DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Now when all the people were baptized by John the Baptist, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” – Luke 3:21-22

I suppose my life of holy devotion is not so I might be saved.  I know I am already rescued by embracing the mercy of my Lord.   No, my life of holy devotion is a desiring for the sight of descending doves and the hearing of my Father’s loving voice.  I yearn to fee the reassurance of my Lord that I am a child of God with whom He is well-pleased.

I view this scene at the baptism of Jesus by John as a public declaration of adoption.  We often use the image of being born again, but here I find a complementary image, the image of being adopted by the Father.  I have experienced being born again, anew and from above; and I have experienced being chosen, embraced and adopted.

I seek to be a person of peace in the midst of a world at war.  I seek to be a person of love in the midst of a world racked with hate.  I seek to be a person so thankful for being embraced by the Lord that I am eager to embrace all others.

In this scene of a descending dove and an embracing voice, we witness the flow from repentance to celebration.  In our willingness to changed we in turn are transformed.  In our kneeling in humility we in turn are lifted to our feet.  In our willingness to come to the waters, in turn the doves of peace come upon us.

While the world wages wars of threats and fears, in Christ we can actually hear the distant cooing of doves and the whispering of Hope.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz