Well, well. Today we celebrate the Holy Trinity--a community of persons, a oneness in multiplicity and diversity. The crucifix pictured above is one of my favorites--a purchase I made several years ago, depicting the Trinity in a way I have never seen before or since. As Jesus experiences the crucifixion, he is being held by the Father and hovered over by the Spirit. Such a tender reminder that no matter what I go through--no matter what you go through--even if we can't perceive God's presence (or even care, for that matter), God is with us, supporting us, embracing us, enveloping us. We needn't feel it for it to be real or true.
I just returned from a pilgrimage to Spain and Italy, walking in the footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola with twenty colleagues from a variety of Jesuit universities here in the States. Starting off, I knew three people fairly well, and twenty people not at all. After nine days journeying together, praying together, laughing together, sweating together, travelling together, and eating together (cumulatively, I think I can coin a new word and call this "pilgrimming together,") we got to know each other pretty well. Granted, we don't know the ins and outs of each other's personal, professional, or spiritual lives, but what we do know is this: we are bound together on this journey, and not just the journey through Europe. We are all just pilgrims on a journey, doing our best to follow the path laid out for us, noticing the signposts along the way, periodically doing headcounts to make sure no one has gotten lost, sharing time and space and self, and somehow by means of all this--forming ourselves into one. One while many. United while diverse. Community.