Giussani: Christ, fount of living water
If to clean a course of water full of debris, we decide to isolate the debris, piece by piece, extracting one twig at a time, we will get a stiff neck and a good case of lumbago, and will never manage to get he job done. We should instead allow the river to flow to its mouth. If we aim for the mouth, the debris will gradually be deposited along the banks. The apostles followed Christ for who He was. They were attracted to Him. They did not rid themselves of their faults before following Him. They went after Him just as they were, and as they did so, their debris gradually settled along the banks.
Luigi Giussani
In the field of symbols - water has many uses.
ReplyDeleteTHE PORCH
OR
THE MYSTERY OF THE SECOND VIRTUE By Charles Peguy
"People wonder and say: But how is it
That this fountain hope is eternally flowing,
That it gushes forth eternally,
That it springs up eternally,
That it flows eternally,
Eternally young, eternally pure,
Eternally fresh, eternally flowing,
Eternally living?
Where does this child get so much pure water and so
Much clear water,
So much gushing forth, so much springing up again?
Has she created them, successively?
'No', says God, 'it is only I who create.'
'Then where does she get all this water for this gushing fountain?
How is it that this eternal fountain eternally gushes forth?
That this eternal spring
Eternally wells up?
There must be some secret within,
Some mystery
So that this spring never becomes turgid in the
Heavy and dense rains of autumn,
So that it does not dry up in the burning heat of July.'
'Good people,' God said, 'that is not hard.
Her mystery is easy,
And her secret is not difficult.
If it were with pure water that she wanted to make pure springs,
Springs of pure water,
Never would she have found enough in all my creation.
For there is not much of it.
But it is precisely with bad water that she makes springs of pure water,
And for that she never lacks any.
But it is also for that that she is Hope.
If it were with transparent days that she made transparent days,
If it were with clear water that she made clear water,
If it were with a pure soul that she made a pure soul,
Of course that would be easy. Everyone could do as much,
And there would be no secret about it.
But it is with dirty water,stale water, insipid water,
But it is with an impure soul that she makes a pure soul,
And this is the most beautiful secret that there is
In the whole garden of the world'."