Trinity: Part Two
Summary: Sunday, May 12—Friday, May 17, 2019
When all three of those divine qualities start drawing you, and when you’re at home with Infinity, Immanence, and Intimacy—all Three—you’re living inside Trinitarian spirituality. (Sunday)
Living faith in the God of Jesus Christ means being formed and transformed by the life of grace of God’s economy: becoming persons fully in communion with all; becoming Christ to one another; becoming by the power of the Holy Spirit what God is: love unbounded, glory uncontained. —Catherine Mowry LaCugna (Monday)
[Raimon Panikkar’s word cosmotheandric] is the fusion of cosmos (world), theos (God), and andros (man) and suggests a continuous intercirculation among these three distinct planes of existence in a single motion of self-communicating love. —Cynthia Bourgeault (Tuesday)
The divinity is so intimately present in the world that the world can be regarded as an incarnate expression of the Trinity, as creative, as expansive, as conscious, as self-realizing and self-sharing. —Beatrice Bruteau (Wednesday)
From a metaphysical standpoint, the Trinity is primarily about process. It encapsulates a paradigm of change and transformation based on an ancient metaphysical principle known as the Law of Three. —Cynthia Bourgeault (Thursday)
Once you experience God as all-vulnerable, then perhaps God stands in solidarity with all pain and suffering in the universe, allowing us to be participants in our own healing. (Friday)
Practice: Ecstatic Dance
Waves move in patterns. Patterns move in rhythms. A human being is just that, energy, waves, patterns, rhythms. Nothing more. Nothing less. A dance. —Gabrielle Roth [1]
God cannot be known by thinking but by experiencing and loving. As you read about the theological framework and practical implications of Trinity—perichoresis or circle dance—I hope you will take many opportunities to explore this concept in your lived experience.
Here’s one way you might play with a childlike spirit and feel Trinity’s flow in your body. You may even lose track of where you, the dancer, end and the dance itself begins.
Adapt this practice for your own body’s abilities and needs. For example, you might move from a seated position if you’re not able to stand or use colors and images as inspiration if you’re not able to hear music.
Choose a favorite or new piece of music—classical, world, contemporary; anything that calls you to move!—and find a place in which you can listen and move without inhibition, barefooted if possible.
Allow your body to lead, following the invitation of the music. Let your mind take a back seat and tune in to the sensations of each part of your body.
Feel your feet connect with the ground. Let limbs and joints turn and bend as they will. Swing and sway your head, shoulders, hips. Sink deep into your body, remembering what it is to be a human animal.
Dance until you are pleasantly tired and then gradually slow your movements, perhaps to another musical tempo. Continue moving in smaller, gentler ways: breathe deeply, stretch your arms and legs, roll your head.
Come to a seated position and rest in stillness.
References:
[1] Gabrielle Roth, https://www.5rhythms.com/.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, A Spring Within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations (CAC Publishing: 2016), 51.
For Further Study:
Cynthia Bourgeault, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three (Shambhala Publications, Inc.: 2013)
Beatrice Bruteau, God’s Ecstasy: The Creation of a Self-Creating World (The Crossroad Publishing Company:1997, 2016)
Catherine Mowry LaCugna, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (HarperSanFrancisco: 1991)
Raimon Panikkar, Christophany: The Fullness of Man (Orbis Books: 2004)
Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House: 2016)
Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, William Paul Young, Trinity: The Soul of Creation (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2017), MP4 download
