Vestigia Trinitatis

 As we approach the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity I find myself reflecting on the way in which we experience God in contemporary society especially in the light of science. Ever since the trial of Galileo, which was really a squabble arising from papal court politics, it has been fashionable for those who hate the Church to point to some kind of binary opposition between science and faith. We can also think of the blind leap of faith of thinkers like Kierkegaard for reinforcing Christian faith as being in some way fundamentally at odds with the rigour and discipline of science. I like the statement of Pope St John Paul II when he wrote: "Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes."(Letter to George V. Coyne, 1 June 1988) We can also point out that science is a method for the study of things and God is not a "thing." Additionally, Catholic priests such as Mendel and Copernicus have had considerable influence

St Augustine, beginning his great treatise De Trinitate in AD400, on the Holy Trinity spoke of the traces in Creation of the Holy Trinity. These he called vestigia trinitatis. What, I ask, are the scientifically identifiable traces of the Divine Persons in the world? Since the activity of the Holy Trinity happens in space and time, can we locate divine action in the world? 

Watching the work of Fr Robert Spitzer St. Thérèse Lecture Series - Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ: Physics and the Existence of God regarding the condition required for a functioning Universe at the moment of the Big Bang, which was incidentally the idea of Fr Georges Lemaitre a Catholic priest, I think we can see this as the trace of God. The ordering of Creation through the love and intelligence of God can be discerned. God establishes order, light and love to a Creation which he "saw was good" (Gen 1: 10, 12, 18, 21 and 25) and in its entirety "he saw it was very good." (Gen 1: 31)

When we consider Jesus, as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Shroud of Turin can be seen as "the receipt for the Resurrection." The Next Pope, the Big Bang, and the Shroud of Turin Fr Robert Spitzer The Eucharistic Miracles are traces of his humanity and divinity. The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, originating from the year 695, speaks of the Holy Eucharist being exactly what the Church claims it to be. The findings of science we can read regarding this, and other miracles reveal God's power active in the sacrament: MIRACOLI EUCARISTICI - Mostra Internazionale Ideata e Realizzata da Carlo Acutis e Nicola Gori

What, you may ask, is the trace of the Holy Spirit, measurable in the world? I maintain that the Church is the trace of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit is manifested both in unity and diversity with many gifts and charisms revealed over time. It is up to us to attest by our prayers, words and actions to the Holy Spirit in the world so that the world believes that Jesus was sent by the Father: "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. the glory that you have given me I have given to them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. father. I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world." (Jn 17: 20-26)