Living Waters

Christ is risen!

Christus resurrexit!

Christos anesti!

Alleluia!

Praise be to our Lord, Jesus Christ for the terrible and wonderous sacrifice he made for love of us. He is truly risen, and we, too, will rise with him one day. Until then, we continue in this world of suffering, living our special call to our vocations as clinicians to care in a special way for those who suffer in body, mind, and spirit. Our hands are Christ’s hands; we can do nothing without the grace of the Divine Healer, and we manifest his love in the care we provide.

At the Easter Vigil, we renew our baptismal promises and are sprinkled with holy water that the priest has just blessed. This Holy Water recalls the power of the Holy Spirit renewing those promises within us. As I mentioned in another post, Jesus elaborately uses the imagery of water to describe the Holy Spirit.

If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39).

Through our wonder of the natural world, we have come to understanding water as a substance, yet a materialistic scientific view fails to see how water’s properties parallel the supernatural truth of the Holy Spirit and Man’s intimate integration with the natural world. Water is fundamental to all Life on earth. It is one of only seven knows substances that become less dense as a solid, ice having an open crystalline structure that floats in water. Its maximum density is 4˚ C, causing the phenomenon of freshwater turnover every spring and fall crucial for aquatic life and water quality. It is a unique polar solvent in which proteins and DNA easily fold and function. It composes 60% of our human bodies; we can subsist deprived of food for significantly longer than when deprived of water.

The physical dependence of Life on the exceptional properties of water points to our spiritual dependence on the living water of the Holy Spirit. All living beings have animating souls. Inanimate objects are non-living; a dead organism no longer has its animating soul, so the body decays. Human beings are exceptional by having been given a rational soul, one which comprehends immaterial concepts, such as mathematics and God. Only Man is capable of moral actions, choosing actions with intent and will with knowledge of the consequences. The human soul is eternal, destined to one day be united with God.

In these times, now that Jesus is glorified, he has given us the Spirit as he promised:

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (John 14:22-27).

Note the sharp distinction Jesus makes between those filled with the Holy Spirit and those of the world. Authentic Catholic health care is necessarily apart from the world, and our view is at times at great odds with it. Our understanding comes through the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ, the Church that infuses her teachings. We deliver care based on the dignity of every human soul regardless of the body’s condition, brain function, age, dependence, or spiritual condition. The soul remains intact sustaining life and is in need of spiritual nourishment, thirsting for the living water without which we cannot thrive and flourish as a person or a society.

Such a comprehensive view of the human person prevents clinicians from performing or cooperating with acts that are physically or spiritually detrimental to patients, even if they ask, or even if a system with a materialistic viewpoint deems them acceptable, even imperative. We, ourselves, are dependent on the Spirit’s sanctification and strengthening gained through prayer and keeping our baptismal promises. Yet we are not alone in striving to keep the word of Jesus. He told us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid,” and, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).

Happy Easter,