Uisce Beatha (Water of Life)

You had to be careful when sinking the bucket into the cold dark water - not too deep to disturb the silty bottom and muddy the well - but deep enough to draw in fresh water free of the midges and mites and bluebottles that floated on the surface.  A gift, like the faith, caught not taught.

Getting the buckets brimful home along the grassy paths, that too took time and care.  There’d be stops and starts, slips and spills and the odd intruder bee or beetle.  Home at last, buckets (half-empty)… and the old people would be cross.

A far cry from the bottled water which today is most everyone’s fashion accessory so readily accessible.  The woman at the well is all for bottled water too “… so that I may never get thirsty and have to come here again to draw water.”  The water that Jesus wants to give, however, is worth working for, worth waiting for.  Let Lent be our wilderness of waiting, our walk to the well where the Lord Himself awaits us with the water of life, a share in his life that restores, refreshes, renews and recreates us in his image.

Fr. Eamon Devlin, C.M.

24th February, 2008