Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 245

There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.

My family used to vacation at my uncle's cabin in Rough River, Kentucky. The cabin was not much more than a shack. Relatives and friends would add to the inhabitable parts of the building even as its older parts were dropping down the hillside. This was not the retreat of the wealthy.

Several hundred yards from our camp someone had rammed a long pipe into an opening in the rocks. Water trickled through the pipe continually and we replenished our wash and drinking water from there. We bathed in the lake. 

Eventually an intrepid busybody sent a sample of water to a government agency, who dutifully reported the spring was polluted. Knowing what we do today of farm runoff -- fields of corn flourished at the top of the hill --  that would not be a surprise. But we had already survived several vacations there and continued to drink from the spring. 

Jerusalem enjoyed one of these essential blessings from ancient times. You can't build a city without ample water. The spring was very near the temple and the water collected in a pool within its shadow. 

The citizens recognized the providence of God in its water. It inspired prophets and preachers to remind the people of their loyalty to God. Displeased, he might turn the tap at any time. 

In today's first reading we hear of Ezekiel's vision about that stream. It flowed from the temple down the Hill of Zion into the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. In his vision the Temple Water miraculously restored life to the Sea, transforming it from salty to fresh, from useless to miraculously useful:

Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

Beginning with that same spring in Jerusalem, Saint John tells a story that reads like a typical healing story, but blossoms with reflection into a wonderful teaching about Jesus, his cross and his resurrected life.

In the Fourth Gospel, the temple is Jesus' own body. The water flowing from the temple gushes from his crucified corpse to baptize the Church. His cross is a life-giving tree. As Jesus says in John 7,

Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’

At Easter we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus but the ceremony means nothing without the Baptismal Rites of the Easter Vigil. When the catechumens are washed in the healing waters, the Church is born. The priests and deacons will remind us of that blessing when they sprinkle the congregation and replenish the Holy Water fonts. 

Water reminds us of God's abundance. It is, as Saint Francis described it, "so useful, lowly, precious and pure:"

• useful for drinking, bathing and watering our livestock, orchards and farms; 
• lowly in its willingness to be shaped by any container; 
• precious in that we cannot live without it; and 
• pure in its natural element. 

Modern life continually reminds us of water's vitality. It is more valuable than gold. No matter how technologically advanced we are, we fear droughts in North America. We dread water wars in Africa and the near East. Scientists were elated when they discovered water on the moon! 

Drink a glass of water today. Let it remind you of God's superabundant, providential love.