Whether it’s with the early birds, worms, and coffee, or in the evening with Wade and lightening bugs, in a front porch rocking chair is where you’ll find me. From our perch on the porch, we’ve been students of the Kentucky summer. We’ve all mastered the whistle back to whippoorwills, bobwhites, and mourning doves. And as I’ve closed my eyes, rocked, thought, and prayed, I’ve wondered… Why a dove? Why did the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove at His baptism?
I imagine a mother amongst a crowd, balancing a basket of laundry and holding the soft, little hand of her toddler on the bank of the Jordan River. Wet sand squished between their toes as they giggled and went about their usual day. Then, the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon a man who had just been baptized. From the same direction, a voice said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17).
Almost daily, that mother had passed doves pecking at the seeds around her home. She’d heard their coos in the evenings as she kissed her babies good night. But that day, she’d surely been shaken by the ordinariness of a common bird–a dove, the poor folks’ offering at the Temple—coming down from Heaven. Did she know she had heard the voice of the Father, witnessed the baptism of the Son, and the descent of the Holy Spirit? Surely, it would’ve been a gift to be there.
The angelic doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, wrestled with the same question—why a dove?—and he came to far more profound conclusions than me, though I think he’d enjoy some similar porch-perched birdwatching.
In his compendium of Church teachings, the Summa Theologiae, Aquinas wrote that, among other things, the dove signified the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
- Wisdom: Doves dwell by running water to escape predator hawks. Saints are to dwell by the “running waters” of Holy Scriptures.
- Knowledge: For nourishment, doves prefer choice seeds. For spiritual nourishment, saints choose sound doctrine.
- Council: Doves feed the brood of other birds. Saints feed others through their teaching and example.
- Understanding: Doves do not tear with their beak. Saints do not shred sound doctrine.
- Piety: Doves have no gall. Saints are free from unreasonable anger.
- Fortitude: Doves build nests in the cleft rocks. Saints are to take refuge in the wounds of Christ, the Rock of strength.
- Fear: Doves have a mournful song. Saints are to lament their sins.
From my rocking chair, my mind sometimes wanders and worries about the younger generations rarely or never barefoot and free in Grandpa’s creek, or all safe from scrapes, skeeters, and memories behind a screen. How does one understand the Parable of the Sower, faith like a mustard seed, or the ways of doves if our daily lives remain artificially intelligent, media-saturated, and secularized?
Like the back-and-forth motion of my chair, I rock back on hope. I believe in Hope. Hope in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After much questioning and surely doubts by those early followers of Christ, there was another sound from Heaven like the rush of a mighty wind. There in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the form of …not a gentle dove…fire!
I think of my poverty of reason, and the extravagant gift of the Son of God becoming a common man—born of a virgin, who suffered, died, was buried, and rose again. Thank God, He’s not limited to our feeble understanding or experience. Until we’re Home, we’ll never fully comprehend the glory of God and all His ways; we hope and trust in the creator of all things.
Holy Spirit, set our hearts on fire!
