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Water, water, everywhere.

3RD SUNDAY OF LENT (Fr. Art)

John 4:5-26 (Exodus 17: 3—7)

"Water, water everywhere, and ne'er a drop to trim:." As a boy in school I learned a verse of poetry about water, water that was everywhere, but not a drop to drink. The images of water, the reality of water, the power of water in our lives is so fundamental. We humans, indeed all of the creation of Planet Earth are anchored firmly to the need for water. So fundamental to life is water that deep within our psyche, our very inner being, is the need for images of water. Visit any home, almost any room of a house, and you will find a picture, a painting or photograph that depicts water.

In the Bible water imagery is ’a powerful vehicle of communication. Water in one form or another is used to bring to us the truths of God. There are 13d references to the word water,

10 as a verb, 15 to no water, and 160 references to the word waters, plural. That's a lot of water!

"In the beginning God created   while the wind from God swept over the face of the waters", begins Genesis. Noah's Ark floated on the waters as the rain continued. The Exodus has Moses use the power of God to part the waters of the bed Sea. The people of Israel, nomads in flight from Egypt, are promised by God a land of flowing "with milk and honey", images of living water. They crossed the water of the Jordan to take possession of this promised land. Elijah smote the water. Ecclesiastes says "cast thy bread upon the waters". Isaiah says for God, "I give water in the wilderness". Jonah and the big fish is a story full of water. Talking of filled with water, the Gospels record Jesus' first miracle at Cana of Galilee, the servants filling the water pots to the brim to become wine. Jesus teaches that we need to be born of water and the Spirit. Nicodemus puzzled over this last week. One of the most difficult images is that of Jesus being on the Cross, and blood and water flow out of the gash.  Acts tells us about water used for Baptism. And Revelations speaks this way, "for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water."

”Water, water everywhere and ne'er a drop to drink.“ We take water for granted. We argue over costs of providing water systems. We complain over rationing of water in the summer. We don't want any more of the white kind of water, frozen flakes piling up. Yet we know that only 70% of the water content is up in the watersheds of the high mountains. We worry about the water pouring south down the Columbia and Fraser River Systems.

Over two thirds of the world population and land mass users would gladly change places with us - they know water as a limited commodity, a precious life source, a luxury not to be wasted. Most

people of the world do not take a hot shower every day. Clean, safe water is one of the most urgent demands on the resource. List of OXFAM and related providers of humanitarian aid in the world. We heard of water bearing the disease cholera. A problem for the Nestle's food company is not so much the baby food formula, but the fact that the formula has to be mixed with water, unsafe water for consumption in too many third world countries.

We are quite dependent on water, and water is absolutely essential to our existence. It is no accident that water is a primary symbol of our spirituality and is the very essence of our birth as Christians through the waters of Baptism. The Spirit of God works mysteriously over the face of water, giving us a birth that connects us to the source of all life, God Almighty.

Lent is a season to look deeper into the depths of what is important. The primal needs of our faith have to be revisited during these forty days.

One of the basics is the struggle over the concepts of Sin and Salvation. Modern people have a hard time with the concept that we need saving, let alone that sin has a role to play in our lives. Sin, however, is an element of our life. Sin is separation from God stemming from disobedience. It is the exaggerated self- esteem that enables us to substitute our will for God's will, our purposes for God's purposes, our desires for God's desires. In a word, we become God's rivals, rather than God's children. Sin is our basic disposition to run our lives as we want to. Sin is original, a taint which all people inherit. Turning away from God, we are separated from the root of goodness. For many a person today there is such a void that even to talk of sin is foreign for there is no concept of God as the Almighty. Individuals live day by day following the path they choose, only turning to God if eyer they come to the realization that there has to be something more about life and death. Sin is also corporate. Communities sin, nations sin, states sin. And we see the evidence of such sin every day in far too many ways. As long as humankind believe they run the show, are at the center of the universe, we'll be in sin-that's the nature of sin.

Salvation is that mighty act of God which God wrought for humankind by sending his Son into the world. By this divine graciousness we human beings are delivered from our sinfulness into new life of wonderful fullness The Bible heaps evidence upon evidence

of the saving action of God. Now, human beings are thick headed, but what do we need to do to hear the cry of God to turn back to the ways of God, for us to become fully human, fully actualized, full of salvation?

By his death Christ saved us from the consequences of our sin that he did for us atoned for our sins and brought about our at-one-ment with God.

His death was a ransom paid in order to redeem us.

By his death he put us in a right relationship with God; that is, he justified us.

In Christ God brought about our reconciliation with himself.

In today's Gospel reading we have encountered a profound account of God in action through the images associated with water. The reality of the human condition of sin and the grace of God's salvation are brought into an encounter filled with thoughts and feelings crying out to our very basic needs. A thirsting Christ thirsty for a drink of water, thirsty for a turning about of people. A well, a source of basic life in the middle of a village of humanity -- a communal gathering place, a place where the Samaritan woman had to come alone at high noon. The woman, a wife of many and a woman caught in loneliness and despair. This has the means to share a drink of water. A tired, dusty, thirsty Jesus, alone with this woman perceives more than we care to see in the stranger we meet. Jacob's well, a historical yet timeless place where God's presence is capable of thrusting in upon the human consciousness. The words of Jesus, "Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."

Do we hear the tone, the inner cry of the Samaritan woman coming from out of our own existence? "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

"Water, water everywhere and ne’er a drop to drink."

Flooding in upon our human souls, pouring into our hearts, gushing up into new life and wonder, is the powerful love of God. Come and drink of this water of salvation. Wash away the sin of separation of God. Put yourself at the edge of the stream of life and let yourself be carried in the current of God's love. Turn to God and proclaim your thirst. Drink deep from the water of life that is given by Jesus and you'll never be thirsty again.

These are Lenten words, words to reflect upon. Come and prepare, prepare for renewal of your Baptism on Holy Saturday then come and rejoice with the Resurrected Jesus Christ, and you'll have "water, water everywhere ,  and so much to drink" .