Out of Our Heart Flows Rivers of Living Waters

The readings for Mass today (yesterday, at this time of night) were wonderful. The first reading was Jeremiah 2: 1-3, 7-8 and 10-11; here it is, and notice the marital analogy, the fruit language, and the mention of water:

“This word of the LORD came to me: 
Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! 

I remember the devotion of your youth, 
how you loved me as a bride, 
Following me in the desert,
 in a land unsown. 
Sacred to the LORD was Israel, 
the first fruits of his harvest;
 Should any presume to partake of them, 
evil would befall them, says the LORD. 

When I brought you into the garden land 
to eat its goodly fruits, 
You entered and defiled my land,
 you made my heritage loathsome. 
The priests asked not, 
“Where is the LORD?”
 Those who dealt with the law knew me not:
 the shepherds rebelled against me.
 The prophets prophesied by Baal,
 and went after useless idols.

 Be amazed at this, O heavens,
 and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD. 
Two evils have my people done:
 they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; 
They have dug themselves cisterns,
 broken cisterns, that hold no water.”

At first, Jerusalem loved God as a bride loves her husband, and Israel was the first fruits of God’s harvest. God’s people went after other gods; they abandoned the true God who is the “source of living waters.” Our hearts should be turned toward the source of life and living waters and not be consumed with what is not God. Here, the heart, as the source of love, and water are connected.

The Responsorial Psalm was 36: 6-11, and again notice the emphasis on water and its connection with the heart:
R. (10a) With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.
 O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven;
 your faithfulness, to the clouds.
 Your justice is like the mountains of God;
 your judgments, like the mighty deep.
 R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.
 How precious is your mercy, O God!
 The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
 They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house; 
from your delightful stream you give them to drink. 
R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord. 
For with you is the fountain of life, 
and in your light we see light.
 Keep up your mercy toward your friends,
 your just defense of the upright of heart.
 R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.



God is the fountain of life who is abounding in mercy and justice. The water language is overflowing: flowing, mighty deep, delightful stream, drink, and fountain of life. The upright of heart are they who receive this overflowing mercy from God. Here the heart motif and the water motif are joined together.

The Gospel is from Matthew 13: 10-17, and the main word in this passage is heart. Everything else is built around the word “heart” which stands in the middle and makes sense of the whole. Here is the passage:



The disciples approached Jesus and said, 
“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”
 He said to them in reply, 
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven 
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
 To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; 
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
 This is why I speak to them in parables, because 
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. 
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

 You shall indeed hear but not understand, 
you shall indeed look but never see. 
Gross is the heart of this people, 
they will hardly hear with their ears,
 they have closed their eyes, 
lest they see with their eyes
 and hear with their ears 
and understand with their hearts and be converted 
and I heal them.

 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
 and your ears, because they hear. 
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
 longed to see what you see but did not see it, 
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” 


Why does Jesus speak in parables? Is it so everyone can understand more easily what He is saying? Jesus says that He speaks in so that some people will not understand Him. Why don’t they understand Him? It is because their heart is “gross.” Their heart is not sensitive as it should be; it ignores and doesn’t care about what is most important. They look and hear, but nothing is registering as significant or worthy of attention. They don’t care. They don’t want to see or hear. God is boring. The things of God don’t matter. They are there more out of curiosity or some ulterior motive but not because they really care. So the little they had is taken away: they understand nothing of Jesus’ message.

To see and understand and have Jesus heal us, our heart has to turn to Him and open up and want to see and understand what He is saying. If our heart loves, trusts and obeys Him, then we will able to perceive and understand the Gospel. Those who have faith, who have love, who do obey have what it takes. They have a responsive heart, and those with such a receptive heart will be given more faith, hope and love to better love, trust and obey. The good heart will become a very rich heart. Jesus is not speaking about material riches; rather, He is speaking about having abundant faith, hope and love. Those who turn away from God, who don’t need Him, who close their hearts to Him, are not able to receive the good gifts He desires to give us. The more we open up to Him, the more He is able to fill us with every good gift.

Tying the three readings together, when we are God’s bride and open ourselves to Him completely, He is able to fill us and make us rich in faith, hope and love. When our heart turns toward Him, we drink deeply from the fountain of life and goodness, we drink deeply of Him, and so we become fully alive. When our heart is in the right place, it is connected to God who is the “source of living waters.” When we are connected to the source, out of our heart flows rivers of living waters.


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