God's Family
Trinity Sunday
June 11, 2006

God's Family
by Tom Cox

Watching people as they enter Catholic Churches can be interesting. Routinely as they approach the Holy Water font, they seem to flail their hands around, or jab fingers at their chest. Were the water dyed, the effect could be quite startling.

What's going on is that they're making the Sign of the Cross almost unconsciously. While it may often be done irreverently, it is better to make a religious movement out of habit than not making it at all. After all, fewer passersby of churches make that sign. It's a body prayer, just as much as fingering beads, tracing the cross is instinctive action. It's amazing to watch even people with dementia or memory loss, smoothly make that prayer as muscle memory takes over.

Many of us know how hard it can be co-ordinate the different parts of our bodies, from touch-typing, playing music, driving, dancing. As we watch our under fives playing confidently with remote controls, with their (slightly) older siblings showing their parents how to work the DVD. Maybe we are part of a change that reminds us of the need to be connected, of being able to do many things at once. Churches have always tried to remind people they belong to each other and to God. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is more important than ever- that God is not only one but a family. It could be a mirror of what we are becoming - not solitary or apart but a community of love.

(Comments to Tom at tomascox@eircom.net )