Hymns to the Holy Trinity

The Dwelling of the Blessed Trinity within Us

This is what God’s Coming in grace means–a soul in the state of grace is the host of the Blessed Trinity, neither more nor less. “We will come to him and will make our abode with him,” (John 14:23) and from the moment that grace enters, the soul becomes the abode of God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Ghost.

It was at the moment of Baptism that our souls were raised to the dignity of being hosts of God Himself. What happened then? God added to the natural gifts with which He had endowed man supernatural ones, summed up in the gift of grace. What is that? A participation in His own life, something which makes us “partakers of the Divine nature” (2^nd Peter 1:4, “…he hath given us most great and precious promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature: flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world.”). He created man thus in the beginning, for He meant man always to possess supernatural as well as natural gifts. He meant always to live with man and talk and walk with him in the paradise of his soul; but Adam chased out the Divine Guest and lost this miraculous privilege for all his children. God, however, could not rest content to be outside, the souls which He had created solely that He might live in them, and He devised a way (the first coming of Christ) by which He might get back to the dwelling which He cherished so much. We need not follow the beautiful story of the Redemption through all its wondrous steps, we know it well enough; we will take it up at Baptism, when the divine gift of life which Adam lost was restored to the soul, when God came back to His chosen dwelling, and the soul regained its responsible position of host to the Blessed Trinity. When Satan had noticed that the soul was left exposed, that it was a human soul only, with nothing divine about it, he naturally had taken possession, as he does of all empty houses (see Mt 12: 44-45 – “And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. [44] Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. [45] Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first.”); so at Baptism the Priest said: “Depart from him, thou unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy Ghost.” Where the Holy Ghost is, there are also the Father and the Son. The Blessed Trinity, then waits to take possession of each soul, waits to come back to Its own, waits to restore the privilege that man had at the beginning.

Thus the new creation takes place, and the soul is no longer a human soul only, but divine, for the Divine Life within has made it one with Itself. Does man realize this privilege and rise to it? No! For the greater part of Christians we are obliged to say: No. As soon as they come to years of discretion, they invite back the unclean sprit and chase out their Divine Guest. What base ingratitude! And what folly! What base ingratitude! And what folly! But God, Who is rich in mercy is not repelled by such conduct; His one thought is to go back to His Temple which has been so profaned, and the scheme of Redemption included a method (the Sacrament of Penance), whereby, if man would, he could drive out the devil and invite back the Divine Guest. Is God angry? Does He upbraid! Does He allude to the past and throw doubts on the future? No, He loves, and all He asks in return is love. Such is our Guest!
I often talk about recalling the Presence of God, but it is in His Presence within me that I have to recall. I make Acts of Contrition, of Love, to Whom? To the God within me.
Now what is my side of this great question? I am, or if I am not, I can be, a Temple of God. God is living within me. How much do I think about it? I often talk about recalling the Presence of God, but it is in His Presence within me that I have to recall. I make Acts of Contrition, of Love, to Whom? To the God within me. Do not let me forget that my heart is an altar where I can, whenever I will, adore God. He is there to walk with me and talk to me as He did to Adam of old. He wants me to live side by side with Him, and talk to Him as naturally as I do to my friend.

Let me try this Advent, as one of the best ways of preparing for the Coming of Christ at Christmas, and for His coming in judgment, to realize what the supernatural life means, what God in me means, what it means to be the host always of God Himself. The realization will transform my life, will alter my point of view, will change me from a mediocre Christian into one who is filled with a great idea and who is occupied with it every moment of his time–an idea which is ever stimulating to him to aim higher. God in me–then I am never alone, my life is intimately bound up with God’s life. I am a partaker of His nature. O my God, forgive me for having though of it so little; help me to rise to my great privileges. I thank Thee for letting a few streaks of Thy Divine Light reach my dark soul, and by the time the Sun of Justice has risen in all His splendour this Advent, may my soul be flooded with the new light which the realization of the Divine Presence within it, will surely bring.

Colloquy: with God within me.
Resolution: To realize this truth today, and every day more and more.
Spiritual Bouquet: “We will come to him and make our abode with him.”
– Mother St. Paul (1941)