From CMMB: Your Weekly Reflection 3/23/14

“Those who drink 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.” John 4:14 March 23, 2014 Third Sunday of Lent Dear Friends, Water is precious.  It is essential to life.  Have you ever really been thirsty for a long time?  Have you seen how children in many parts of Africa must walk for two hours each morning to bring water to their mothers for cooking and cleaning?  We can be saved by water, and we can be destroyed by water. The powerful water and waves from hurricanes and typhoons can destroy thousands of lives.  On the other hand, the waters of Baptism give us new life and begin our path to everlasting life. In the Gospel today we see how Jesus brings new life and hope to the Samaritan woman at the well.  He takes water to a new level – the water which brings with it the Holy Spirit – the spring gushes up to eternal life.  Each year during Lent, a time to prepare candidates for the waters of Baptism, we hear this Gospel. Even as we reflect on the waters of Baptism, we should not take for granted the precious gift of water in our everyday life.  Pope Francis is now writing an encyclical on ecology and surely will indicate how clean water belongs to everone and must be preserved and shared.  Indeed, in a very true sense, all water is holy.  Not only blessed holy water but all water.  We should look upon it with respect and even reverence. O God, You have shown us the more excellent way. Help us to walk in it. Restrain us when we might go astray. Refresh us when we are tired. Encourage us when we are depressed.  Help us when we fall, to rise and to begin again. And so keep us in the way of everlasting life until in Your good time we reach our journey’s end.  We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. Rev. Peter Schineller, S.J., CMMB Board of Directors P.S. Yesterday, we celebrated World Water Day.  I hope that you will consider making a special gift to help CMMB bring safe water and sanitation to impoverished communities in Africa and Latin America.