IV — THE LIVING WATER

Presence of God. — O Jesus, my soul thirsts for you, fountain of living water; may I draw near to you and drink!

Meditation

1 — More than once Jesus affirmed that he is a fountain of living water for all who believe in him, and he invited souls to draw near to his spring because - as he said to the Samaritan woman - “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (Jn. 4, 13). But the most solemn invitation to be refreshed at his spring Jesus addressed, in the last year of his ministry, to the crowd that filled the temple on the occasion of the feast of Tabernacles. Standing in the midst of the multitude, he cried out in a loud voice: “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me... from within him shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn. 7, 37 and 38). The thirst of which Jesus speaks is thirst for truth, for justice, thirst for peace and true happiness; above all, it is thirst for God, the need, the living and ardent desire for Him. Whoever has tried to quench his thirst at the spring of earthly things has experienced that these are not enough for his thirst; and if they have given him a crumb of truth, of justice, of peace, and of joy, they have left him thirstier than before. Then he has understood that God alone is the source that can satisfy him. But what is the water of which Jesus declares himself the spring and which he promises to all? It is the life-giving water of grace, the only one capable of satisfying our thirst for the infinite because, by making us sharers in the divine nature, it allows us to enter into intimate relations with God; it allows us to live with the Trinity indwelling in our soul; in a word, it opens to us the doors of divine intimacy.

“The grace of the Holy Spirit” - teaches Chrysostom - “when it has entered a soul and has established itself there, gushes forth with more force than any other greatness; it never ceases, never dries up, never is exhausted. The Savior, to signify this inexhaustible gift, this unfailing energy, calls it a spring and torrents; and he calls it bubbling water to denote its force and impetus.” The force of grace is so great that it can launch the soul into God, lead it to intimacy and divine union, first on this earth through faith and love, and then in heaven through the beatific vision.

2 — Mortification frees the soul from every obstacle that could delay the development of grace and, consequently, the soul’s love and impetus toward God; prayer instead, which consists essentially in an intimate intercourse with God, nourishes this love and this impetus. Mortification prepares the suitable ground for the loving encounter with God; prayer brings this encounter about and, placing the soul in actual contact with God, source of living water, refreshes and restores it. In this sense the saints, and particularly contemplative saints, have always seen in the living water promised by Jesus not only sanctifying grace, but also those particular graces of light and love that are a consequence of it and that the soul draws above all during prayer, in moments of intimate commerce with God. It is a light and a love that are not only the fruit of the soul’s activity, but that God himself, through the activation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, infuses into it, so that it acquires an entirely new “sense” of God. It is not a matter of new ideas and new concepts, but rather of an experiential knowledge that derives from love, and particularly from the love that God himself awakens in the soul; it is a profound “sense” of the Divinity by which the soul realizes - not through reasonings or demonstrations, but rather by way of experience - that God is so different from all creatures, so unique, so great, as truly to deserve all the affection of its heart. This new way of knowing God, this new experience of God and of divine things, is truly a living water that refreshes the soul. It is the living water of prayer which, as a result of divine action, has by now become deeper, more intimate, more contemplative; it is the living water of contemplation. Contemplation is a gift of God. He, as St. Teresa of Jesus says, “shares it when and as he wills” (Life 34, 11). Nevertheless, at least in a certain form, He offers it to all; but in fact He will grant it only to those souls that apply themselves generously to mortification and prayer.

Colloquy

“O Truth, light of my soul, do not allow my darkness to speak to me. I yielded myself to it and found myself in darkness. But even from there, yes, even from there I loved you. And I remembered you. I heard your voice behind me, inviting me to return; I heard it with difficulty because of the noise produced by passions. So now, burning and panting, I return to your fountain. Let no obstacle hold me back. May I drink and live!

“As the deer longs for fountains of water, so my soul longs for you, O Lord! My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear in your presence, O God, living fountain? O fountain of life, vein of waters and source of sweetness, from this earth I shall come to the waters of your mercy, overflowing and compassionate, that I may see your power and your glory, and my thirst be refreshed at the springs of your mercy. I thirst, O Lord; I thirst with a living thirst...

“O Fire that always burns and is never extinguished, kindle me! O Light that always shines and never sets, enlighten me! Oh, if only it were granted me always to burn, enlighten me! This is the sacred fire! How ardent and desirable it is! While You shine, to what a degree of joy! Woe to those who do not burn and are not enlightened by you, O Light who enlightens every man! O Light who fills the heart with yourself! I give you thanks, O my Lord and my God! Late have I known you, O eternal Truth; you were within me, and I outside, and I did not know you; I could not be enlightened without you, and there is no light without you!” (St. Augustine).