Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality (review)

Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality.By Michael Downey. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000. 128 pp. $12.00.

One should not, it is said, judge a book by its cover. While this is in general a good rule of thumb, it does not apply to Michael Downey's Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality. The luminous icon of the Baptism of our Lord reproduced on the cover of this book is an invitation to what is indeed a beautiful reflection on trinitarian spirituality. Michael Downey, Professor of Systematic Theology and Spirituality at Saint John's Seminary in Camarillo, California, engages the reader in contemplation of the sheer giftedness of life lived in trinitarian communion.

The book began at the suggestion of Catherine Mowry LaCugna, who proposed to Downey that they co-author a monograph to further develop ideas put forth in their essay "Trinitarian Spirituality" published in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality in 1993. LaCugna's tragic illness and death precluded realization of the project, but Downey's book bears LaCugna's influence. At the same time, Altogether Gift is Downey's own distinctive contribution to the contemporary renewal of trinitarian theology.

Despite the trinitarian renaissance, Downey observes, there has been minimal attention given to the manner in which trinitarian revelation speaks to humanity's deepest desires. Altogether Gift fills this need, explicating the longing of our wounded hearts for loving communion with God and others. Downey is also cognizant of the need to bridge technical trinitarian treatises and Christian life, and he intentionally avoids the dense and complex language that makes trinitarian theology inaccessible to readers who are not specialists in the field. His book is rooted in three principles that LaCugna's work has brought to the theological forefront: 1) theology must begin with reflection on the activity of the Incarnate Word and Holy Spirit in human life and history; 2) the mystery of God is profoundly relational; and 3) the doctrine of the Trinity is a practical teaching with manifold implications for Christian life (12). These principles shape Downey's reflections as he explicates a trinitarian spirituality that offers not a how-to manual but a vision and invitation rooted in his own experience of contemplative prayer, liturgical praxis, and everyday life.

Downey's experience and vision is that of the overflowing, uncontainable, superabundant love and mercy of God. One of the contributions of Altogether Gift is its compelling articulation of God's ecstatic love, which inexhaustibly pours itself forth, "constantly, abundantly, excessively, never-to-stop-coming-as-gift" (38). Jesus Christ is God's compassion, God's kenotic communion with human frailty, vulnerability, and pain, and the Holy Spirit is the driving power of God's ecstasy. The doctrine of the Trinity does not explain God's love, which is unfathomable in its depth, prodigality, and utter gratuity, but the doctrine does serve as a grammar to guide discourse within the Christian community. The language of person, nature, and relation provides parameters for our speech about God as Father, Son, and Spirit manifest in human life and history.

Downey develops a "logic of gift" that enables him to hold together two truths: 1) God's Gift is given with utter gratuity, without merit, in excess of reason; and 2) this Gift becomes a task, calling us to live and incarnate the love and mercy that we receive. "Real mystery is that which invites and allures us into fuller participation" (42), and Downey offers a rich reflection on human personhood from a trinitarian perspective. Humanity, he explains, finds fulfillment of our deepest longings through participation in God's being-for and being-toward the other in love. Downey includes an original reflection on the capacity of trinitarian theology to illuminate the full personhood of the handicapped. He also provides valuable discussions of creativity, sacramentality, ecclesiology, and the concrete dimensions of the spiritual life (vocation, discernment, asceticism, etc.) from a trinitarian perspective. The book concludes with words of wisdom...