JANUARY 2020
Sacramental symbols possess multivalent meanings. Opposites often reside in our signs, and both are true and teach us about who God is and how God acts in our world. When we consider water in everyday life, we can imagine many adjectives—soothing, peaceful, calming, cleansing, thirst-quenching, life-giving and death-dealing. Tose same adjectives can also be attributed to the God who soothes our wounded and broken hearts, who calms us in the storm, who cleanses our sin-sick souls, who quenches our thirst, and who shares his life with us. “We cannot live without it and we cannot live within it.”6
Te destructive power of water, on the other hand, reminds us of God’s ultimate power and might. Human beings are born in water and they can die in water. No one can control the force of water, and no one can control the powerful actions of God. When there is an absence of water there is life-threatening thirst. Tis is especially pertinent today when so much of our world is parched dry due to the ravages of unpredictable weather patterns. When God hides his face or is absent, there is extreme thirst for God.
Reflection on the symbol of water reminds us of our utter dependence on God and our baptismal responsibility to bring life-giving water to those in our world who thirst not only for water, but also for God. And so, we ask: How could I and how could we overlook and forget so great a sacrament?
Biblical sign: biblical uses of water Te Bible contains a plethora of examples in which God is present in the sign of water. Water is named more than any other resource. Israel was a dry, arid, desert land. Water was scarce. When storms did erupt, flash floods occurred out of nowhere. Te people lived in constant fear of water’s shortage and absence. It was a powerful sign of God’s presence. Without it, they would die; it was a sign of their utter dependence on God. It is no wonder that our biblical texts express water as the revealer of the “God of Mystery who is its source and faithful dispenser.”7
At creation, God hovered over the waters; the generative, birthing power of the Holy Spirit unleashed God’s power and action into the lives of human beings. Te great flood of Genesis
purged the earth of sin. God’s judgment came upon the earth, and water purified the human race. God led the Israelites through the Red Sea, drowning Pharaoh in the process. Te Israelites were afforded safe passage through the sea to the Promised Land and after crossing the hazardous Jordan, were made citizens of a new land.
Scripture understands water as a sign of God’s divine and loving care for those he calls his own. God showers it down in abundance yet holds it back in the face of sin.8 Water in Scripture as in our natural world, is a sign of death and of life. It is a sign of God’s birthing presence—we are born in water and the Holy Spirit, and we are called to assist God in bringing others to birth in that same water.
Water is a primary symbol of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of God is present in the waters of baptism. Scripture considered water a sign of purification (foreshadowing baptismal washing of original sin). Purification baths were celebrated before community rituals. Te reading from Ezekiel at the Easter Vigil recalls the transforming power of the Spirit to transform the hearts of God’s people, transformation that is ritualized in the water bath of baptism.
Water also plays an important role in the New Testament and conveys multiple meanings. Matthew challenged baptized Christians to go out and baptize all nations. He compared this baptism to Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan insisting that we, too, are incorporated into his baptism. Te heavens were opened and God’s Spirit addressed Jesus saying, “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”9 We vicariously share in his beloved-ness, the intimate love between Father, Son and Spirit. What greater implications for our life of servanthood could there be?
John’s Gospel tells us that the new water the Samaritan woman received at Cana was imbued with God’s Truth and God’s Spirit—life-giving water.10 Water heals as in the story of Jesus healing the blind man in the pool of Siloam. Jesus used water as a sign of service, love and forgiveness when he washed the feet of his disciples. Water and blood came forth from Jesus’ side on the cross, understood
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