Second Corporal Work of Mercy – GIVE DRINK TO THE THIRSTY
The Catskills are rich in water – so much so that we have two huge reservoirs that collect and carry water to faucets over 100 miles away. Without our mountains and water transfer systems, New York City would be thirsty. Clearly, our area has sacrificed development for the needs of maintaining the NYC watershed. Does this mean we’re off the hook for the second corporal work of mercy? NO!
In his encyclical, Laudato Si (On Care for our Common Home), Pope Francis expresses concern about “water poverty” in poor countries, and in poor communities in any country where governments fail to create access to safe water or regulate chemical and industrial pollution to underground water reserves. As citizens, we have to do our part to keep our water supply clean, and demand that our leaders remain attentive and responsive to water issues – locally and nationally. But that is not enough. Pope Francis points to us in the developed world, where we waste water and take it for granted. How guilty are we of misusing this resource? Here’s a simple checklist. How much water do we use to brush our teeth, clean our dishes, clean ourselves and our clothes, flush our toilets? Do we run our faucets while we shave? What happens to the water as we wait for hot? Can we start to monitor ourselves, use only what is necessary, and come up with creative uses or reuses of water that is currently going down the drain? We need to be good stewards, conserving water here and now, and preserving it for our future families and neighbors. Our Jewish brothers and sisters have a term for this kind of stewardship: Tikkun Olam, (“Repair the World”). As Christians, we can join in the repair work, but must also take a step further.
We are called to fill two types of reservoirs. While physical reservoirs are finite resources (and getting lower), we have the promise of an endless reservoir of “Living Water.” When Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink at her town’s well, He told her about water that would satisfy all thirst. She believed this Jew and stranger, and eagerly asked where she might find such water. Do we believe in this “Living Water” and seek it in our lives? Do we let it fill us? If we are open to receiving the Living Christ within us, we too can be reservoirs of grace to others. During this Year of Mercy, we need to do our part to sustain both reservoirs – repairing the world, and sharing the hope of Christ’s thirst- quenching presence.