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Water, water, everywhere!
I am sure that you have heard the Water Music by Handel, commissioned by King George I, first performed on 7-17-1717, for an excursion up the Thames. The whole River was covered with boats and barges. The king was so pleased with it that he ordered it to be repeated at least three times, both on the trip upstream to Chelsea and on the return. The uplifting and refreshing grandeur of the music made it very popular for generations to come.
In recent past we had so many precipitations: snow, sleet, rain, ice, etc. Perhaps the people of Israel would have loved to have this problem when they were trekking in the desert Sinai. The condition of the arid desert is grueling: scorching and unrelenting sun during the day with no signs of greens or life anywhere, and icy cold and shivering dampness at night. It is no wonder that those Israelites complained to Moses and longed for the bygone days in Egypt even it meant the shame and toil of enslavement. The choice was quite stark: between the rock and the hard places, which our Lenten decorations represent quite well.
Desperation and hopelessness are found not only in deserts but also in the seemingly placid lives of many people. When coupled with chronic depression and/or paranoia, the result can be deadly. During the prolonged pandemic period, people are exposed to daily risk which renders many panicky. Some people resort to harmful drugs, which end up destroying them and their loved ones. Drug addiction is such an overpowering and destructive disease. May the Lord help and save all those who are affected by this terrible calamity!
The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman shows a gradual process of overcoming hopelessness and discovering a new possibility. Perhaps the woman was in such a dire social condition that she had to go to the well under the scorching midday sun so as to avoid the shame of ostracism and gossip of villagers. Probably she lived in silent desolation and isolation. Loneliness and negativity must have been her daily experience.
The story develops like peeling an onion as her understanding makes gradual leaps. She only expected to get some stagnant cistern water, but Jesus promised the living water, in fact, “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus has a propensity to far exceed our expectations as in the case with the Samaritan woman. Franz Liszt was inspired by this passage to write his sparkling and ebullient piano piece, Jeux d´eau a la villa d´Este. Indeed the magnificent villa in Tivoli is replete with fountain water everywhere.
St. Paul describes the very fount of life in an astounding passage today: “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:5).” It is the very person of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, like living water. Indeed, God has flooded our inmost heart with His Love through the Holy Spirit He has given us. And we carry out our daily life in the light of that Love.
That is the most wonderful actuality of our ‘spiritual life’: the living and real presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We do not have to go to exotic places. We only need to make a journey into our heart. Still, it takes a gradual awakening for us to understand this marvelous reality. Through the conversation with Jesus the Samaritan woman’s understanding grows in crescendo. So will each of us grow spiritually through the encouragement and prompting of the significant others in our lives. The Holy Spirit enters into our lives in subtle, sometimes unexpected, ways. We pray for those who are preparing the Easter Sacraments. Together may we all grow as an intimate family of Christ, sharing the living water of the Holy Spirit!
Water, water, everywhere!
Fr. Paul D. Lee