“My God… my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You in a desert and thirsty and thirsty land…” (Psalm 62:1).
Trekking for life incessantly across the vast desert dunes of the inexorable 'Sahara' of this world, under a relentlessly caustic sun... no matter how many supplies we have taken with us, they will inevitably run out. There is no resupply option in the middle of the desert, except in the few intermediate 'oases' from which we can stock up on some basic supplies, which will also soon disappear! So, what we need as travelers of life is not simply the few or many supplies in our travel bag... but an uninterrupted resupply from an inexhaustible Source of abundance... so that we never/much/anywhere run out... even of the 'essentials' of existence!...
The most 'vital necessities' of a journey are Water and Food! Without Food we cannot move forward... but without Water we cannot exist! The 'vital necessity' of these two 'essential' goods of God does not differ realistically... not even when it comes to walking the path of life! In fact, there, much more than in any other journey, the replenishment of the 'reservoir' of the heart with 'nutritional fuel'... and the 'refrigerator' of our soul with 'liquid coolant', is incessantly continuous and unfailingly critical, i.e. absolutely decisive for our existential survival!
"In the midst of the Feast,
They made my soul thirsty,
Water the cows with piety...
that everything, Savior, you have called out
Whoever is thirsty, come to Me and drink!
The Source of life,
Christ God, glory to You.
(From the hymnology of Mid-Pentecost)
INTERPRETATION:
While I'm halfway through the journey
to the great Feast of Pentecost,
and I am dehydrated from the thirst of the journey,
Lord, water my thirsty soul.
with refreshing and refreshing words of piety!
Because, my Savior, You urged this...
saying: whoever thirsts… let him come to Me
to drink and quench one's thirst with the waters of immortality...
Glory to You, my Christ,
where you are the Source of life…!
The feastological 'role' of Mid-Pentecost lies in semantically 'preempting' the coming great Feast of Pentecost, preparatory to us entering the incomprehensible mystery of the 'epidemic' of the Paraclete. Meaningfully, it focuses on a revelatory teaching of Christ about the Holy Spirit and His incarnation... as the supreme earthly goal and pursuit of every Christ-worshipping soul! This revelation was reserved by the Savior Christ in His conversation with the Samaritan prostitute - the later Saint Photini, Great Martyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles! This teaching draws people to the perspective of a thirsty attraction and expectation of the All-Holy Spirit... for whose sake it is worth waiting throughout our entire earthly life...!
The great value of the present world… does not lie in its 'autonomous' experience, as such – what can we manage to live (and especially, carefreely enjoyable) within the few, cut and painful earthly years…?! [ 1 ] The importance of the temporary life… lies in the fact that it stimulates and predisposes our immortal soul - like the small 'appetizing' prelude… before the great and 'satisfying' concerto! - towards a life… beyond life (post-biological), and a world… beyond the visible (super-cosmic), without pains to pain it… without death to terrorize it… without limit to terminate and abolish it! Because, with the indwelling of the Paraclete in our souls, the “Kingdom of God within us…” [ 2 ] flows as “Streams of His tenderness…”! [ 3 ]
Christ's conversation with the Samaritan woman revealed the 'essence' of our Faith, which lies in the acquisition (and indwelling within us) of the All-Holy Spirit! [ 4 ] In this, above all, lies the whole great meaning of our Spiritual life in Christ, and nothing else... less than this, cannot worthily 'represent' or 'compensate' for the exceedingly precious value of the Orthodox Faith! This (the acquisition of the Holy Spirit) is the precious and sweet FRUIT of the Spiritual life... towards which we, the Christ-worshippers, must 'overwhelmingly' focus! All else is LEAVES... which are definitively falling off! Let's 'reduce' them on merit... redefining 'intelligent investment' only our major and essential intellectual 'capitals'!
“Rivers of living water…”! [ 5 ] The soul rejoices… just thinking about it, let alone enjoying it experientially! The joyful mental recollection of “Water transformed into eternal life…” [ 6 ] that floods Christ-worshipping hearts from within… is an intoxicating ‘pre-echo’ of the joy that human existence tastes, when it submits – out of love for Christ – to the self-willed obedience of the divine Commandments. The practical application of Christ’s Commandments is evaluated by the Savior Himself as the preeminent criterion of Love for Him, without any other ‘interpretation’ of condescension: “He who has My Commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me…”! [ 7 ]
When Christ wills to reveal Himself: “And I will manifest Myself…” to every soul that “thirsts for Him even to tears…” [ 8 ], there is nothing equal that can ‘attract’ (competitively tempt…) the man who desires and chooses, non-negotiable, the Divine connection…! The onslaught of the living God on the soul of man… is completely irresistible! The self-willed, total 'surrender' of the soul, without conditions or restraints, to the 'power of Love' of God... is necessarily followed by the flooding of its entire 'water-bearing horizon' with 'rivers of water' of spiritual joy... which flow from within inexhaustibly, when the Paraclete 'tents' within it: "Heavenly King, Paraclete... come and dwell in us!..."!
God, as our Maker, knows our unique idiosyncrasies! And this absolute awareness of our hidden secrets (even our unconfessed desires…) He utilizes exclusively for the benefit of our souls! That is, He creates 'space/time correlations' that lead us before Him, "face to face… Face to face"! Our meeting point with the Personal [ 9 ] God is another 'Jacob's Well'… like the one where Christ had 'set up a trap' for the Samaritan woman! Because, the "springs of water" where we resort to quench our physical or mental thirst, are the ideal 'hunting ground', where our philanthropic 'pursuer' [ 10 ] sets up 'life's shelters', there... "beside the springs of water..." (Ps. 1, 3)!
The 'meeting point' of rational creatures with the transcendent Creator is there... where our darknesses are swallowed by His Light...! There... where the hunger and thirst of our souls are satisfied and quenched, simply by seeing His Glory! [ 11 ] There... where our ontological impoverishment and nakedness is anticipated by His compassions! [ 12 ] There... where our sins are forgiven by His Love! There... where our stench is neutralized by His Fragrance! There... where our lowliness 'contains' but also 'clothes' His Majesty! There... where our passions are healed by His Healings! There... where our anxieties are soothed by His Peace! There... where our anxieties are extinguished by His Serenity! There… where our worldly sorrow disappears from His supramundane Joy! There… where our mortality is swallowed up by His Life!…
An Athonite BADGER…
from the Holy Mountain of the Good Elders.
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REFERENCES-FOOTNOTES
[ 1 ] “The days of our years… are seventy years… eighty years… and their bulk is labor and sorrow…” (Ps. 89:10)
INTERPRETATION: The days of our life in this ephemeral world amount to seventy-eighty years at most... and most of these are spent in toil and pain...
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[ 2 ] “The Kingdom of God is within you…” (Luke 17:21).
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[ 3 ] “And the sons of men… shall be drunken with the drink of thy house… and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy delight…”! (Ps. 35, 8-9)
INTERPRETATION: Humanity will be intoxicated by the sweetness of Your Kingdom, O Lord, and will be watered by the delightful torrent of Your Grace…
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[ 4 ] The gracious Saint of Russian Orthodoxy, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, teaches us about the supreme necessity of acquiring the Holy Spirit! See link: https://www.pemptousia.gr/2023/06/agios-serafim-tou-sarof-to-agio-pnevma-ke-o-skopos-tis-christianikis-zois/
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[ 5 ] “He who believes in Me… out of his belly will flow rivers of living water! But this (Christ) said about the Spirit, which those who believe in Him were to receive!” (John 7:38-39)
INTERPRETATION: Whoever believes in My Divinity… will see rivers of 'living water' flowing from the bowels of his being! This is what Christ hinted at about the Holy Spirit, Whom those who believed in Him were to receive…
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[ 6 ] “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again… Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life…”! (John 4:13-14)
INTERPRETATION: Whoever drinks from this earthly water will soon thirst again... But whoever drinks from the 'immortal Water' that I will give him will never thirst again in all eternity! But the Water that I will offer him will become within him a source-vein of 'artesian waters' that will gush forth eternal life...
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[ 7 ] “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me! And he who loves Me… will be loved by My Father, and I will love him… and will manifest Myself to him…” (John 14:21)
INTERPRETATION: Whoever studies and applies My Commandments, this is the one who truly loves Me! And whoever loves Me will be loved by My Heavenly Father and by Me, and then I will reveal myself to him…
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[ 8 ] “My soul thirsts for the Lord and with tears I seek Him… How can I not seek You?! You first sought me and gave me to taste the sweetness of Your Holy Spirit, and my soul loved You to the end. You see, Lord, my sorrow and my tears… If You had not drawn me with Your love, I would not seek You as I seek You… But Your Holy Spirit has given me the gift of knowing You and my soul rejoices, because You are my God and Lord and I thirst for You to the point of tears…” (Saint Silouan the Athonite)
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[ 9 ] God, that is, as an inexistent Person, with whom we can surround each other interpersonally, and interact with each other lovingly…!
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[ 10 ] “Let your mercy, O Lord, pursue me all the days of my life!” (Ps. 22:6)
INTERPRETATION: Your mercy, my Lord, will lovingly pursue me throughout my life…
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[ 11 ] “I will be satisfied in the sight of Your glory…” (Ps. 16:15)
INTERPRETATION: I will satisfy my insatiable HUNGER for You, Lord, only when I behold the glory of Your Sun-like Face...
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[ 12 ] “Your compassions, O Lord, have quickly made us understand that we have become very poor…” (Ps. 78:8)
INTERPRETATION: May Your Mercy reach us, Lord, for we have fallen into extreme existential ruin…
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