“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). In the ritual of baptism, there is always a Renunciation of Sin and a Profession of Faith on the part of the person to be baptized. “Do you renounce Satan?” “And all his works?” “And all his empty show?” To each of these questions, the resounding answer is “I do.” Then, the priest or deacon baptizing asks about the articles of the faith, modeled on the Creed. Again, the answer is “I do.” These divinely revealed truths are organized according to the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Profession of Faith is not some symbolic gesture. It is a statement of conviction.
There is a commitment being made, a commitment within the context of a community, and that community is nothing less than the Trinity Itself! Yes, the newly baptized will keep the word of the Lord, professing belief and living according to the Christian faith. But there is more. We speak of the Trinitarian life imparted to the baptized. The Trinity comes to dwell in the newly baptized. It is not a partial or temporary indwelling. It is a dynamic and powerful now.
The Trinity lives in each of the baptized. Great spiritual writers in the Catholic Church speak of the spiritual life, the personal relationship developed within us with God’s grace, as a constant deepening of this Trinitarian life in us. In the words of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, “The Trinity, behold our home, our true dwelling.”