Pope Invites Faithful to Imagine a Changed World

Reflects on Relationships Modeled on the Trinity
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 25, 2009 ( Zenit.org ).- Benedict XVI is inviting the faithful to imagine what the world would be like if family, parish and community relationships were modeled on the Trinity, with people not only living together but also for each other.

The Pope reflected on this today when he took up the topic of two 12th-century theologians during his general audience in Paul VI Hall.

He reflected on Hugh and Richard, both of the Abbey of St. Victor in France. He particularly considered their complementary emphases in the reading and studying of Scripture.

"Hugh of St. Victor stressed the importance of the literal or historical sense of sacred Scripture as the basis of theology's effort to unite faith and reason in understanding God's saving plan," the Holy Father said.

This theologian offered Christianity an explanation of the sacraments that is still useful today, the Pontiff added.

Richard of St. Victor was Hugh's disciple.

He "stressed the allegorical sense of the Scriptures in order to present a spiritual pedagogy aimed at human maturity and contemplative wisdom," Benedict XVI explained.

And Richard's "On the Trinity" is one of the great books of history, the Pope contended.

In it, he "sought to understand the mystery of the triune God by analyzing the mystery of love, which entails a giving and receiving between two persons and finds its perfection in being bestowed upon a third person."

Living to love

As he often does, the Bishop of Rome concluded the audience by drawing out lessons from these historical figures for contemporary man.

"Dear friends, authors such as Hugh and Richard of St. Victor raise our soul to the contemplation of divine realities," he said. "At the same time, the immense joy we get from thought, admiration and praise of the Most Holy Trinity, establishes and sustains the concrete commitment to inspire us in that perfect model of communion and love to build our everyday human relations."

The Pope affirmed that the "Trinity is truly perfect communion!"

And, he continued: "How the world would change if in families, in parishes and in all other communities relationships were lived following always the example of the three Divine Persons, where each one lives not only with the other, but for the other and in the other!

"I recalled it some months ago in the Angelus: 'Love alone makes us happy, because we live in relation, and we live to love and to be loved.'

"It is love that realizes this incessant miracle: as in the life of the Most Holy Trinity, plurality is repaired in unity, where everything is pleasure and joy. With St. Augustine [...], we can also exclaim [...] you see the Trinity, if you see charity."