If you turn on the faucet at home you get running water. Drinking water is close at hand, ready to use and abundant, even if the water source is a distance away. The faucet is a sign of God’s promise.

But it wasn’t always that way. People could not live far from a water source. Desert areas went uninhabited and uncharted because no one could stay there very long without ample drinking water.

Through Isaiah, God promises a day when water will flow in the desert. As proof of God’s power; Isaiah invites the people to recall the marvels God has done in the past. During the exodus, as the Israelites fled Egypt, they went through the sea dry-shod, but the waters closed in on the pursuing chariots, horses and army of Pharaoh.

God marvelously preserved the Israelites in the past, and God promises to marvelously preserve them again. God is doing something new. It springs forth in the sight of believers.

As Easter draws near, we think about the water God keeps close at hand - not just the water of the faucet but the water of the church’s font. There water flows freely for those who seek Christ. God has prepared a way in the deserts of the human heart for water to flow, to give life and to transform.

This Lent we reflect on the desert of our sin, but also on the signs of God’s presence. “In the desert I make a way,” God says, “in the wasteland, rivers.”

Written by Paul Turner. Liturgy Training Publications
Copyright 2003, Archdiocese of Chicago