STREAMS  OF  LIVING  WATER 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 10^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Streams of Living Water.”

At the end of today’s first reading from 1^st Kings 17, I noticed the words, “he drank from the stream.”

The “he” refers to Elijah, the Prophet. He is thirsty and  on the run and is hiding from Ahab and his soldiers.

Elijah is hungry and thirsty and he hears the Lord telling him where to hide and where there is water – at the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.

A wadi is the bed or valley of a stream in dry regions. In rainy seasons that’s where the rain flows into. It’s a gully – a shallow depression in the earth. It’s from the Arabic word “WADIY” – meaning just that.

I read the readings to come up with an idea for a homily.

I’ve read and heard dozens of sermons on the Beatitudes, so I was looking at this first reading especially.

It hit me: “Ask what are and where are my streams of living water?”

TRIXI

One my best friends was a priest with the nickname of  “Trixie”. He was a fat little Italian guy. I was standing with him once in our old seminary in Upstate New York on a hot day. He says, “Let’s go down to the library and get a drink of cold water at the fountain there.”

I said, “There’s no fountain down there.” 

He says, “Yes there is, Fat People always know where there are cold water fountains.”

I said, “Thanks for the compliment.”

Well, maybe not any more with bottled water.

Where are our fountains, our streams of living water – the one that woman in the Gospel of John asked Jesus about? [Cf. John 4: 15]

A wonderful prayer is to say what that woman said, “Jesus, I want that water – that living water you’re talking about.”

SOMETIMES WE’RE DRY – SOMETIMES WE’RE IN A SPIRITUAL DROUGHT

Any of us – who are religious searchers – know what it is to be spiritually thirsty and spiritually dry.

It’s an image that is part of spirituality literature.  It’s part of marriage as well. We have dried up.  And marriage is also a powerful image often found in spiritual literature.

Another image is The Dark Night of the Soul and Senses and Spirit.

Basically they are the same.

SO WHAT ARE OUR STREAMS OF LIVING WATER

So what are our streams of living water?

It is wise to ponder this and see what are our answers to that question.

Why? 

So we can go to those sources. Any of you who have read The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila – know of her 4 sources of water - so as to water our garden for the Lord - so as to be in union with God.

The first is the bucket. It's more us - the going back and forth to the well, lowering the bucket down into the well, pulling up the rope, and then walking back and forth to the garden from the well.

The second is the windlass. It's a bit easier than lowering and lifting a bucket up and down into a well. I went searching in Google, but I've haven't found a picture of this kind of a "machine" in Spain in the 1500's, so  I find this image the hardest to picture. The wind part of the word and the image is from a rope that winds around a piece of wood. One turns or winds a handle around and around to make it a bit easier to get water in a barrel from a water source.

The third image is the trench or canal one builds to let water flow from a stream into one's garden. Self first and then one sits back and lets the water flow and do its work.

The last image is simple: it rains. God does all the work. Let go, laugh, and let God drench us completely.

Anyone who has seen the famous statue by Bernini of St. Teresa in Ecstasy in Sancta Maria Della Church in Rome knows that image. She’s standing there in an ecstasy – as in a rain fall.

When people are deeply in love – when people are on their honeymoon – it’s like being in rain storm of love. I’m not married, but that’s my romantic image of it.

Any of us who have spent time in prayer – know moments of ecstasy.

So then the question: what are our streams of living water? What are our spiritual sources - that fill our reservoir.

CONCLUSION

The answer for me is time: taking time to read scriptures, taking time for Mass, taking time for a brief morning and night prayer. It’s taking time to go to Jesus the stream, the source, of living water.

Lovers connect. Lovers of God connect.