Fountain of Life

"Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;

They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water."

Today's first reading from Prophet Jeremiah beautifully describe the root of sin and sinfulness. “People have gone after worthlessness, and have become worthless themselves” (Jer 2:5). The Bible never tires of repeating that evil is evil because it hurts us. Sin is self-punishment, self-destruction. It is worthlessness. There is nothing nice about sin. Nobody actually enjoys being in sin. Sin hurts us; it makes us suffer. Sin destroys us. Sin is missing the mark (hamartia). It is ultimately nothingness.

Sin is about forsaking the Lord, who is the source of living waters. It is about digging for ourselves leaky cisterns that hold no water (Jer 2:13). We, human beings, need to worship God. Otherwise, we will put ourselves at the centre, and worship ourselves. When our agendas and endeavours take the upper hand, God is sidelined. When our time is filled with our own worries and anxieties, without any place to God, then we become gods unto ourselves. We will be going after worthless idols created by our own minds. Very often we want a God who reflects and even confirms our culture, our biases, our economic, political, and security systems.

Let God be God. It takes a long time for us to allow God to be who God really is. Our natural egocentricity wants to make God into who we want God to be. Let us allow the Word of God to keep us free for God and to keep God free for us. As the Psalmist sings, we need to acknowledge, "In you, Lord, is the source of life" (Psalm 36:6-11). God is the source of everything. Without Him we would all return to nothingness. "O Lord, how precious is your love. In you is the source of life and in your light we see light." Yes, dear friends, we can see only in God's light. He/She is the fountain of life.

Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pray for us!