"Rivers of Renewal"

"Release the River"

         In the second Lord of the Rings movie, "The Two Towers", there is a scene where the Ents, the walking trees, go to war against the enemy forces of Isengard. At one point the tree herder, Treebeard, gives a command to two other Ents telling them, "break the dam; release the river." With that they rip pieces of a dam away, unleashing a mighty torrent of water that comes crashing down upon the enemy's stronghold, Isengard. "Unleashed, empowered" water is quite a force to be reckoned with. It has a strength to move whatever is in its path. In an analogous way, the Holy Spirit gives spiritual power to informed intercessory prayer and moves seemingly impossible obstacles out of the way as effective breakthroughs impact our Church, our nation, our families, parishes...our world!

         Years ago I made a silent retreat with a few other people in a  cabin in the winter time high up on a mountain in upstate New York. There was much snow and frozen water which is usual for the northern, mountainous regions of upstate New York at that time of year. On the last day of the retreat as we were leaving, descending down the mountain road, an oil truck had slid, jackknifed and was stuck in front of us on the road. The weather had warmed up and a thaw had begun. As we waited for a tow truck to arrive, we got out of our cars. On one side of the road in the woods there was a sizable, empty ravine parallel to the road. Suddenly, we heard what sounded like loud, rolling thunder above us on the mountain. In the thaw a huge body of frozen water on the mountain above had broken free. Without warning an absolutely immense "wall of water" came crashing down the side of the road into this ravine, a torrent of such mighty force that it lifted up fully grown fallen trees and tossed them as if they were tooth picks. We were unharmed but certainly unnerved by the intense power of this "unleashed" water....And what impact can the intense power of the living water of the Holy Spirit have in the life of a contemplative intercessor?!

          Jesus, too, wants to "break the dam, and release the river" of the living water of the Holy Spirit within the heart of every intercessor! He wants each of us to live in the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the "dam"--whatever may be blocking me from a more potent experience of the Holy Spirit--can be my own sin, my fear, my doubt or unbelief that is keeping the Sacrament of my Baptism "tied" and preventing its effectiveness. At other times a "dam" can form within me over time by the subtle creeping in of undisciplined attitudes of worldliness and an accompanying lukewarmness in my relationship with God that is left unchecked. God wants the reality of our sacramental Baptism to live within each of us in strength. He wants each of us to be "unleashed" in the power of the Spirit. For many of us this unleashing has come through the "baptism in the Holy Spirit". This is not a sacrament but a personal experience of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit that brings alive the graces of our Baptism in new ways.

         In chapter 7 of John's Gospel Jesus cries out:

"Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink, Whoever believes in me, as Scripture says:

'Rivers of living water will flow from within him'."

He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who come to believe in him were to receive" (John 7:37-38).

Jesus promises rivers of living water to anyone who has faith in him. He  bears these "rivers of renewal" within himself: Within his Heart. For, isn't the Holy Spirit the Spirit of love?! We are told in Jeremiah 2:13 that God is "the source of living waters". Also, in The Book of Revelation John has a vision of the resurrected Jesus. John tells us that "his voice was like the sound of rushing water" (Rev.1:15): It's the sound of these "rivers of living water" of the Holy Spirit within Jesus, these rivers of life, these "rivers of renewal".  Here, in The Book of Revelation we see Jesus alive in full resurrection power. He is the crucified-resurrected, Spirit-filled Word of God. His words are spirit and life. In this scene John hears the Spirit-filled prophetic voice of God through Jesus. In our ministry of informed intercession we need to be always attuned to the Spirit-filled prophetic voice of Jesus leading us how to pray into every prayer intention and situation. 

         There are significant differences between a river on the one hand, and a pond or lake on the other. One difference is that all river water is moving water. It moves, and it moves in a particular direction. We might make an analogy by saying that the Holy Spirit is the "living water" Who moves us from within with a sense of direction, purpose and mission. Also, He never lets us stay in one place interiorly too long. Rather, He is always moving us from glory to glory. Jesus continues his redemptive mission through his Spirit dwelling in us. Let me pause here and ask a question: "Do I find myself at times losing a sense of direction, purpose, or mission as an intercessor? Has the "riverbed" within me dried up?" Perhaps it's time to fill up at the "Pentecost pump" again. Secondly, whereas a pond or lake is land-locked, a river is not. Its waters run freely, and they run towards a destination. The living waters of the Holy Spirit move us from within towards a destination as well. This destination is an encounter, an intimate contact with the Father and with Jesus. Intercessors pray for others as well to come into an experiential knowledge of God:

"Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3).

 Contemplative intercessors need to allow the Holy Spirit the freedom to lead us how to pray, how to move us to pray for other people and situations, and how to pray for the salvation of souls; for, each human being has been created with a heavenly destiny.

          Water is such a foundational and essential element for the life of all creatures and all creation. God has willed this to be so. In the bible we notice this to be true in the creation account found in The Book of Genesis. In chapter two of Genesis we are told that when God created the Garden of Eden He created it with a river: "A river rises in Eden to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches" (Gen. 2:10). The beautiful,  lush Garden of Eden has a river that irrigates it so that what lives in it may have life and thrive. Using this same imagery of garden and water God speaks to each of us through the Prophet Isaiah--but now in a more spiritual way: "You shall be like a watered garden" (Is. 58:11). One might say that God has created each of us with a "garden heart": A garden heart of intense beauty and potential where He can live with us and commune with us.  He so desires our hearts to be "irrigated" with the living waters of the Holy Spirit so we can experience life more abundantly (see John 10:10).

         What is also worth noting about this verse, Gen. 2:10, is that all of the previous references to God's creation in Genesis 2 are spoken of in the past tense ('formed, blew, became, planted, placed, etc.). Then suddenly with the words, "a river rises..." the verb tense shifts into the present tense. This reminds me that spiritual renewal is always available to us in the present "tense"--today, now-- because Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always alive and present to us in the present moment: "I am alive forever and ever" (Rev. 1:18); and, "I am with you always" (Mt. 28:20).

         Contemplative intercessors need periodic spiritual renewal. We need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit time and again; for, this ministry of informed intercession is always the ministry of the Spirit empowered, Spirit-filled, and Spirit-led Lamb of God who continues his mission of taking away the sin of the world now from within our humanity. Intercession is prayer to the Father, in, with and through Jesus, and led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This ministry will really go nowhere without the Holy Spirit. Within our hearts Jesus desires to continue to be able to say as he once said in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me....He has sent me" (Luke 4:18)--Spirit empowered, Spirit driven with a sense of mission and purpose. 

         Reflecting upon the presence of the river in the garden of Eden at the beginning of creation I am reminded as well that when each of us becomes a new creation through the Sacrament of Baptism at the beginning of our life of faith water is also present. At the baptismal font each of us comes forth from the "mystical womb of the Church" through water and the Holy Spirit. At Baptism each of us becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. This is possible because Jesus is the "New Temple" of the Holy Spirit, in whom the perfect encounter with the Father, the perfect prayer, and the perfect sacrifice in the presence of the Father takes place. Jesus is the new Temple where right praise and worship to the Father takes place. His life-giving self-offering is symbolized prophetically in one of the visions of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 47:1-12). This text depicts the flow of water coming out from beneath the threshold of the Temple in Jerusalem giving life and renewal to the world. Through Baptism each of us is now a temple of the Holy Spirit. Yet, we all know that if we are not faithful to God and disciplined in our prayer our own "temples" can dry up without so much as a trickle of living water flowing. Anyone of us can subtly fall away from our first love of the Lord--we can lose that "foundational fire" we once may have had.  This is why we need to return to "the source of living waters" again and again. How true the words of Jesus are when he says, "apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

         Each of us has been created by God with a spiritual thirst for the divine--for God. The Psalm writer says, "As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My being thirsts for God, the living God" (Psalm 42:2). God has made each of us with an inherent yearning to be filled with the Holy Spirit. St. Paul seems to have this innate thirst in mind as he speaks to the Corinthians about the reality of Baptism, "We were all given to drink of one Spirit" (1 Cr. 13:12). Yet, we have to continue to drink of the living waters of the Spirit regularly. Even on the natural level many of us don't drink enough water each day. Have you ever reflected upon one of the basic differences between human hunger and human thirst? When my stomach is empty and hungry it growls. Yet, when I am thirsty my stomach doesn't growl. Rather, thirst has a "silent alarm". By the time I become aware of my thirst I am already dehydrated and moving towards fatigue.  How easily and subtly we can become "spiritually dehydrated" in our faith walk. Sometimes this can happen if we are not disciplined against worldly allurements, or if we become lazy about the discipline of daily prayer and begin to cut corners in times of prayer. We can lose a taste for spiritual intimacy with God. We can lose the desire for the word of God and for healthy, Spirit-filled prayer. Our spirit can begin to be parched and "desert(y)". The living waters of the Spirit and the vitality they give can dry up within us, and before long our Spirit-filled faith will be weakened as well. Suffice to say that in the spiritual life we need to ask the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit often.   

           The Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for those of us who are called to the ministry of contemplative intercession. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not an option for us. We need to be spiritually "re-hydrated, resuscitated, and reanimated interiorly so that we can pray effectively as informed intercessors. We need the "Pentecostal waters" of renewal to be at work within us at all times. If informed intercessors are to be a "living force" of effective prayer for our Church, our nation and our world, then there simply must be times set aside for periodic, Pentecostal refreshment and renewal. It's time to fill up at the "Pentecost pump"!

Scriptures: Psalm 143:6; Luke 11:13; Rev. 7:17

Questions:

1)   Is charismatic praise and worship a part of my daily spiritual "diet"?

2)   Are there times when I seem to lose a sense of purpose and direction, a sense of mission as a contemplative intercessor?