Lent Week 4: Tuesday

Today's readings: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12; Psalm 64; John 5:1-16

In the Church's liturgy, Ezekiel's vision of the temple with the stream of fecund and life-giving water flowing from its right side is taken to be an image of baptism. During Eastertide, when the people are sprinkled with water from the baptismal font, the Church sings: "I saw water flowing from the right side of the temple ... and it brought God's life and his salvation". For the temple is Christ's body (see John 2:21) which was pierced in the side by a lance as he hung on the cross, "and at once there came out blood and water" (John 19:34). Interestingly, St John does not say on which side Christ was pierced but Christian art and tradition, inspired by the vision of Ezekiel, has always indicated the right side. Flowing from Christ's side, blood is taken to be a sign of the Eucharist, and water to be a sign of baptism, and through these sacraments of his Body, the Church, we share in God's life, and receive his salvation. As we pass the mid-Lent mark, the Church's liturgy increasingly indicates these great sacraments of initiation which thousands of people around the world will be receiving this Easter.

Although we often think of Lent as our 'springtime', and we are concerned with the penances, spiritual renewal, and soul-searching that we might undertake, the holy season of Lent is not specifically for us who have already been baptised. At its core, it is for those candidates for the sacraments (catechumens), and we who are already baptised accompany them in these final weeks of their preparation. We accompany them in prayer but above all by example. As the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) puts it: "During Lent, the period of purification and enlightenment, the faithful should take care to ... give the Elect [those to be baptised] the example of their own renewal in the spirit of penance, faith, and charity".

Therefore, the discipline of Lent is lived for others, and hence we are reminded that the whole Christian life also has this communal dimension. What we do does not just affect us, but also our brothers and sisters in Christ - who may be encouraged or scandalized by our actions - as well as non-Christians. As Christians, we have to give ourselves daily, and not just for 40 days, to God's call to conversion and discipleship - taking up our mat, and rising from sin to walk with Christ. No one gets in our way, or prevents us from the life-giving waters apart from our sinful selves. But if we let him, Jesus Christ will raise us up, and lead us to the waters, so that the new life we received in baptism might bear fruit in good works, as we become like a tree whose fruit and leaves are freely given to others that they might have life and healing. Then, transformed by God's grace, we shall be "like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that [we do] shall prosper" (Psalm 1:4).