Haurietis aquas in gaudio
On a visit to the Holy Land some years ago I was struck by the many ancient cisterns that can be seen. Some are so large they have steps down reaching to the bottom floor. In a desert-like country the importance of the need for water is clearly obvious in the many remnants of these wells. Water is life. Man can live for weeks without food but only days without water. The word ‘water’ occurs throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to the Book of Revelation, almost double the times the word ‘light’ occurs. Both these words are significant in the Gospel of St John.
Jesus sits by a well, Jacob’s well in Samaria, to rest. Like all of us, he too got thirsty. He engages in a conversation with a Samaritan woman. He uses the opportunity, the circumstance of being next to a well, to bring the woman to the knowledge of who He is, the Messiah. Initially, she thinks in human terms with a natural understanding. Jesus raises her understanding to the supernatural level. The Gift of God given by the Messiah is the water from which a person will never thirst. She wants to think in practical terms because having water to quench a natural thirst forever would mean she would not have the burden of coming daily to the well. But once he prophecies on the number of husbands she has had, her soul is pierced. She is ready to hear that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.
Given now the divine nature of this conversation, what therefore exactly is this water that will always satisfy thirst? What thirst is Jesus referring to? We can experience different kinds of hunger and thirst. St Augustine describes the hunger he had for carnal love as a young student in Carthage. “My hunger was internal”, he wrote, “deprived of inward food, that is of you yourself, my God.” But this is not the kind of hunger he felt. He did not hunger for inner food. He was without any desire for “incorruptible nourishment” The emptier he was, the less he desired such food. The first step in his recovery from this hunger, inspired from reading a book of Cicero, was his desire for wisdom through the study of philosophy. But this is not the ‘living water’ Jesus’ speaks about. Nevertheless, Augustine’s search eventually led him to a second conversion, to Christianity. So, we can identify in his journey three distinct desires: one for a carnal love, one for a philosophical wisdom, one for Christ Himself, who is the True Wisdom. It is this third desire that Jesus is igniting within the soul of the Samaritan woman. The Holy Spirit pierced through the inner life of St Augustine. Jesus has pierced the soul of this woman.
Once a person begins to know and understand divine things, he wants to know more. But there is a difference between a thirst for natural knowledge and that for the supernatural. Jesus tells the woman that whoever drinks of the living water He will give will never thirst. This water will become in the soul “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Once a person begins to grow in their natural understanding, they search for more outside of themselves. But the Gift that Jesus gives is more substantial. It is the source itself. It is the Person of the Holy Spirit. It is the presence of the Holy Trinity within. It is the presence of Truth within.
In St John’s Gospel there is a link between Spirit and Truth. He says He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. To have the Holy Spirit within is to have this Truth which is the Way of Life. To have this Truth is to have Life which leads to eternal life. The work of the Holy Spirit within us is to interiorize the word of Jesus, His Truth. To worship God in Spirit and in Truth is to possess the very source itself, the living water within, which satisfies every human desire. The role of the Holy Spirit is to deepen and to make fruitful in our lives this source of living water, the Truth of Jesus.
St Augustine describes the point where his soul was pierced by God as follows: “And see, you were within, and I was in the external world and sought you there … You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.” Today, Our Lord has set on fire the heart of the Samaritan woman who then wants everyone to know she has found the Messiah. Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus salvatoris – with joy you will draw waters from the wells of salvation, prophesied Isaiah. The human soul filled with the Holy Spirit contains this source from which it can ceaselessly draw the water of Life, the grace, the Gift of God. It is the only part of creation in time which has the capax Dei, the capacity for God, made in His image and likeness. This is why we are precious in the eyes of the Lord, so precious that He suffered out of love such an ignominious death on the cross for our salvation. Our pride obscures our spiritual vision of God, our vision of His masterpiece, the human soul, including our own soul. Humility clears our vision. As we have to step down into a cistern to reach the water below, we must step down in humility to reach the water of life. From the depths of her profound humility Mary, the greatest of God’s masterpieces in creation, was able to declare that her soul magnifies the Lord, that her spirit rejoices in God her saviour. She knew how to draw the water of life from the well of salvation in her soul by pondering the mysteries of God unfolding in her life. To worship God in this way is to worship Him in Sprit and in Truth, and especially as we celebrate the Liturgy as we are doing now, irrespective of the place. If we look upon our neighbour with this vision, no matter what state they may be in, we can understand why Our Lord gave us the second commandment, to love our neighbour as ourselves. May we tread softly, lest we tread on masterpieces of God.