Is your life, your work, your goals in pieces?
Is your focus on the present or in the future?
Step into the living waters
flowing for you today!
Hunger and thirst, you say?
Lord, I am hungry. Lord, I am thirsty.
Come to the living waters and drink now!
"O come to the water , all you who are thirsty;
though you have no money, come!
Buy corn without money and eat,
and, at no cost, wine and milk.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
your wages on what fails to satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and you will have good
things to eat and rich food to enjoy."
[Is. 55:1-2 JB]
The people of God have just come from a time of fasting, penance, and study during Lent -- a bit of "desert living." The Lord now desires to refresh us. He invites us to "come to the waters" and to "drink deeply." It is amazing to reflect on the context in which we find chapter 55. It follows two very significant passages: Isaiah 53, the fourth song of the suffering servant (a type for Jesus' crucifixion and salvation work) and Isaiah 54 which speaks of the infertile and forsaken wife (Israel and a type for the church).
We who have been baptized into the Holy Spirit and have made Jesus Lord of our lives have experienced having our thirst quenched and our hunger satisfied. But, perhaps we personally, have moved into a bit of a desert again and are acutely aware of a hunger and thirst. This is not like the first time for we know the Spirit can satisfy us yet we long for that fire anew and that fresh flowing spring more deeply than before.Yes, we have been mystigized by our experiences of God and will never be the same. We can never find our answers anywhere else but in Jesus. Alleluia, what "Good News!" The Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life is the only life for us. Alleluia, What "Good News!"
Let us anew step into those life giving waters, that Spring that refreshes, that never runs dry! As we rejoice, sing, and celebrate in Jesus who is risen (Eph. 5:18). Let us dwell in the upper room with Mary and the disciples in this time before Pentecost so that we are disposed to go with the flow of the Spirit as He is pouring Himself out today.
Some steps we might take are:
As we prepare for the Feast of Pentecost, let us not miss the present moment. Even more than we thirst for Jesus, He thirsts for us. The time is now to receive the rich gifts we have in this very present moment. For us, Pentecost is every day.
Printed in the April 1994 issue of the "Living Water." Published for the Charismatic Renewal in the Diocese of San Jose, California. Permission to copy is granted, as long as proper credit is given.
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