Symbol of The Most Holy Trinity

I had meant to have this out for this past Sunday, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity but now it is a bit delayed.  I wanted to start this post with the beautiful symbol that is described in the Volumes of the Trinity.  There will again be other posts to follow on this topic but just this one symbol is enough for one post and is something which I often return to contemplate on.





          While I am outside of myself, and I find myself in the height of the heavens, I seem to see God within a light. He Himself seems to be light, and within this light there is beauty, strength, wisdom, immensity, height, depth - endless and boundless. Even in the air we breathe is God present, and we breathe Him; so, each one can make Him his own life, as indeed He is. Nothing escapes Him, and nothing can escape Him. This light seems to be all voice, though it does not speak; and all operating, though it always rests. It is present everywhere, though it occupies no space; and while it is present everywhere, it also has its own center. Oh, God, how incomprehensible You are! I see You, I feel You, You are my life, You restrict Yourself within me, but You remain always immense and lose nothing of Yourself. Yet, I feel I am stammering, and it seems I can say nothing.

          In order to explain myself better, according to our human language, I will say that I see a shadow of God in the whole creation, because in the whole creation – someplace He has cast the shadow of His beauty, someplace His fragrances, someplace His light, as in the sun, in which I see a special shadow of God. I see Him as though concealed within this sphere, as the king of all other spheres. What is the sun? It nothing but a globe of fire. One is the globe, but its rays are many; from this we can easily understand how the globe is God, and the rays are the immense attributes of God.

          Second. The sun is fire, but it is also light and heat. Here is the Most Holy Trinity veiled in the sun: the fire is the Father, the light is the Son, the heat is the Holy Spirit. However, the sun is one, and just as one cannot separate fire from light and heat, so one is the power of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who in reality cannot be separated from one another. And just as fire produces light and heat at the same time, in such a way that fire cannot be conceived without light and heat; in the same way, the Father cannot be conceived before the Son and the Holy Spirit, and vice versa, but all Three of the Them have the same eternal beginning.

          I add that the light of the sun diffuses everywhere; in the same way, God penetrates everywhere with His immensity. However, let us remember that this is but a shadow, because the sun cannot reach where it cannot penetrate with Its light, while God penetrates everywhere. God is most pure Spirit, and we can represent Him with the sun, which makes its rays penetrate everywhere, and no one can grab them with their hands. Moreover, God looks at everything – the iniquities and the evils of men – but He remains always as He is, pure, holy and immaculate. A shadow of God is the sun, which sends its light over rubbish, but remains immaculate; it spreads its light in the fire, but is not burned; in the sea and in the rivers, but is not drowned. It gives light to all, it fecundates everything, it gives life to all with its heat, but does not become poor in light, nor does it lose any of its heat. Even more, while it does so much good to all, it needs no one, and remains always as it is – majestic, shining, ever immutable. Oh, how well one can see the divine qualities in the sun! With His immensity, God is present in the fire, but is not burned; in the sea, but is not drowned; under our steps, but is not trampled. He gives to all, but does not become poor, and needs no one; He looks at everything – even more, He is all eyes, and there is nothing He does not hear. He is aware of each fiber of our hearts, of each thought of our minds, but, being most pure Spirit, He has neither ears nor eyes, and no matter what happens, He never changes. The sun invests the world with its light, and it does not tire; in the same way, God gives life to all, helps and rules the world, and He does not tire.

          A man can hide or place shelters so as not to enjoy the light of the sun and its beneficial effects, but he does nothing to the sun – the sun remains as it is, while all the evil will fall upon man. In the same way, by sin, the sinner can move away from God and no longer enjoy His beneficial effects, but he does nothing to God – the evil is all his own.

          The roundness of the sun also symbolizes the eternity of God, which has no beginning and no end. The penetrating light of the sun itself is such that no one can restrict it in his eye; and if one wanted to stare at it in its midday fullness, he would remain dazzled; and if the sun wanted to draw near man, man would be reduced to ashes. The same for the Divine Sun: no created mind can restrict It in its little mind so as to comprehend It in all that It is; and if it wanted to try, it would remain dazzled and confused; and if this Divine Sun wanted to display all Its love, allowing man to feel It while he is in his mortal flesh, he would be reduced to ashes.  

          So, God has cast a shadow of Himself and of His perfections over the whole creation; it seems that we see Him and touch Him, and we are touched by Him continuously.

Vol. 2, Feb. 28, 1899



Each time I return to this image I seem to gather new insights.  The Father being the fire the source and the power over all.  Fire which consumes and transforms all into more fire.  The Son represented by the light, that which we can see, the visible form of the Father and the manifest Truth, the spoken word.  The Holy Spirit, the heat which fecund and the passionate love which sanctifies and purifies as only heat can.

And how many cultures and peoples throughout the ages have worshipped the sun.  It is as if they recognized the power in the image but lacking the knowledge of the greater truth behind and within the sun, that it is but an image of God, they stopped there and missed the mark.  This knowledge is supposed to bring us closer to God, to know him better and therefore love Him more, instead they settled for the cold shadow of the Divinity in the sun and missed the real embrace of the Triune God in all his glory.

The sun is untouchable, immutable by us as creatures.  So God is immutable and untouchable by us, so far above us in being.  Able to give always without ever diminishing and even one who might hide and refuse to place himself in the light of the sun is still dependent on the effects of the sun to live in the food that he eats, the air that he breaths, all effects of the heat and light of the sun.  Even the gravity which keeps all firmly and safely on the earth, an effect of the rotation of the earth around the sun.

What a beautiful lesson in the sun of the beauty, power, wisdom of our God and how all his attributes are the mirrored in all the effects which the sun brings about.