confronting our fears 4th week lent tuesday

Ezekiel speaks of his vision of a river flowing from the temple passing through the desert making everything on its banks grow and bear fruit, sustaining life.  This river, the water that it brings is fresh and it is life-giving. 

Then there is another body of water, the sea.  It is salty.  The sea is seen in the bible as one that is hostile to life on earth, a force that threatens the earth.  In the story of creation when God created the sea God placed a limit upon it so that it will not encroach upon earth and destroy life.  The sea is the symbol of death. 

In the Old Testament people are afraid of the sea.  It was the place of leviathans and monsters.  When the Israelites fled from Pharaoh in Egypt the first obstacle that moved them to despair was the sight of the sea, the Red Sea.  But then Moses broke the sea in two and they all walked on dry ground.

In this vision of Ezekiel the life giving river flowing from the temple shall empty into the sea and make it fresh.  The book of Revelation will affirm this when it says that when the new heavens and the new earth shall appear, the sea will be no more.

Today we are no longer afraid of the sea.  We do not cower in fear when we think of Boracay, do we?  But the symbolism is there.  Lent is a time to confront our fears, lent is a time to take stock of our fears, things that perhaps make us hesitate to cross over, things that . 

Last time I gave a retreat which I entitled, what are your temptations.  Temptations are necessary because they will tell us the kind of person we are.  Your temptations will tell you what you value most, they will show you your priorities, the things we give importance.  Temptations will also reveal our fears and why we are afraid of them; our insecurities.

Today our readings assure us that Jesus is the river, the water of life who will empty into our seas and make them fresh.