Last night we were back at Our Lady of Lourdes in Hednesford to give an evening of catechesis to 5 couples on the parish Marriage Preparation Course.

This was our third catechetical evening at the parish since we moved to the Midlands almost a year ago. We would like to thank Fr. Philip Newbold and his hard-working catechists, our good friends Michael and Janine, for their loving friendship and support. 

As attacks on the dignity of the human person, chastity and the family increase, it is always a blessing to be invited to bear witness to the liberating message of Jesus Christ.

We preceded our catechesis with a period of initial proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ under the theme of Thirsting.

We all long for love. Indeed this longing is so deep that our whole being thirsts for it. We also thirst for goodness, beauty, truth and everlasting life. Yet we can only glimpse reflections of the things we most yearn for. Ultimately, even our spouses cannot fulfil these deepest yearnings. What are we to do? Too often we try to quench the thirst with things which only increase it. A bit like drinking stagnant water instead of spring water!

We then reflected on three texts from the Gospel of John:-
1. The Woman at the Well (John 4:16-19, 28-29).
2. The Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2:1-11).
3. The Crucifixion (John 19:28-35).

The first text links the themes of marriage and thirsting. It shows that the woman cannot slake her deep inner thirst for love, truth and life. Jesus Christ Reveals Himself to her as the living water by His miraculous reading of her soul and His teaching; through His words and deeds. This changes her life!

The Wedding Feast of Cana also links the themes of marriage and thirsting.

Here we see that Jesus Christ is concerned to get deeply involved in our marriages; in the smallest and the greatest details. And, wonderful to note, so is His Mother. And of course; she is also our Mother.

But she is not content for us just to have our own still water; she wishes for us to receive the rich wine Who is Her Son!

Through these words and deeds the disciples of Jesus Christ believed in Him as God.This revelation demonstrates that Jesus is the source
of the living water that we all thirst for.

But it gets better...

Our third text illustrates that it is not just that we have found the source of all our longings. It is the awesome truth that He also longs... thirsts... for us!
 
On the cross He cries ''I Thirst!'' He thirsts for our souls in order to inebriate us with His love and mercy. He makes a total gift of Himself on the Cross, holding back absolutely nothing, in order to demonstrate His love for us.

We spoke of the choice this poses to us. If He is God and is offering us living water this means that without Him our water will be stale. Jeremiah 2:13 says that God's people had committed two evils; they had forsaken God who is the fountain of living waters, and had hewn out for themselves broken cisterns which could hold no water. 

Here we discussed the Original Sin and its remedy which Christ pours forth for us with the waters of Baptism.

Angeline then shared her testimony and we explained that, to have our thirst quenched by Christ, and in turn to quench His, all we have to do is ask Him. We proposed that each do that as an individual and as a couple in their private time.

We then considered Rublev's icon of the Blessed Trinity. This enabled us to speak of the life-giving Communion of love expressed in Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Marriage. In this context we were able to share the liberating truth of the Church regarding human sexuality. We spoke of the new start marriage offers and how this  requires chastity before and during marriage. We explained that sex outside marriage is a sin and that sins are forgiven in Confession and suggested practical ways to avoid sin. We gave theological and scientific reasons why the Church cannot accept sinful practices like contraception and IVF - setting the whole in the context of new life in Jesus Christ.

We then introduced the idea of Natural Family Planning which will be developed further in the parish later on.

After this we moved to the Church itself for a time of silent prayer. Alan then gave his testimony. He explained that he had not always been a Catholic. Many years ago He entered a Catholic Church and spoke to Jesus in the Tabernacle.

'Lord, I have been taught that you are not there. But... if you are please show me.'

Over the years Jesus had done just that and Alan explained that, because of the Miracle of the Mass, Jesus is Really Present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in all the tabernacles of all the Catholic Churches of the world. He reigns there as the source of Living Water for our souls.

Prior to receiving a final blessing from Fr. Philip, we concluded with a proclamation from Sacred Scripture; Ezekiel 47: 1-12. This speaks of the Living Water flowing out from the sanctuary of the Temple to overcome salt water with fresh water and bring abundant new life.
 
Beautiful painting of the Water of Life from the internet
 by Danny Hahlbohm. 
We bet that, after reading this, you're feeling quite thirsty too! Well, before you head off to the kitchen, stop and ask Jesus Christ to quench the deepest thirstings of your heart. And remember; this water is not for us to keep for ourselves. As Living Water it has to wash over and through us and then on to others. That's where we all play our little part!

Please keep all these couples in your prayers as they prepare to receive the Sacrament of Marriage this summer.