Opening Ourselves to God’s Abundant Gift

Q U I C K S C A N

Signs of what is happening all the time
Getting back to the water

Those of us over 60 may still remember the singing of the “Vidi Aquam” as the priest sprinkled the congregation at the beginning of Sunday Masses during the Easter season. This was back in the days when Latin was still sung at Mass. “Vidi aquam” (“I saw water”) were simply the first words of Ezekiel’s wondrous vision: “I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the Temple” (47:1). The stream of water, as Ezekiel described it, soon swelled into a wide and deep river that nourished all kinds of living creatures: “Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish…. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail” (9-12).

What a picture of abundance and fertility! In John’s Gospel, we find Jesus comparing the Temple to his own body. After cleansing the Temple—an act which infuriated the Jewish leaders—Jesus says: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19). As John soon explains, Jesus “was speaking about the temple of his body” (2:21). Later on, after Jesus is crucified, we see water flowing from this temple also: A soldier thrusts his lance into Jesus’ side “and immediately blood and water flowed out” (19:34).

It’s good to remember all this symbolism, when Easter season comes upon us and the priest, at Sunday Mass, sprinkles us with water—water that reminds us of the baptismal water that brings abundant life to the newly baptized at the Easter Vigil and the abundant life that came to us through our own Baptism. This, of course, takes us back to the abundant water and love that flowed from the side of Christ—and from the overflowing love of God, the Father, who sent his only Son, not to condemn the world but to save it!

Signs of what is happening all the time

As we know, the liturgical rites and sacramental signs of the Church celebrate not only what is happening during those few minutes that the ceremonies are taking place but also what is happening all day and every day. God is offering his abundant life to us all the time. Whether we always open ourselves to God’s gift is another question. Every moment, nevertheless, is a moment in which God loves us profoundly and sends his Spirit of love and grace into us. As St. Paul puts it, “the love of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). This happens to us not only during those special moments when the priest pours water over us at Baptism or when the bishop lays his hands on us during the Sacrament of Confirmation. God is always pouring forth his Spirit of love into those who open themselves to it.

In his book, Apocalypse: A Catholic Perspective on the Book of Revelation, author Stephen Doyle, O.F.M., discusses two ways of looking at time. He writes: “Greek has two words for time: kairos and chronos. The latter is the preferred word of the Greek thinkers who perceived time as just going round and round in an endless repetitive cycle. ‘What goes around comes around’ expresses that attitude. It is time that is dull, boring and predictable. Christians, however, preferred the word kairos. It is time that is filled with opportunity, pregnant with possibility. It is a time of grace. It is sacramental. It has a goal. God’s eternal plan, the mystery hidden from all eternity and centered in Christ is, at every moment, a kairos.”

At this point, Father Stephen offers a passage from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, urging us not to miss those moments of grace and opportunity:  “As we work together with him [Christ], we urge you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on the day of Salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation” (6:1-2).

Getting back to the water

Surely the symbol of abundant water flowing from God’s Temple and from the side of Christ is a dramatic sign of God’s abundant life available to us at all times. Water, as the source of life and healing, is a symbol we see often in the Bible. In the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus identifies himself as the source of living water. He tells the woman, “Everyone who drinks this water (the ordinary water from Jacob’s well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I shall give will never thirst; the water that I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:13-14).

Jesus also sees bread as a strong symbol of the source of life. “I am the bread of life,” Jesus says in John 6:35: “Whoever comes to me will never hunger; whoever believes in me will never thirst.” A little later this begins to take on Eucharistic connotations: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven: whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (6:51).

Again, we do well to remember that even though Christ is always offering himself to us as the gift of abundant life, we must “open ourselves” freely to him. Yes, every moment is a kairos moment, a moment of opportunity and grace. But, to respond fully, we must turn that doorknob from the inside, so to speak, and invite in the one who is the source of our life.

Do we hear that voice calling—that rapping at our door? “Listen, I am standing at the door, knocking,” says the risen Jesus; “if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me” (Rev. 3:20).

Now, indeed, is the acceptable time!  

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