The Life-Giving River of Prayer and Sacrifice

Today, Pentecost Sunday, in the Gospel, we heard that the Lord called out in a loud voice: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me, as the Scripture says, will have rivers of living water flow from within him.” This passage is always a conundrum for readers of Holy Scripture, because the Lord Jesus seems to cite a specific passage, but this passage cannot be found anywhere in the whole Bible.  No, instead of citing a specific passage, He interprets a passage according to the custom of the rabbis.  Here, the Lord interprets the forty-seventh chapter of the Book of the Holy Prophet Ezekiel—a fascinating story about a vision of the prophet, in which the prophet sees a river that flows from the façade of the Lord’s Temple.  This river grew greater and greater, and fruit-bearing trees grew up along its banks.  In the end, the river flowed into the Dead Sea, and the sea became fresh.  In the Gospel of St. John, the Lord Jesus says again and again that His body is the True Temple of the Lord, which the Jews would destroy, but that He would raise again on the third day.  From the body of the Lord, a life-giving river will flow, which will give salvation and everlasting life to all, who believe in Him.  St. John says about the death of the Lord: “one of the soldiers pierced His side, and immediately there flowed out blood and water.  He who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true.  He knows that he speaks the truth, so that you might believe.” This “river,” which flowed from the side of the Saviour is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which creates the mysteries of Christ, and engenders life-giving power in them.  For example, when the Lord, the Holy Spirit descends on the bread and wine during the Divine Liturgy, they become the body and blood of our Lord.

                What the Lord says to us in today’s Gospel is wonderful above all wonders, since we are not surprised when we see that the Body of Christ is a fountain of grace for all people through the life-giving river flowing from His side, but we are amazed concerning the revelation of our own very great dignity.  Here the Lord says that the same river, which flows from His side to engender the Holy Mysteries, will flow within us.  In other words, He is the Temple of the Lord, but in Him each of us becomes the Lord’s Temple, sanctified by the presence of the only God.  Just like Him, we become a fountain of grace for others.

                What sort of river is it that flows from us—the Lord’s Temple? What sort of river is it that gives life to the whole world? This is a river of that, which flows from a temple.  This is a river of prayer and sacrifice.  Prayer and sacrifice sanctify the world, because through them we take part in the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.  We are the true Temple of the Lord when, full of prayer and sacrifice, a river of grace flows from us do our parched environment.

                We offer to God all our prayers, joys and sufferings. This is our daily sacrifice, which is pleasing to God, just like the sacrifices offered in the Temple of the Lord under the Old Law and even the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist.  Often during our normal day, we do not clearly discern our sufferings and joys, and thus we do not think to ourselves: “I should offer this to God the Father.” We should correct this problem by offering everything, each aspect of our experience.  In this way, we attain nearly continuous prayer, since we remain in conversation with Him during all of our tasks.  This method gives us greater concentration and attention to our goal and eternal destiny.