The angel brought me, Ezekiel, back to the entrance of the temple of the Lord, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the façade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the right side of the temple, south of the altar. (Ez 47:1).
God is good all the time.
Blessings, graces, and divine love equally flow to us from God's throne. They come as gifts to touch our lives and fulfil them. And we cannot possess enough of such gifts to say to ourselves, “I have enough! I don’t need them anymore” or “I can do everything by myself.” Can our lives truly be sustained without the aid of the gifts he offers?
Speaking of God’s river of life that initiates itself from the sanctuary of the Jerusalem Temple, Ezekiel tells us:
Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for the flow from the sanctuary shall water them. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.
These few words express an invitation and a promise. The invitation is for us to come and dwell in the holy presence of God; then, he promises to make our lives find actual growth and fulfillment. This holy temple of God, which all the holy prophets indicated to us as being Jesus Christ, gives us the same opportunity to enter the holy dwelling and meet God’s living water that gives life to us.
The Lord knows that our lives need to be nourished to abundance as fish multiply in a river or blossom with joy, happiness, and peace as trees do on river courses. When Jesus met the man, who been ill for thirty-eight years and said to him,
Rise, take up your mat, and walk. Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
Let us, therefore, make it our holy duty to attend to his orders so that the Lord will let his blessing, grace, and love overflow to us and immerse our lives in healing and fulfillment.
As today is my birthday, I ask you to keep me in your daily prayers for the Lord to bless me with these gifts we are talking about today: love, graces, wisdom in my ministry; for I love the priesthood and the ministry the Lord has given me. Amen.