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Fr Ron Johnson
REFLECTING ON GOD’S WORD TODAY…
Exodus 34.1-8
Song of Three Young Men 29-34
2 Corinthians 13.11-13
Matthew 28.16-20
Enjoy The Hospitality Of The Trinity
The icon commonly called “ The Trinity” (also called The Hospitality of Abraham) is an icon created by Russian painter Andrei Rublev in the 15th century. The image is very well known, but little understood as to its imagery.
The Trinity depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (Genesis 18:1–8), hence why it is called the ‘Hospitality of Abraham, but the painting is full of symbolism and has been interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity from the moment it was finished. At the time of Rublev, the Holy Trinity was the embodiment of spiritual unity, peace, harmony, mutual love and humility, and divine hospitality.
Rublev’s Trinity shows us a lovely relational understanding of God as Three-in-One that is beyond trying to “figure out” what the Trinity means.
The late Henri Nouwen, a spiritual writer in his book: Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons, (p. 20-22) offers the following meditation on Rublev’s Icon (& the Trinity).
“The more we look at this holy image with the eyes of faith, the more we come to realize that it is painted not as a lovely decoration for a church, nor as a helpful explanation of a
difficult doctrine, but as a holy place to enter and stay within.
As we place ourselves in front of the icon in prayer, we come to experience a gentle invitation to participate in the intimate conversation that is taking place among the three divine angels and to join them around the table. The movement from the Father toward the Son and the movement of both Son and Spirit toward the Father become a movement in which the one who prays is lifted up and held secure…
We come to see with our inner eyes that all engagements in this world can bear fruit only when they take place within this divine circle… the house of perfect love. Praying to the Lord before Rublev’s icon painting can help us to join Abraham in hosting the Lord in our hearts. As we do we discover that the Father, Son, and Spirit were already inviting us to join in their circle of love! “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
When we participate in “The Hospitality of Abraham” to the Lord we discover that really we are responding to “The Hospitality of the Trinity.”
Fr Ron's Sermon from Sunday 28th May <<here>>
For Fr Ron's Previous Sermons please contact us <<here>>
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