“Sacred  Waters – from the droplets in a baptismal font to the scattering of ashes on a holy river, water blesses our lives. If I were called to construct a  religion, I should make use of water, wrote the English poet Philip Larkin in 1954 — and most religions do. Waters, religious historian Mircea  Eliade explained in the 1950s, are “spring and origin, the reservoir of all the possibilities of existence, they precede every form and support every creation.” So it has been since human history began and, by legend before. The world, Genesis says, was brought to life by a God who created a “firmament in the midst of the waters." Seneca The Younger in 4 BC, said the following: ”We worship the sources of mighty rivers; we erect altars at places where great streams burst suddenly from hidden sources.” No wonder then that the major religions use water in their initiation rite — Christians use of water in Baptism.

The headlines for more than a week now have, hopefully, caught not just our eyes but our total engagement with what is happening as a result of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. '200,000 GALLONS A DAY GUSHING INTO OUR SACRED WATERS' The Palm Beach Post for Thursday stated the following; ”The yawning white beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast — the lifestyle and economic lifeblood of this area — are in peril. So is the ecological womb of the entire western Panhandle, as oil threatens to slip through the mile-wide  Pensacola Pass to coat fragile bayous, sounds and estuaries.”
           
As terrifying as that scenario sounds, I believe that a deeper issue raises  challenges to our Christian conscience, our morality and our very lifestyle. Our technological advances are many and multiple, but if some or even one endangers so much of life period, as the Deepwater Horizon spill, then we as believers, who claim to accept and live the two great commandments — love God and neighbor — need to take a long hard look at our wants — not our needs; and the effect this is having on our brothers and sisters worldwide. Are you aware  that women in Northern Kenya  spend five hours a day ‘carrying water on their backs?
           
We read in the first reading from Acts 15: ”It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities  . . . “Is our lifestyle, our wanting more and more, bigger and bigger, placing a great burden on our sisters and brothers elsewhere? The often quote statistics says so; we are approximately 5% of the world’s population, and we’re using approximately 45% of its goods. Our second reading from Revelations 21 and the following, features the future home of the faithful — the New Jerusalem — the future heavenly home will be emblazoned with the grandeur of God — all the faithful will have full access — unlike the incredible disparities, that seemingly are taken for granted, and sometimes viewed as blessings from above. In our gospel from John 14, we get the very bedrock of Jesus’ message — “whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” "He is ‘coming back’ and will expect an account of our stewardship — of the earth, the self, and his two great commandments. Reflecting in deep prayer and meditation on these scriptures and what is happening around us, invite many questions to “bubble up” for our spiritual growth.

AMEN