The Spring of Water Inside

The Spring of Water Inside

“Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again; but anyone who drinks of the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again:  the water I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.”  (John 4: 14)

What is this water that Jesus promises to give?  We know that water is very essential for life.  No life can exist without water.  Water quenches agonizing thirst and supports life.  Jesus Christ is speaking obviously of spiritual water.  But what is it?  What is it in spiritual life that is analogous to water?  What is it that without which spiritual life will be dead and impossible?  What is it that we should thirst for so much as we thirst for water?  What is it that refreshes and satisfies as water?  Jesus promises that the water he gives will quench thirst permanently.  The source of this water is inside, supplying as and when need.

This water is the Holy Spirit which Christ promised.  The promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost.  The first disciples of Jesus drank of this water and they remained refreshed and spiritually vital all their life.

“By this power of the Spirit, God’s children can bear much fruit.  He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear ‘the fruit of the Spirit:  …. Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.’  ‘We live by the Spirit’; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we ‘walk by the Spirit.”  (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 736)