Saint Brigid and the Love of the Trinity

“And since the three persons of the Holy Trinity all share the same nature, where one is, the other two are also present.”

Saint Brigid of Kildare, along with Saint Patrick and Saint Columba, is one of Ireland’s great patrons. As would be expected, there are many stories of wonders and miracles, associated with this woman who walked so closely with God.

Saint Brigid once spent an evening with Sister Dara, a holy nun who was blind. They talked of the love of the Trinity and the joys of heaven. They were so engaged in their conversation they lost all track of time and were still talking as the sun came up over the Wicklow Mountains. Saint Brigid was in awe of the beauty of the rising sun as it lit up the world around her. At the same time she felt disappointment for Sister Dara who would never see the wonder of God’s creation.

Saint Brigid said a quiet prayer and made the sign of the cross over Dara’s eyes. Immediately the darkness that dimmed her vision was lifted and the sister saw the light of the sun as it glistened on the morning dew and made the whole world alive and radiant. She looked for a little while and then turned to St. Brigid and said, “Close my eyes again dear mother, for when the world is so visible to the eyes, God is less clearly seen to the soul.”

Brigid prayed and again the darkness returned to Dara’s eyes.

God reveals much to us about himself as the Creator of the world around us. Indeed it has been said that God created the world to teach us about Himself. All of creation bears the mark of God just as surely as a great work of art bears the mark of the artist that created it. In the rendering, the composition, the brushstrokes and of course the signature, we learn about the artist from his painting.

But God gave us much more than the created world to help us know Him better. He reveals even more as our Redeemer and Sanctifier, inviting us to share in His divine life.

The very first line in the Bible tells us that God created the Heavens and the earth. That is, God created two realities of existence, a physical world and a spiritual world. As creatures of both flesh and spirit, we inhabit both realities simultaneously.

We live in two worlds, the visible and the invisible. But all too often we focus so much on what we can see and hear that we neglect the world of the Spirit. But it is in this invisible interior world that we see God more clearly.

When we are baptized, the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence within us. Since the nature of the Most Holy Trinity is such that, where one exists all three are present, every baptized person has God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwelling in their souls.

Jesus ascended into Heaven. He left the visible world so that He could be close to us in the invisible world, the world of the heart. If He had remained here, physically present to us, He would have been limited by the constraints of time and space, But by ascending to the Father, Jesus makes Himself accessible to us at all times, through the Holy Spirit.

All three persons of the Holy Trinity share the same nature. Each of the three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are fully God. Where one is, the other two are also present. But to help our limited understanding, the Church has always focused on the Holy Spirit as God’s presence in our souls.

Jesus reminds us that the Holy Spirit will guide us and teach us in all things, but we have to be able to hear His voice amid all the noise and confusion that surrounds us.

In his late 20’s Ludwig van Beethoven began to notice that he was losing his hearing. By his mid 40s the composer was completely deaf and could only communicate with friends through handwritten notes. Even so he continued to compose musical masterpieces.

Music was so much a part of his life that even deaf, he could remember the sounds made by the instruments and how the music they produced worked together with voices. His housekeeper spoke of seeing the great artist sitting at his piano with a pencil in his mouth. The other end of the pencil touch the soundboard of the piano and Beethoven could feel the vibration of the notes he played.

In the early years of his hearing loss, his music changed. His compositions shifted from higher notes to lower ones that he could hear more easily. But towards the end of his life the higher notes returned. His deafness remained but now he could hear the entire range of the composition within his imagination.

It has been said that artists are fortunate if they can realize 50% of their inspired vision. Judging by the music that the maestro composed while deaf, the music he heard in his head must have been glorious.

This then is our challenge. In a world that demands all of our time, it is our challenge to find a quiet place to make room for prayer and the sacraments. We need to cultivate a sort of secular blindness from time to time in order to focus on the spiritual. We need to find a quiet space to listen as God speaks to us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Pax Vobiscum
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity