Compassion – Vocation – Wisdom

St. Augustine was Bishop of Hippo in North Africa. He is also one of the greatest thinkers in Christian history as well as secular philosophy. Before he converted to Catholicism, Augustine proved to be a colourful character with an equally colourful history. A brilliant student, Augustine revelled in university life. He definitely ate and drank as if there was no tomorrow! He had relationships with different women and actually fathered a child out of wedlock. Augustine keenly understood human weakness!

During his studies after his conversion, Augustine deeply reflected on the Compassion and Wisdom of God whose Vocation was to save man and so bring about a new creation. Augustine eventually concentrated on the profound doctrine of the Trinity, that there are Three Persons in one God. Augustine suggested a brilliant explanation of this divine mystery. He argued as follows:

• God is pure spirit of unlimited compassion. God sees himself as one would see a reflection but, because the reflection is pure spirit it actually is another person, His Beloved Son.
• The Father looks at this Image and the Image or Son looks at the Father like an adoring father or mother would regard their beloved son who returns that love just as deeply. The love between Father and Son is the Holy Spirit or, as they say in the Eastern churches, the Holy Wisdom.
• From the beginning God wanted to manifest His Wisdom, His Compassion and His Vocation by creating a new being, the human, fashioned or made in God’s image.
• Because we are the image of God, all human beings share three great attributes with the Divine: Vocation, Compassion and Wisdom. To underpin and exercise these three attributes, free will must be exercised, a gift only human beings share with God.
• At the beginning of time, this Human Image lived perfectly in harmony with themselves, with their environment and with their God. This harmony was shattered by a great revolt against God which led to the Fall and the emergence of evil in human affairs. Nevertheless God, full of compassion and wisdom, kept faith with the divine vocation to create and maintain human beings made in his image. God directly intervened through his Beloved Son as Clement of Alexandra wrote “The Image of god became a man so Man could become God.”
• This vocation, Jesus Christ, became flesh. God’s only son became human to show us the way back to God. Indeed, in the very early church, shortly after the Resurrection of Christ, the Christian faith was simply known as “The Way;” the Way back to God, to becoming truly human.

At Trinity we share that same belief. We are all a part of God’s creation. We have a vocation to follow and we must develop the wisdom to help achieve excellence in all we do as well as show God’s compassion to others.

• At Trinity we believe that, through the Eucharist, our Vocation is to love God, be compassionate to our neighbour and grow in wisdom, this is the path of excellence.
• At Trinity we believe that religion lies as the heart of every individual’s vocation. We must be compassionate and wise to all. We must value other people’s religious beliefs and their practice of them.
• At Trinity we believe that our vocation is to serve. According to Christ, those who follow this vocation should be accorded a special dignity and respect. We must have the wisdom to realise that all who serve the students act as their parents, their mothers and their fathers.
• At Trinity we believe that our vocation is to build and develop a community which is compassionate and dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in all aspects.
• At Trinity we believe that the fabric of the school and all its resources are for our enjoyment. We must take great care of these.
• At Trinity we believe that our vocation is to become more compassionate and deepen our wisdom. In doing so, we can better serve others, both in our own communities and those communities attached to it, be it our neighbourhood, our country or those communities in the world which require our compassion.
• At Trinity we believe that our vocation must always protect and show great compassion to those weaker than us, this is the wisdom of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.
• At Trinity we believe we are here to make our parents and families proud.
• At Trinity we believe that what we do, what we achieve is important in this life and in the life to come where compassion, vocation and wisdom reach their fulfilment.
• Our Vision is summed up in this Acclamation.