| Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about his relationship to the Father. Jesus, the Son, was sent by his Father in love. Thus there is in God a play of lover and beloved; but the lover and beloved are connected by the love they have in common. Therefore the God disclosed in Jesus is a family or community of persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.
The ground of being is a communio of being and letting-be. From all eternity, the Father forgets about himself in love and generates the Son; and from all eternity, the Son forgets about himself and looks to the Father; and the mutual love of Father and Son is the Holy Spirit. Active generation, passive generation; active spiration, passive spiration. Breathing in and breathing out; being and letting-be. God is like a set of lungs, or like a heart—taking in and letting out, a rhythm, a cadence, a back-and-forth of love. This true God is one who does not insist on hoarding power or defining himself over-and-against. This true God is love, is a communion, a sharing, a family. |
Bishop Barron’s Gospel Reflection
