Water plays a role in sustaining our emotional and spiritual lives.
By Fr. Sean McDonagh

We all know water sustains our physical life, but it nourishes our spiritual and emotional lives as well. Just think of George Frideric Handel’s “Water Music” and William Yeats’s poem, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”:

I hear lake water lapping
with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway,
or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Water has a central role in the teaching and liturgies of many religions. In the Christian churches, the symbolic functions of water are highlighted in the words spoken to bless the water used in the Catholic rite of baptism:

“At the very dawn of creation your spirit breathed on the waters, making them the wellspring of all holiness. The waters of the great flood you made a sign of the waters of baptism, that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness.”

Water is also a sign of liberation in the blessing:

“Through the waters of the Red Sea you led Israel out of slavery, to be an image of God’s holy people, set free from sin by baptism.”

One of the most powerful visions in the Hebrew Scriptures is found in Ezekiel 47:1-12. This passage describes the fruitfulness and abundance of water, extolling clean water’s healing and life-giving qualities.

The prophet sees water pouring from beneath the Temple. Initially it reached his ankles, then his knees and waist, welling up into a river that could not be crossed:

“[The river] flowed into the sea and made 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. … There will be fishermen on its banks. Fishing nets will be spread from En-gedi to Eneglaim. The fish will be as varied and as plentiful as the fish of the Great Sea (Mediterranean). The marshes and lagoons, however, will not become wholesome, but will remain salt. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruits that never fail; 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.” (Ezekiel 47:9-12)

Baptism’s Link To Mission
Jesus Christ’s own baptism in the Jordan River is linked to his mission to bring about justice and peace for all. “In the waters of the Jordan your Son was baptized by John and anointed by the Spirit,” according to the baptismal prayer.

Benedictine monk Killian McDonnell described the cosmic dimension of Jesus’ baptism in his book “The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan.” He recalls the picture of St. Gregory Nazianzus who has Jesus, “carrying the cosmos with him as he ascends out of the water of the Jordan.” He argues that “the cosmic dimensions of the baptism of Jesus are part of antiquity’s broader conviction, rooted in incarnation and resurrection, that the material universe, as the home of a redeemed humanity, is destines for transfiguration through the power of the Spirit manifested in the risen body of Christ.”

Based on our belief in baptism, McDonnell argues that, “the ecological movement should have as its goal not only the preservation and restoration of the natural environment because we live and die here. Creation should be worthy of its vocation to praise. “Praise him, sun and moon. Praise the Lord, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds.” (Psalm 148)

The cosmos lives in hope. The universe is destined for God and for transformation.

‘Teach All Nations’
Water was important in Jesus’ teaching mission. The incident with the Samaritan woman at the well in St. John’s gospel afforded Jesus the opportunity to present his life-giving message for all people.

“Whoever drinks this water will thirst again; but anyone who drinks the water I shall give will never be thirsty again. The water I shall give will turn into a spring inside that person, welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

Baptizing with water was to be a sign of entry into Jesus’ community. After Jesus’ resurrection, He told his disciples, “Go out and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

In a world where water is being polluted and abused, one could argue that the symbolic connection between living water and the power of the Holy Spirit to incorporate those who are baptized into the Body of Christ is becoming significantly compromised.

Water is important even at the end of time. The vision of Ezekiel is recalled with the belief that when reconciliation and restoration take place in Christ in the New Jerusalem, living, clear and clean water will be abundant and sweet.

“Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and flowing crystal-clear down the middle of the city street.” (Revelations 22:1)

Columban Father Sean McDonagh of Ireland has authored books on ecology and its relationship with Christianity. His new book about water, titled “Dying for Water,” is scheduled to be published this fall.