“And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened to him: and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him. And behold a voice from heaven, saying: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”
Jesus emerged from the water and the heavens were open to Him, likewise by nature of baptism, your eternal life has already begun. Heaven is open to you, the love of God is there for you to receive in abundance, the words in the Song of Songs are there for you to hear, “There is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh” (Romans 8:1). The heavenly mysteries are there for your grasping: “You have the unction from the Holy One, and know all things” (1 John 2:20), and when you understand that the Scriptures detail the love story between God and you, they become vividly personal and intimate. The Holy Spirit is given with joy and lavishness: “If you then, being evil, know how to give g ood gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is love, this love sanctifies you, transforms you, and makes you into love incarnate, and how Jesus longs to pour this loving Spirit into your soul! “I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). The gift of the Holy Spirit is then expressed, as He comes down to Jesus in the form of a dove, an animal that, more than others, represents love, and it is in love that He is seen. The dove was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, coming with peace to Jesus, because though peace was already between the Father and the Son, it represents God’s gift of love and peace to all mankind, and specifically to you. He comes bearing an olive branch, gentleness, and a beautiful message, that you may know truly the voice of heaven: “You are my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased. You don’t need to earn my love, I give it to you freely, be at peace, for you are mine.” “Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and called thee by thy name: thou art mine” (Isaias 43:1). He does not love you for your greatness or works, but because you are His, and by His gift of Himself to you, He is yours: “My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies” (Song 2:16). This manifestation of the Trinity is a great mystery of your dignity as a Christian: You are a child of the Father by this beautiful adoption, a spouse of Christ by nature of His presence in your soul by the grace of baptism, and a temple of the Holy Spirit, a blessed place where the Three are delighted to gather: “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Consider your utter magnificence! The temple of Solomon pales in comparison to your glory, all the beautiful things in the universe are but symbols, but you in truth and love are where God is. You are a living monstrance, a temple that moves: “King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus: The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem” (Song 3:9-10). Your nature as a person is already a magnificent gift, now decorated with the gift of grace, the indwelling of the Trinity, and you are robed with a splendor unspeakable: “Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem: terrible as an army set in array” (Song 6:3). Wherever you go, God is.