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Thursday, March 24, 2005
Oledan: Water and Lent
By Radzini Oledan
Slice of life
'Water provides the physical symbol for emotional, psychological, or spiritual hunger and thirst, as in baptism.'
"Let justice flow down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."--Martin Luther King Jr."
SOMETIMES our deepest emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs are experienced in physical ways. For instance, we sometimes talk about hungering for meaning or thirsting for justice.
People thirst for water and crave for deep meaning in their lives. Lent has traditionally been a time for contemplation, conversation, reflection, and prayer, but in times past the focus has turned to breast-beating, preaching about repentance from sins, and removing or restricting things as a reminder of the penitence of the season, in fasting and denial.
Lent has always been about making a difference, but more recently we have been called to make a positive difference in our lives and in our world.
Certainly in this day and age, the search for clean, drinkable water is a crucial issue for many of the world's people. However, it might be so easy for us in Davao to forget this simple fact especially that water is almost always available.
Physical thirst is as much a daily problem for much of the world as it was a practical concern for Jesus, whose own thirst brought him to the Samaritan woman's well.
Thus, working and advocating for clean water could make all the difference in the world for many people.
Water provides the physical symbol for emotional, psychological, or spiritual hunger and thirst, as in baptism. Water is a living symbol of what we sometimes call an "inward and spiritual" decision or action that is expressed in the presence of the witnessing community.
Where do you thirst for the living water - the deep wisdom of God -that will sustain, support, and empower you? Each of us has our passionate concerns and projects. The key is discovering our own center and finding balance. However, the challenge is to remain grateful and humble for the gift.
Perhaps in our Lenten prayers and our Lenten conversations these are issues that can be brought to light.
When we search for and provide clean, life-sustaining water, we help people meet not only their physical needs, but also their emotional, psychological, and spiritual need for the fullness of life - where water is abundant and clean and refreshment for the soul is readily available.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (March 24, 2005 issue)
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