Come and Drink

He is like a tree planted near running water. 

What a glorious promise—especially to the Jewish people who would have prayed this psalm!   Remember, the Holy Land is a more arid region than where most of us live.   The thought of lush vegetation growing along the banks of a babbling stream would have seemed almost exotic to them.   So to say that the one who follows the Lord is like one of those trees is to say something powerful indeed!

While it’s true that most of us live in more temperate climates, our spiritual environments can be far more arid.   The world around us may not be as hospitable to our spiritual life, which means we should drink as deeply as we can when we are in the presence of Jesus’ living waters.   And nowhere do these waters flow more abundantly than at Mass.

What is one of the first things you do when you enter a church?   You bless yourself with holy water.   You recall your baptism, when you were first plunged into the water of life.

Then, during the Penitential Rite, you “confess to almighty God” that you need his forgiveness and mercy.   You acknowledge that you need him to wash you with the waters of forgiveness.

Before the priest begins the Eucharistic Prayer, he adds drops of water to the wine.  Why?   Because it symbolizes Jesus humbling himself to take on our humanity, and it symbolizes our being joined to Christ.   This small action tells us that we can be “mingled,” or mixed, with the Lord so fully that his life becomes our life.

Finally, when you receive the Body and Blood of Christ, you are being joined to believers all across the world who are receiving the exact same thing.   Together with these millions of brothers and sisters, you are drinking from the stream of eternal life.   That stream is flowing in you and through you, and it connects you to the worldwide Church.

You don’t need to dig a new well or find a new stream.   The water is already there for you.   So come and drink! Receive the stream that flows from the altar of the Lord, and let it fill you up.

word among us