PRESENCE OF THE HOLY TRINITY IS REFLECTED IN CREATION

VATICAN CITY, AUG 2, 2000 (VIS) - "Listening to the Word and the Spirit in cosmic revelation" was the theme of John Paul II's catechesis during today's general audience which was held in St. Peter's Square.

The Pope affirmed that "in creation, many have recognized, though still imperfectly, the presence of its Architect and Lord." Muslim and Jewish tradition have also discovered God's presence in creation.

"Biblical revelation is placed in the setting of humanity's broad experience of religious sentiment and prayer, giving it a divine seal. By communicating to us the mystery of the Trinity, revelation helps us to comprehend, in creation itself, not only the sign of the Father, source of all life, but also that of the Son and of the Spirit."

The Holy Father highlighted that "if it is in fact true that 'the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not three principles of creation but one principle,' it is also nonetheless true that 'each divine Person performs the common work according to His unique personal property'."

"In the light of Christian faith," he concluded, "the creation particularly evokes the Holy Spirit in the dynamism that marks the relationship between things, within the macrocosm and the microcosm, and that is manifest above all wherever life is born and develops. ... Christians well know that such evocation of the Spirit would be unacceptable if it referred to a kind of 'anima mundi' in the pantheistic sense. However, aside from this error, it remains true that all forms of life, of animation and of love lead back, in the final analysis, to that Spirit which, Genesis says, moved 'over the face of the waters'."

AG;SPIRIT; REVELATION;...;...;VIS;20000802;Word: 290;