Dear Friends,
This Sunday’s first reading from Jeremiah 17 imagines the faithful believer:
Blessed is the one who trusts in God, whose hope is in God.
That one is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green;
in the year of drought it shows no distress but still bears fruit.
And the response from Psalm 1 echoes this image:
That one is like a tree planted near running water,
that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade.
The Hebrew scriptures often draw our attention to refreshing water:
Beside restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit. Psalm 22
I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground. Isaiah 44
And you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Isaiah 58
Cool, clear, refreshing water. Water that cleanses and heals and energizes. Here the weak and thirsty can drink. Here the journeying pilgrims gather for restoration. Somehow people who love God bring water to dry places. Humans and God work in tandem. Moses compared his own God-given words to water:
May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth. Deuteronomy 32
During this time of social and political unrest, we could pray for people in leadership in all sorts of arenas, that God would enable them to speak words that strengthen and unify, words that welcome and inspire. Let us pray for each other, that our words be like a gentle rain refreshing our fellow pilgrims.
In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ
