August 26, 2010

Water

This new friary where I live has had a lot of problems with water. Yesterday I got my first taste of it. In the afternoon I went down to the basement to take my little walk on the treadmill, and there it was. It didn't look like much, but it turned out to be almost twenty gallons by the time I had vacuumed most of it up. Just that little bit of water was trouble; I spent the time trying to pray for the people in the floods in Pakistan.

Water can be very destructive. It's heavy, gets dirty, and it ruins things beyond repair. It's a good reflection for us when we think about baptism. Just as the positive natural powers of water like cleansing and refreshment are present for us in the supernatural grace of baptism, so also the more frightening powers of water: in our baptism we are drowned, we go down into the death of Christ and the old Adam is left dead at the bottom of the Jordan. If his distractions and concupiscence come with us out of the water, that's on us; the original sin is gone, though its injuries remain as we try to recuperate through the life of prayer and the sacraments.

In the course of this journey of recuperation, whether we finish it here on earth or in purgatory, we are freed from the fear of bodily death. After all, we already dead.

5 comments:

Ad Abolendam said...

There is a natural fittingness to water being used in baptism, but also a "fitting incongruity". In reading your post, I was reminded of a line from Dionysius's Celestial Hierarchy: "...incongruities are more suitable for lifting our minds up into the domain of the spiritual than similarities are."

Brother Charles said...

I imagine that you have had much opportunity of late to reflect on the great graces of baptism. :)

Ad Abolendam said...

Yes, Father, our son's re-birthday will be on Saturday.

Brother Charles said...

Amen! I'm making a note so that I remember to be pray for him that day. My baptismal anniversary is Sunday; it's been 18 years.

ben in denver said...

Your post reminds me of Exodus, where the same water that saved the Israelites killed Pharoh's army.