Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Today I invite us to focus on our responsorial psalm, which comes from Isaiah 12. This hopeful passage affords us an opportunity to declare God’s promises over our lives and over our loved ones and others around us. My youngest son was a joyful child; he exuded sunshine wherever he went. Those rays of joy originated deep within him from the well of his soul. He absolutely made my day each morning when he awoke and came downstairs from his bedroom with his face beaming. His joy was definitely contagious and attractive.
As he headed into his middle school years, he experienced a difficult period, as many pre-teens do, which seemed to rob him of his joy. I was heartbroken, seeing his countenance change from joy to sorrow. This verse from our Isaiah text became my daily prayer for him, You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation. I even wrote that verse on a piece of paper and slipped it under his mattress so that God’s word would be there with him while he slept. I knew that joy, as part of the fruit of the Spirit, and inherent in his baptism, was still there, somewhere deep within him. I claimed God’s promise for him, believing in the truth of God’s word, no matter how we felt or what circumstances might have indicated. Perhaps you find yourself in some sort of drought today; maybe your joy seems to have dried up, maybe you’re having a crisis of confidence, perhaps you’re experiencing fear. Let us pray in hope today, trusting that God’s promises are true for us.
The prophet Isaiah describes the reality of our salvation as a spring, or well, deep within us. Life-giving water becomes an image of salvation. It reminds me of Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman whom he encountered at the well. They engage in playful banter about thirst and then Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” John 4:13-14.
We all know what it feels like to be thirsty. You may have even experienced intense thirst that has a sense of desperation accompanying it. This kind of thirst must be assuaged immediately, as the consequences can be dire or life-threatening. What is the condition of your soul today? If it feels dry and parched, dig deep. Dig deep within you and find the spring, the source of life-giving water within you. Lower a bucket in prayer, remembering your baptism. Pray in gratitude for the gift of salvation, and as you spend some moments there in prayer, notice how joy may begin to arise. Draw water joyfully from the springs of [your] salvation.
Isaiah declares, God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. Let’s take a moment and check in with ourselves. In what areas of my life am I lacking confidence? Where has fear crept in or taken over? Let’s name those concerns honestly and vulnerably before the Lord. Then let us declare God’s truth and God’s promises over our lives.
God indeed is my savior! I am confident and unafraid! I will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation! As we move through this day, perhaps those statements can become a refrain that we sing over ourselves. Life’s circumstances may feel dark, foreboding, anxious, dry, depressing. God’s truth and God’s promises remain constant and unchanging in the midst of our fickle and changeable circumstances. Grace to you, and peace this day, and may the joy of the Lord be your strength.
- Elizabeth Wourms