"At the baptism of Jesus, the heavens opened, the Spirit descended as a dove, and a voice confided, 'You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased' (Luke 3:21-22). Some commentators call the ripped heavens a 'gracious gash.' It established the consciousness of God's free gift of love to Jesus and revealed his ultimate identity as the Son of God, a relational flow between himself and God. However, this is not unique to Jesus. What Jesus knew in himself, he saw in others. And he tried to reveal this amazing truth to his followers in a way they could discover it for themselves and awaken to divine love at the core of their being.
"There are many obstacles to this consciousness, but all of them can be surmounted. Also, although everyone's path will be different, everyone must be on the path. The reason is that only the beloved Sons and Daughters know what 'well pleased' means. When we receive God's indestructible life, we immediately coincide with the pleasure of reconciling the world to its Source and all people to each other. This is the mission of those who have received their life as a gift and given thanks. They must continue the following and learn how to break and give.
"My family, decently large, was gathered at my parents' house. It was our custom to let the youngest say grace. This was not any formulaic recital. It was spontaneous and could go on so long that preempting 'Amens' tried to stop it. However, this night as we sat down at the table, my father said, 'I'll say grace.' This was unprecedented. There was immediate silence, and we all bowed our heads and looked at our empty plates. Nothing was coming, no words from our father. Finally, I looked up from my plate to see what the delay was. Our father's head was slightly tilted upward, his mouth was agape, his eyes were opened, and two streams of tears flowed down his cheeks. Finally, the choked words came, 'Thank you!' He was thrilled by the Holy Spirit. And so was his son."
