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THE LIFE-GIVING WATER OF BAPTISM
13 MARCH, 2018, Tuesday, 4th Week of Lent
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Ezekiel 47:1-9,12 ©
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Wherever the water flows, it will bring life and health
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The angel brought me to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream
came out from under the Temple threshold and flowed eastwards, since the Temple
faced east. The water flowed from under the right side of the Temple, south of
the altar. He took me out by the north gate and led me right round outside as
far as the outer east gate where the water flowed out on the right-hand side.
The man went to the east holding his measuring line and measured off a thousand
cubits; he then made me wade across the stream; the water reached my ankles. He
measured off another thousand and made me wade across the stream again; the
water reached my knees. He measured off another thousand and made me wade
across again; the water reached my waist. He measured off another thousand; it
was now a river which I could not cross; the stream had swollen and was now
deep water, a river impossible to cross. He then said, ‘Do you see, son of
man?’ He took me further, then brought me back to the bank of the river. When I
got back, there were many trees on each bank of the river. He said, ‘This water
flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes
its waters wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in
it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it
brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on
either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither
and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this
water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the
leaves medicinal.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 45(46):2-3,5-6,8-9ab ©
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The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob
is our stronghold.
God is for us a refuge and strength,
a helper close at hand, in time of distress,
so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,
though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob
is our stronghold.
The waters of a river give joy to God’s city,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within, it cannot be shaken;
God will help it at the dawning of the day.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob
is our stronghold.
The Lord of hosts is with us:
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come, consider the works of the Lord,
the redoubtable deeds he has done on the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob
is our stronghold.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps50:12,14
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Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
A pure heart create for me, O God,
and give me again the joy of your help.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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John 5:1-3,5-16 ©
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The healing at the pool of Bethesda
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There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now
at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem there is a building, called Bethzatha in Hebrew,
consisting of five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people –
blind, lame, paralysed – waiting for the water to move. One man there had
an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying
there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you
want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me
into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way,
someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your
sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and
walked away.
Now that day
happened to be the sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It
is the sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He replied,
‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They asked,
‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man had no
idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the
place. After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well
again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’ The
man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was
because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute
Jesus.
THE LIFE-GIVING WATER OF BAPTISM
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ EZEKIEL 47:1-9,12; PS 46,2-3,5-6,8-9; JOHN 5:1-16 ]
The season of
Lent is to prepare our Catechumens to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and for
those already baptized to renew their baptismal commitment. This sacrament is the most
fundamental of all the seven sacraments. It is considered the gateway to grace
and to all the other sacraments. It opens a person to a new life of grace
in the Holy Spirit by incorporating him or her into the mystical body of
Christ. That is why we say that the sacrament of baptism confers a
candidate a new life in Christ in the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, so
efficacious is the water of this sacrament that it renews the life of everyone
who is baptized. In the gospel, we see the waters at the Sheep Pool in
Jerusalem where sick people would gather, the blind, lame and paralyzed, hoping
that when the angel of the Lord stirs the pool, whoever entered the pool first
would be healed of his or her infirmity. So, too, the waters of the
Jordan flowing through the Temple of Jerusalem. We read from the book of
Ezekiel that “wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will
live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health,
and life teems wherever the river flows. Along with the river, on either bank,
will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that
never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes
from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves
medicinal.”
This
sacrament is the answer to those who are seeking fullness of life. There are many who are
like the sick people at the pool, waiting for someone to lower them into the
pool before others get in, even though this grace rarely came. In
fact, this man had been waiting for 38 years to be rescued from his
paralysis. The truth is that when one has waited for so long, it is
easy to give up hope. We just learn to live with the situation.
This was what happened to the paralyzed man. “When Jesus saw him lying
there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you
want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man. ‘I have no one to put me
into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way,
someone else gets there before me.’” This is true for many of us
who live sinful lives. We are miserable in our current state of
life. We live a life of hatred, self-centeredness and pleasure. We
are not happy where we are, but because no one has come to offer us a fuller
life, we just remain where we are.
This
Sacrament is given to us so that we can be truly life-giving. We read in the first
reading, “This water flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing
into the sea it makes its waters wholesome.” The waters of Arabah refers
to the Dead Sea, the Salted Sea. Nothing could live in it because the
waters are stagnant, as there is no outlet. All the waters that flowed
from the river Jordan are trapped in the Sea of Arabah. Nothing could
survive there because of its high salt content. But the prophet is saying
that even if we were in this kind of situation, self-centered, hardened and
inward looking, without any life, the water that flows from under the right
side of the Temple, south of the altar and then eastwards, will give life even
to those who are deemed dead. This is only if we allow the water from the
Temple to flow into us.
But is this
promise real? Can the waters of baptism really give us new life? What is the
difference between the waters of baptism and the other waters in the sea or in
the rivers? This was what Naaman asked when he was told to immerse
himself in the waters of the river Jordan to be healed. “’Are not
Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of
Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a
rage.” (2 Kg 5:12) Indeed, what makes the water efficacious in
giving us new life when we are baptized? It is not the waters in
themselves that heal us but the water is the agent that God uses to heal.
Water is a
symbol of the Holy Spirit. This is what the Lord said when He was at the
Temple of Jerusalem. “On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus
was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to
me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has
said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living
water.” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him
were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet
glorified.’” (Jn 7:37-39)
Secondly, the
Spirit flowed from Jesus to the Church at His death. We read that when the
hour had come, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” (Jn 19:28)
This thirst was to give us His Holy Spirit. And so “when Jesus had
received the wine, he said,’ It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave
up his spirit.” (Jn 19:30) To illustrate that Jesus, in giving us the
Spirit, is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel, John’s gospel tells us
that when “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood
and water came out.” (Jn 19:34). This is the fulfillment of the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit from the side of our Lord’s bosom. The Church was born from the
side of Christ through the sacrament of baptism and the Eucharist, both made
possible through the work of the Holy Spirit.
So if the
waters of baptism is effective and efficacious, it is because it is the Lord
who works through the waters. Indeed, this is the case because the man was healed even
without the stirring of the waters. Jesus wanted the man to know that one
must not think that the healing comes from the stirring of the water but from
the Lord Himself. Jesus said, “Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and
walk.” We are told that “the man was cured at once, and he picked up his
mat and walked away.” It is the power of God at work in and through
Christ for those who have faith in Him.
That is why
we must not limit the power of God to heal and to give us life. Water is the normal agent
through which He gives us the Holy Spirit. But He works beyond the
standard means. That is why the Church also speaks of baptism not only by
water but also by blood and desire. This was why the Pharisees could not
receive the grace of God. They were too fixed in their means of how the
Lord should heal. As far as they were concerned, Jesus was breaking the
laws of God. He could not be the messiah. They were totally
oblivious to the fact that the man was healed. His healing was not as
important to them as the observance of the meticulous laws laid down by
them. His suffering for the last 38 years was not given consideration in
their narrowmindedness. Instead of rejoicing with him, they were more
concerned about him breaking the laws. The Jews said to the man who had
been cured, “It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.”
He replied, “But the man who cured me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and
walk.’ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him.
It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to
persecute Jesus.”
More
importantly, the sacrament of baptism is efficacious only if we cooperate with
the graces that we receive from this sacrament. We can be baptized, but if
we see this only as a ritual, it will have no real effect on our lives.
This was why the Lord reminded the man who was healed, “Now you are well again,
be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.”
Having been rescued from the depth of our sins and misery, we must now walk in
the way of truth and love with the grace of God given to us at baptism, the
Holy Spirit in us, the Eucharist, and the community of faith, the body of
Christ in which we have been inserted.
Baptism is
the beginning of discipleship which is an ongoing process. “Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that
I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the
age.” (Mt 28:19f)
As Pope Francis reminds us, we are missionary disciples. If we want to
grow in our faith, we must be disciples who go out on a mission. For it is when
we are on a mission that our faith will be purified and deepened.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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