The Educational Relationship as a “Trinitarian Relationship”

Pedagogical guidelines in light of the charism of unity

Abstract

The current crisis in the experience of authority and of positive models in which personal freedom can be exercised threatens the very possibility of educational relationships, as children and adolescents are left without figures capable of accompanying them in their growth. The human experience of Jesus can represent a point of departure capable of illuminating this situation. Jesus, is the Son who understands himself in relationship with the Father, in an asymmetrical relationship in which the equality of nature of the Two is manifest. The Father, on the other hand, does not suffocate the human freedom of the Son and doesn’t spare him the experience of suffering and darkness, to the point that the cry of forsakenness of Jesus on the cross marks the definitive accomplishment of his sonship and the revelation of the paternity of the Father, while the “Third” who is the Holy Spirit, expressed the reciprocal openness of the Father and the Son to and in the Other. Basing itself on the “trinitarian paradigm” the important speech of Chiara Lubich from 2001 on the occasion of the inauguration of the Higher Institute of Culture (ISC) can offer a significant contribution for a renewal of educative relationships.