THE CHURCH
WITH THE RUNNING WATER
Once upon a time, down south, deep down south, a church building committee met to start
planning for a new church building. For Sunday morning Mass, they were using a
local restaurant for 9 years.
In the meanwhile they saved up a good bit of money for
their future church.
Three big senior citizen villages took root in the area -
with a good bit of Catholics in the mix. In the meanwhile that Sunday morning
restaurant Mass was a bit crowded - even with a second Mass. It used to be just
10 AM. With this new schedule, 8 and 11:30 A.M., there was time for breakfast right
there after each Mass. It was a win-win for the parish as well as for the
restaurant.
Still a church of their own was the hope and the dream
and the plan.
That night, the church building committee met in one of
the homes of a parishioner. Their meeting began with a home mass. Surprise,
surprise, it was on the 4th Tuesday of Lent and the first reading
talked about Ezekiel’s vision of the
temple and lots of water [Cf. Ezekiel 49: 1-9, 12] . The gospel - from the 5th
chapter of John - talked about the healing water at the healing pool at Bethesda.
This man who was a crippled for 38 years was healed by Jesus. [Cf. John 5:1-16]
“Why not build a church with running water inside?” was
one of the first suggestions - with a laugh - as the meeting began.
“Yes,” said someone else. “I’ve always loved fountains in
Malls - with benches off to the side. I’ve always wondered, “Why not for our
church?”
Everyone became energized - saying, “Why not? Why not?”
The realists in the group - they weren’t all dreamers -
said, “I don’t know. I think running water and ongoing splash would become a distraction during Mass.”
“Besides that,” said someone, “we have a lot of senior
citizens in these 3 new developments in our area. Hearing that water during
Mass, the ongoing flowing, even with hearing problems, obviously they would be
saying, ‘Where’s the bathroom?’”
The pastor was a listener. He let people dream. Why not let folks put their minds and hearts
into this project? They are paying for it. It’s their money. It’s their church.
They will be here a long time after I’m gone.”
One dreamer said, “Let’s have a square church - with
parking lots on all 4 sides - North, East, South and West - and 4 gates leading
up to 4 entrances - with beautiful
streams of water from the church building. We have this beautiful river
right there on the side of the church - so we won’t need extra water - and we
would be cleaning and clearing it up.”
Then this dreamer added, “As we heard in the today’s
first reading from Ezekiel, we can also have beautiful fruit trees along the
paths leading to and from the church - as Ezekiel has for the temple. And at
the right season, parishioners can pick up fresh fruit. Neat.”
Next, looking at the gospel the pastor said, “I’ve always
wanted to be in a church with total
immersion - for baptism. This is our chance. We can have a beautiful baptism
pool in the middle or the church - with flowing water.”
Someone added, “Why not let the children and the
handicapped have access to some nice small pools just outside of church. Most
of the year we have warm weather.”
And that’s what they did. They built a beautiful church -
inside and out - with lots and lots of running clear water - fountains and
pools.
In time people came from all over to see and to pray at this church. In time they built a replica of
the baths of Lourdes, France, and they had healing services all through the
year. Being down there, in the deep, deep south, they had lots of people who
had arthritis and were in wheel chairs - and many said they felt much better
after a Holy Bath. And at every healing service at the Lourdes Baths they would
read the 5th chapter of John - as well as do a renewal of Baptism
vows.
And yes they built big bathrooms - near all 4th
entrances to the church and no, there didn’t seem to have a more than normal
rush for the rest rooms.
