January 11, 2022

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!

 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, which we celebrated last Sunday, brings the Christmas cycle to a close. We are now beginning the cycle of “Ordinary Time”. Let me elaborate a little on the deeper meaning of the feast we just celebrated last Sunday, for it is not simply the end of one cycle, but the mystical introduction of the next cycle.

Of the four evangelists, St. Luke gives the most importance to the prayers of Jesus. In the gospel we heard this past Sunday, he insists that Jesus was praying after being baptized, and that at that very moment, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove. Is this not an indication or a direct reference to the words of the prophet Isaiah who wrote in chapter 63, v. 19b: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down…”?

When Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River, we note first of all that it is the all-holy Trinity that manifests itself publicly at this event. According to Luke, this is done after symbolically tearing open the heavens: the Spirit descends from heaven in the form of a dove and lands on Jesus; and at the same time the voice of the Father is heard by all the disciples who surround Jesus and invites them to listen to his beloved Son who has come down from heaven. In this manifestation, God wants to show us the ardent desire of the three divine Persons to reintroduce us into their intimacy and into the heavenly kingdom to which we have all been called and invited since the foundation of the world.

Having been baptized and visibly clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus now appears not only as the one who is both Son of Man and Son of God, but at the same time he becomes our great pontiff, that human and divine “bridge” which restores the contact once lost between God and man since the disobedience of our first parents. What a great mystery is that of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan!

But there is more: one may ask why the Holy Spirit was manifested in the form of a dove. First, because the dove represents one of the gentlest, purest and most human-friendly birds. Those are three values that we can unquestionably attribute to the Holy Spirit. Secondly, it was through the sending and return of a dove that Noah was warned that the flood was now over and that the earth had now been cleansed of all its vices and impurities committed by humans who had lost sight of God. The era of physical and spiritual renewal was looming on the horizon, just as the Spirit of God had once hovered over the waters at the very beginning of creation. The Holy Spirit chose to take the form of a dove, for He intends to restore peace in the hearts of men and women of goodwill, that is, in all those who freely accept the sweet invitation of the Trinity to come and dwell within themselves.

In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to one final consideration: the meaning of the ritual of Christian baptism which is prefigured in this event. The word “baptism” comes from the Greek and means “to dive”. To be immersed underwater for too long a period of time would inevitably lead to a person’s death. This is why many Christian denominations, including the Catholic Church on some occasions, often use baptism by immersion, because it means that the person must be willing to die to himself or herself, to his or her selfish or worldly desires, in order one day to enter the promised land where love of God and neighbour will reign eternally. The Feast of the Baptism of Jesus thus invites us to enter into this movement, this whirlwind or spiral that prompts us to follow to the end the very author of baptism, Jesus our Master and Lord, who became the bridge between God and sinful humanity.

May your meditation be fruitful!

Sincerely yours in Christ our Redeemer,

+ Guy Desrochers, C.Ss.R.
Bishop of Pembroke