You are my beloved Son
Mark 1: 7-11
Baptism is God’s declaration of love for me. This Love remains at my side; it never forsakes me no matter what happens to me or around me; it takes care of me without being ashamed of me. Jesus begs John the Baptist, and each one of us, to allow him to remain at our side, to enter our deaths, our graves, our hells, because otherwise he cannot reach us so as to give us the Life we need so desperately.
God the Father’s biggest dream is that human beings will finally discover that they are his beloved and chosen children. But in order for this to happen, we must permit Jesus to become our brother because this is the only way that he can he make us children of the Father.
If the Father’s dream is realized, then his words will echo in our hearts: “You are my beloved child. I love you for the person you are, just as you are. I love you no matter how great your sin and weakness. I am here to take care of you exactly as you are, here and now. I have conquered death, and with it the many deaths that you carry within you and with which you have never been able to reconcile yourself.”
In the end, this is what salvation is: to let God love us! To surrender ourselves to him; to allow ourselves be embraced by his love just as we are; to permit him to penetrate our deepest hiding places; to reach out to him courageously and let him bring us home.
Taken from the homilies of Fr. Paolo Scquizzato
The Lord is my strength and my courage;
he is my savior.
