Father Tim Lemlin
Most people living in the Middle Ages were illiterate, but they were in touch with symbols. Churches were built with this in mind and the story of our faith was told in pictures and symbols. The windows and artwork drew the faithful into an experience of salvation history - God active in human history.
The people also learned about their faith and were in touch with God through the use of sacramentals (the use of holy water, ashes, devotions to Mary, pilgrimages, festivals, relics, icons, statues, and a number of other rites and rituals) and the seven sacraments. They wove all of these into their own cultural traditions, making them a part of their everyday lives.
Literacy changed this approach to learning about our faith and being in touch with God. Literacy brought with it individualism and symbols lost their power to teach us. Now when we look at a story depicted symbolically we need someone to interpret what the symbols mean and the story they tell. We need the sacraments explained verbally to us instead of simply being experienced. This is neither good nor bad, it simply is.
The difficulty that it presents is that we no longer relate well with symbols. They no longer provide us with a story to weave into our cultural traditions. They are viewed in an objective and detached manner. Words have become our chosen medium and, with words, analysis and explanation.
Hence, we seldom see a mystery as an invitation to explore endless meaning. (This is the true definition of mystery.) We instead approach mystery in the manner that we approach everything - as a problem to be solved or fixed.
Seen from this perspective, the mystery of the Trinity that we celebrate today becomes a problem to be analyzed and solved rather than a journey to be walked or a relationship to be developed. When the emphasis is upon solving a problem we can't live in the mystery. The focus is upon me solving or fixing instead of the mystery unfolding itself within me.
When we approach the mystery of the Trinity as a symbol unfolding itself within us, it no longer is a reality that we will never completely understand. The mystery of the Trinity provides us instead with infinite understanding - infinite meaning. The mystery of the Trinity (like all mysteries) teaches us that we need to live in what we don't understand (no matter how painful this might be for us), rather than trying to solve or fix what we perceive as a problem.
We can begin to learn how to live in this way by occasionally viewing a symbol, be it a stained glass window, a good painting, or a sacramental action, and resist the temptation to immediately read or listen to information about it. Instead, allow the symbol to reveal itself to you.
A few years ago I was visiting an art museum and I came upon a painting that grabbed my attention and held it. I remained gazing at the picture for several minutes. Then I found myself moving to see the painting from different angles, and each move offered me something new. Before leaving the museum I found myself returning to this painting several times. Somehow this painting was connecting to something deep within me that could not be conceptualized or verbalized.
Maybe this is a helpful place to begin - learning how to gaze. Gazing is very different than looking. When we look, what we are viewing is seen through colored lenses - our biases and points of view. The seeing originates in me and our purpose is to analyze - to take apart. When we gaze, we view what is being presented to us. The seeing originates not in me but with the other and the purpose is to symbolize - to put together. Most of the artwork depicting the Trinity begins here: God gazing at Jesus, Jesus gazing at God, and the Spirit being the gaze.
