Fr. Michael Williams
"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice."
The Baptism of the Lord (Year C)
We often see the dove as a symbol for the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures and in Sacred Art; In today’s Scriptures we hear how ‘the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in bodily shape, like a dove’. Right at the beginning of the Bible following the Flood at the time of Noah, a dove appears with an olive branch, indicating that the time of the destructive flood is over and peace and harmony are restored. In religious artwork artists often use a dove to portray the Holy Spirit. Paintings of the Annunciation show a dove hovering over Mary at the time at the conception of Jesus to indicate the Holy Spirit’s Presence; in paintings of some learned saints we often see a dove by the ear of the saint gently informing them of divine mysteries. So we see the dove is used in word and picture to show us something of the Holy Spirit.
We need words and images to help us understand the mysterious workings of God; and the dove is a good image to help explain some aspects of the Holy Spirit. A dove is a meek and gentle kind of bird and God’s Spirit is gentle and peaceful, never domineering or aggressive. We learn of this characteristic of the Spirit, which comes down upon Jesus, from the prophet Isaiah; Isaiah says, ‘He does not cry out or shout aloud…He does not break the crushed reed, nor quench the wavering flame’. Although there is also a firmness to this Spirit for, ‘He will never waver or be crushed, until true justice is established on earth’. So maybe the adjectives gentle and firm could be used in describing God’s Spirit, which flowed through Jesus in His ministry and still does.
Of course there is another spirit which operates behind the scenes so to speak. That spirit, which is the antithesis of the Holy Spirit, is domineering and aggressive and we call it the devil. We hear about it in Acts of the Apostles, but Jesus came to free us from the devil. Acts tells us, ‘God had anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and then Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil’. People can fall into the power of the devil become enslaved. Think of an addict of any sort- they are in effect imprisoned; whereas God seeks to give us true freedom in gentleness and peace. Receiving any of the Sacraments is both a gentle and powerful experience. God’s grace is peaceful and gentle, but effective too.
The Baptism of Our Lord, which propelled him into His public ministry of freeing captives and enlightening souls, calls us to reflect on our own baptismal vocation. We too have been anointed by the Holy Spirit, Who descended upon us in Holy Baptism, and incorporated us into Christ’s Body, the Church, to be Christ’s hands and feet and eyes and mouth and ears and heart in the world The Holy Spirit gently came into our being at Baptism to anoint us for God’s work. To enable us ‘to go about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil’. But doing so by ‘not by crying out or shouting aloud…not by breaking the crushed reed, nor quenching the wavering flame’. But to do God’s work in gentleness and firmness. In Our Lord’s own words to be gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent.