We can think of God as Father and Son, "through the image of a family gathered around the table, where life is shared. Besides, the table, which is also an altar, is a symbol with which certain icons depict the Trinity. It is an image that speaks to us of a God of communion. Father, Son and Holy Spirit: communion."
This was Pope Francis' reflection on this Trinity Sunday, June 4, before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.
One of the most famous icons of the Trinity, by Rublev, shows the Divine Persons around a table:
Pope Francis continued with the reflection of the table:
The Holy Spirit does with us what Jesus does with Nicodemus: he introduces us to the mystery of new birth, the birth of faith, Christian life, he reveals the heart of the Father to us, and he makes us sharers in the very life of God.
The invitation he extends to us, we might say, is to sit at the table with God to share in his love. This would be the image. This is what happens at every Mass, at the altar of the Eucharistic table, where Jesus offers himself to the Father and offers himself for us. Yes, that is how it is, brothers and sisters, our God is a communion of love: and this is how Jesus revealed him to us.
The Pope suggested that a simple gesture can remind us of this beautiful, mysterious truth: the Sign of the Cross, "the simplest gesture, which we learned as children."
"By tracing the cross on our body, we remind ourselves how much God loved us, to the point of giving his life for us; and we repeat to ourselves that his love envelops us completely, from top to bottom, from left to right, like an embrace that never abandons us. And at the same time, we commit ourselves to bear witness to God-as-love, creating communion in his name."
The Holy Father invited the faithful in St. Peter's Square to participate right then in this prayer-reminder: "Perhaps now, each one of us, and all together, let us make the sign of the cross on ourselves …"
