Having Meaning for Someone

Today's Gospel story (Jn 4: 5-42)  is one of my favorite, the woman at the well. Here we see Jesus actively pursuing the spirit of a woman who has been cast aside by society. Jesus breaks all the Jewish rules of his time. He not only talks to her, but he asks her to give him a drink. When she questions him for breaking the societal and religious taboos, Jesus simply replies, if you but knew the gift of God and who is saying to you 'give me a drink' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

How often does the spirit of God come to us in the most unlikely fashion. How often does that spirit ask of us a gift. And we know it not. We see the circumstances in the most mundane manner. We forget the spirit of God that moves even the most common of creatures, and breaks even the most solemn of rules. The spirit will go to any length to touch our souls.

If you but knew the gift of God. I would like to make that my mantra. I would like to remind myself at every turn, somewhere in this circumstance, in this event, there is a gift from God for me. Somehow, in God asking me for a gift, he also offers a special grace in return. For God is not hampered by our societal norms. He breaks all containment, to reach out and offer us living water, water that quenches our thirst. Even as we search for meaning in our lives, we must also remember that we have meaning for someone, for the Divine.

A Power in Life

In the gospel of John we read: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me; whoever believes in me, let him drink. Streams of living water shall flow out from within (7:37-38).

Scripture makes it clear that living spirituality bears fruit, and not for us alone. If we are serious about our life of the spirit, if we attend to the Divine within, if we strive for the union between soul and body, we cannot help but spill out that love and life to others around us.

Such concepts dominated the early monastic life, the belief that the best thing you can do for the world was to change and transform yourself. That all goodness and conversion start in one's own heart. Such concepts gave great regard for a life of prayer, believing it the most powerful and fruitful force for the whole world.

Today, such concepts have fallen by the wayside. Activity has taken over prayer, and we do feel if we aren't doing something tangible, we are doing nothing.  As believers, it's hard to reconcile such belief with our own conviction that grace is lived out in transformation. Doing in not the whole of the spiritual life. It starts with being.

Every one of us can live in the spirit of the  monastics. Every one of us has access to meditation, reflection, Lectio Divina and contemplation. Never underestimate the good you can do by living your life of prayer and meditation. Believe in the power of prayer, the power of transformation, and you will come to realize that  living waters do flow from you into the world around you, enlightening, refreshing and encouraging.