There has been a persistent "water" theme in this week's Mass readings. First was the Gospel reading on Sunday about the healing of the man born blind, which Jim P. posted about previously, in which the man's healing was completed by bathing his eyes in the Pool of Siloam, at Jesus' direction.
We have been watching the live streamed daily Mass, which is celebrated locally in one of the parishes in our town. I was pleased this morning to note that the OT reading was from Ezekiel 47, a lovely imagery of healing water, which is one of my favorite Scripture readings. I though that the above picture captured the sense of that reading. Unfortunately I was not able to find the artist's name in order to attribute it. The entrance hymn, fittingly, was "Come to the Water".
From the Ezekiel reading:
"...The angel brought me, Ezekiel,
back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,
and I saw water flowing out...from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple was toward the east;
the water flowed down from the right side of the temple...
"....Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit.
Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides....
....for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”
In yet again more water imagery, the Responsorial was from Psalm 46:
"...There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn."
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn."
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
And in case we didn't get that today's theme was about healing water, the Gospel reading was from John 5:1-16, about Jesus healing the paralyzed man beside the Pool of Bethesda:
"There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked."
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked."
For some reason, these readings of the "healing waters" of God speak to me of hope in this time of coronavirus angst.
Katherine, thank you, what a beautiful post! And all of these readings are so appropriate for the Lenten theme of initiation; not all is penitential during this season.
ReplyDeleteNow that evening has come on March 24, we've begun the celebration of the Solemnity of the Annunciation. In some ways it can be a little disconcerting: Advent imagery popping up in the midst of Lent. But the baptismal waters also symbolize the flow of water in childbirth. There is unity across the different seasons of the year and across the experiences of our lives.
The bishops of Nebraska have asked the people to join them in praying the rosary tomorrow evening at 6:00 in honor of the Annunciation. I assume it is for the intention of praying for Mary's intercession for help against the C-virus.
DeleteYou are right about the water theme being about initiation, too. I am wondering if our teenage catechumen will be able to be baptized on Holy Saturday. He was the only one we had this year. But he seemed so enthusiastic; I hope he doesn't have to put it off. I imagine maybe they can do it privately with just his dad and sponsors present.
That's a refreshing comment. I love "Come to the Water," played it as part of my morning meditation today. I focused more on Ezekial because we just had the blind man at Siloam Sunday, and I didn't expect to get much more out of Bethesda today. Ezekial is also displaying the power of God, but in different style.
ReplyDeleteI was fascinated by these healing pools of Siloam and Bethesda. Maybe they were sort of like Lourdes is to Catholics. I tried to find pictures of them, but they are only extant as archaeological sites now. It appears that Siloam at least was quite large.
DeleteIn 1987 I visited Israel for the first time. The tour leader, who had studied in Jerusalem as a seminarian, took us through Hezekiah's tunnel down to the Pool of Siloam. I can see that it appeared huge to people who live in Jerusalem at the time. Water in the Holy Land is a scarce commodity and having this pool so close to the walls was a godsend.
DeleteWe also visited Bethesda, but I honestly don't remember much about it.
Apparently there was the original pool of Siloam, and then a later one restored in Byzantine times. Part of that one still has water.
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