Refresh Your Soul

The imagery in this week's gospel is spectacular. The whole reading consists of just three verses, so let's try to listen deeply to these words. On the last day of the feast, the Great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If anyone 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 believe in him were to receive for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus had not been glorified.

"Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water." It's a spectacular image. Rivers of living water. Do you need them to quench your thirst? Do you need them to cleanse your soul? Do you need refreshment from them so you can go on serving God and others powerfully? I'd like to invite you to find a quite place sometime today. Sit there, close your eyes, and imagine streams of living water gushing from the heart of Jesus washing all over you. Allow those rivers of living water to wash away your pain, your heartache, your fears, and your doubts, your resistance, and your resentment. Allow those rivers of living water to fill you with hope and possibilities, with peace, and tranquillity.

If this reflection, this meditation has the impact on you that I think it will, consider repeating the same meditation each day for a week. Living in this world can sometimes feel like we're in the midst of a moral, ethical, and spiritual desert. Allow God to refresh you and fill you with his streams of living water.