left its mark on all creation. Saint Bonaventure went so far as to say that human beings, before sin, were able to see how each creature “testifies that God is three”... The Franciscan saint teaches us that each creature bears in itself a specifically Trinitarian structure, so real that it could be readily contemplated if only the human gaze were not so partial, dark and fragile. In this way, he points out to us the challenge of trying to read reality in a Trinitarian key” (n.239).

„The divine Persons are subsistent relations, and the world, created according to the divine model, is a web of relationships. Creatures tend towards God, and in turn it is proper to every living being to tend towards other things, so that throughout the universe we can find any number of constant and secretly interwoven relationships. This leads us not only to marvel at the manifold connections existing among creatures, but also to discover a key to our own fulfillment. The human person grows more, matures more and is sanctified more to the extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures. In this way, they make their own that trinitarian dynamism which God imprinted in them when they were created. Everything is interconnected, and this invites us to develop a spirituality of that global solidarity which flows from the mystery of the Trinity” (n.240).

 

Experience and testimony of Francisco Palau

Testimony of blessed Palau about the image of God, in his writings and life, has to be calibrated in gradual spiritual process, evolutive transformation. Articulation of an abstract God, infinite beauty desired and unreachable, God searched for and defined in his cause, God-Justice who requires reparation and pardon for human iniquity, God Creator and Providence committed in re-edification of his work and redemption of human being, object of evangelical announce, until he achieved culmen of his experience of God Trinity, present in every human creature, made his image and likeness: God interrelation, Triune, God the Father who creates world for the happiness of a man, God the Son who offers himself for human salvation, God the Spirit who animates and sustains human life. Trinitarian experience and the vision printed in human being supposes zenit in human and spiritual process of Francisco Palau, culmination of his doctrinal teachings and ecclesial charism. Having achieved this point, he entered into the mayor and the most expressive silence; he interrupted without continuation and any kind of clarification his most intimate pages of My Relationships with the Church. The maximum word has been portrayed, for mind and heart there was noting left but to contemplate, love and serve. Some texts, chronologically taken from his writings, show this process. In them, God Trinity is present, although the evolution as clear, both in contents and in living experience:

In Struggle of a soul with God, directing himself to the persons committed in prayer of intercession in favor of peace, as „souls possessed by the Holy Spirit” (Letter of a director 19):

„Will he cease to send them to Jesus so that they may shout loudly to his ears, saying: ‘’Save us Lord, for we perish” [Mt 8,25]. And clamouring in their hearts with unspeakable groans, will he not send them to the Father so that they will be told in the words of the prophet Joel: “Pardon, Lord, pardon your people?” [Jl 2,17]” (Id, 18). „The doctors of your spiritual mother are the eternal Father and his only Son, and the medicine is prayer in the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. And this prayer duly addressed to the Father and to the Son is such an effective medicine that it is sufficient to heal completely all her wounds” (Id, 20). „You have to struggle with the Omnipotent God the Father so that in satisfaction for the offenses of the nation, he may deign to accept as payment and as the price of redemption, to his Son Jesus, and apply to our country the merits of his passion; and by turning his wrath upon the head of our enemies, we may see him as the God of peace, of blessing and of well-being. Finally, you have to struggle with the Omnipotent God, the Holy Spirit that he may be poured into the hearts of all the Spanish believers and may give them strength to resist the terrible combats with which Providence had exposed them… If with the strength of your prayer you will touch the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and the whole heavenly court, they will protect you and together with you build a wall for the house of Israel [Ez 13,5], that is impenetrable for the Enemy” (Id, 13). „The Holy Spirit is the principal director in this fight. It is he who sends souls to the Father and to the Son and in them he sustains and negotiates the salvation of the body, which is the Church. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, and it is only through his power and inspiration that we pray [Rom 8,26] properly and attain all that we ask” (Id, 17). „The principal director and master in this tremendous fight is no other than the Holy Spirit. It is he who leads souls to this arena; it is he who teaches the method, for them to develop spiritual skills which must be observed in order to attain success; and it is he who is one in spirit with the soul, gives strength and power to struggle and triumph the omnipotent God the Father and the omnipotent God the Son” (Id, 28). „Be careful, my daughter, to think that you have to struggle with your strength alone. That would be the most stupid madness ever seen. That is not so. You have to present yourself before the Omnipotent God the Father sent by Jesus Christ his Son, equally Omnipotent, and impelled and fortified by virtue of the Omnipotent Holy Spirit, who will “help us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings…“ [Rom 8,26] for the needs of the body to which he gives life, which is the holy Church” (Struggle, Conference 3,37;  cf. 81; 84, etc).

In The School of Virtue Vindicated, catechetical teachings for adults based on the practice of virtues, individual and socially: „Faith, hope and charity, assisted by the corresponding gifts of the Holy Spirit, spiritualized, divinized and united with God; prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance rectify him for his duties with himself and toward his fellowmen and in his regular contact with the creatures placed at his” (II,15). „This light reveals to the traveller these three lines: the right way; the precipices at the right which are the excesses and the cliffs and inaccessible mountains at the left which are the defects. The excess and the defects are the two extremes where the misled lost its way” (II, 29). „As long as she remains Catholic, the Majesty of God has his throne and altar; the Son his palace; the Holy Spirit his temple; and these edifices are so great and magnificent which correspond to the sovereignty of the One and Triune God. These works are constructed and formed not of stones, but of human hearts” (II, 38). „The doctrines related to the divinity of our holy religion presented in series in view of those who already believed, offered for their contemplation, a beautiful, attractive, encouraging and enchanting painting, and opened their understanding a new heaven wherein with a single glance, they could see under the veil of faith, God, the Supreme Being, infinite and immense, one in essence, three in persons. Likewise his attributes, his infinite perfection, his providence and all relationships that exist between the Creator and his creatures” (II, 48).

In The Church of God, an album of laminas to represent the beauty of the Church and its edification in time as an apostolic work: „The holy Church works ad extra in the Blessed Trinity, and all those baptized from the four corners of the world in the name of the three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, by the apostolic hands. Whatever is done by the Apostles for the edification of the Church are all done in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Lamina 10,4). „Triune and One God who sanctifies us through Apostolic hands” (Lamina 12,3). „There, we will see at a glance the object of our love which is God and the neighbour forming one single Body, the Church with Jesus Christ as Head. In the Plaza of the City we see not only God, but also all our neighbours: we see them forming one single body under Christ their head. We see the triumphant Church glorified in her immortal flesh: there we see her in all her order, in her perfect being with no hair in her lacking: we shall understand then what this law signifies: love God for he is infinite goodness and your neighbour as yourself [Mt 19,19; 22,39]; there we shall see that the Church, that is Christ, forming moral body with the chosen ones, is the end and object of our true saying: there the son will recognize his earthly Mother and Virgin Most Pure, there the lover will repose in the breast and arms of her faithful Spouse; in her we see an indefinable and indescribable beauty. In the Plaza of this City of peace the Blessed Trinity will reveal to us the Holy Church without veil: the Father will say to her, you are my favourite daughter, repose in my bosom. “You are beautiful my Spouse, my beloved! And the Son will say, rest in my arms.” And the Holy Spirit, manifesting all her glory, will present her to us as a temple chosen for his mansion. In the Plaza, before the congregation of the angels and saints, we shall see God’s Paternity, there, Jesus Christ will present himself as the head of the whole body, as King and Lord of all the Kings, there we shall see who are the great ones of the heavenly kingdom, there we shall see each other all united by the Holy Spirit as a family before the Father” (Lamina 17,3).

In My Relationships with the Church, written by the excellence in mystical ecclesial palautian experience that encloses the maximum of his teachings about the Church, the work of Trinity. She, in every man and woman, is the living image of Triune God projected in humanity, community of neighbors, for full liberation of the universe which creatures ought to be rediscovered in their reality as images of divine beauty: „Your Beloved is God and your neighbours.Your Beloved is the only Daughter of the eternal Father: God forming a moral body with your neighbours, and these are one in God. The congregation of all the neighbours united to Christ, the Head, is your Beloved. Your Beloved is one. “You are unique, my dove” [Sg 6,8]. The Head of your Beloved is Christ. The Father is the beginning whence all proceeds. The Son is the Head. The Holy Spirit is the soul which gives life. The Trinity has impressed its image upon her, and she is as beautiful as God, lovable as the divinity. She is one in the Triune and One God” (MR 10,5). „That in you love is the Holy Spirit that is effused over all the members of the body, corresponds with love to him who love him. It does not have the substance like ours, but it has spirit and this is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity that gives you life, movement, virtue, grace and glory; you have an intellect, and this is in your head which is Christ, the Son of the living God, and man Son of Mary the Virgin; and with the Son and the Holy Spirit is the Father as the principle whence proceed the other two; in you, with you, and through you, works the One, Triune God, and apart from you there is no salvation, life or happiness, but restlessness, discontent and eternal torment” (22,20). „In order that the living image of God may be perfectly re p resented, God communicates his infinite perfection to the chosen ones. Because one single creature is not capable of representing them all, he created many. The perfection and attributes of God communicated to the whole congregation of saints in heaven and the just on earth, which is the Church, form the living image of the One Triune God. The image of God is but one in the whole body of the blessed and the same in each one of them, because the special characteristics which constitute it are in all: “Let us make man in our own image and likeness” [Gn 1,26]... The image of God is in each one of the predestined in essence, as well as some accidental, special perfection of its own which marks it out and individualizes it, but in the whole body and head of the Church, it is there with all accidental and essential perfection, because only in her reside all the divine perfection which constitute that image. Because the Church, that is, God and the neighbours, is the living, complete image of the One Triune God, and the essential and accidental or primary and secondary object of the love of pilgrim man, the presence of the beloved object in him by faith produces perfect love between the two lovers; and the two are the mirror in which God, the One and Three, sees his image and takes pleasure in it” (22,31-32).

 

Hna. Josefa Pastor Miralles CMT