Daily Retreat 03/20/07
2007 Mar 20 Tue: Lenten Weekday
Ez 47: 1-9. 12/ Ps 45(46): 2-3. 5-6. 8-9/ Jn 5: 1-16
From today’s readings: “I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east.... There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High.... Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.”
Holy Water
Ezekiel’s vision of water flooding from out of the Temple at first seems confusing - why in the world would so much water flow from the House of God?
For Christians, though, since water immediately makes one think of Baptism, specifying the sanctuary as the source of this life-giving water cinches the matter - Ezekiel’s vision is an allegorical depiction of the saving waters of Baptism!
In fact, the whole season of Lent originated in the preparation of catechumens for Easter Baptism. The forty days Jesus had spent praying and fasting in the desert was the inspiration for the length of Lent, and because the catechumens were so exemplary in their commitment to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, it wasn’t long before the whole Church decided to commit also to this penitential time, and so the Easter liturgy includes not just the Baptism of the elect, but also the renewal of baptismal promises for all the children of God, who then joyfully sing together the opening verses of Ezekiel’s vision!
Ez 47: 1-9. 12/ Ps 45(46): 2-3. 5-6. 8-9/ Jn 5: 1-16
From today’s readings: “I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east.... There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High.... Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.”
Holy Water
Ezekiel’s vision of water flooding from out of the Temple at first seems confusing - why in the world would so much water flow from the House of God?
For Christians, though, since water immediately makes one think of Baptism, specifying the sanctuary as the source of this life-giving water cinches the matter - Ezekiel’s vision is an allegorical depiction of the saving waters of Baptism!
In fact, the whole season of Lent originated in the preparation of catechumens for Easter Baptism. The forty days Jesus had spent praying and fasting in the desert was the inspiration for the length of Lent, and because the catechumens were so exemplary in their commitment to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, it wasn’t long before the whole Church decided to commit also to this penitential time, and so the Easter liturgy includes not just the Baptism of the elect, but also the renewal of baptismal promises for all the children of God, who then joyfully sing together the opening verses of Ezekiel’s vision!
posted by FrPitstick | 3/19/2007
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