28 March 2017 - Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent - Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12

     Water is essential to life here on earth.  We need water to survive. And yet we see the devastation that water can bring, from the droughts that many places in the world suffer when there is not enough water, to the devastation of floods which we have seen in places like Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta in recent years.  Water is also an important symbol of our Christian faith, with the waters of baptism that bring us initiation into our faith and with the life giving waters that Jesus announces to the woman at the well that we hear in one of our Sunday liturgies during Lent. In Ezekiel’s message today, water becomes an important symbol for the Jewish people who had experienced a terrible exile from their beloved holy city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel, in his vision, describes a life-giving stream that nourishes trees that bear an abundance of fruit and that gives life to many creatures.  In many ways, that waterway is a sanctuary.  When I was living in both Africa and in South America, clean drinking water was something that was not common.  Many people suffered from illness or hardship for the lack of access to clean drinking water.  We turn on the tap and get all the clean water we need here in Mississippi; perhaps it is something we take for granted. When I think of the life giving water of our faith, I think of the many people who have passed down that faith for us.  For centuries, nuns and religious sisters have been instrumental in teaching that faith to the people.  I remember as a small child seeing the movie The Sound of Music.  In the devotional I read each day, Give Us This Day, Maria Von Trapp, the nun whose story is the basis of that movie, is featured as the blessed person of the day.  Even though she left religious life to marry, her story has inspired many.  After the death of her husband, Maria and three of her children became missionaries to Papua New Guinea.  She died on this day in the state of Vermont in 1987.  Thank you for the living water you give us, heavenly Father.  That you for the examples of faith you have given to us so that this life giving water can be passed on.  May we never thirst for that life giving water.