Water in the Web of Life
We are stewards of the land and the water
There is a natural symbolism to water: Water is seen as the origin of all things and their end: a womb and a tomb. Water can be a place of danger and protection of life, of dissolution and of regeneration. The Christian understanding of water is different from a purely natural religious sensibility about the waters and their mysterious powers of life and death, but it clearly draws on that sensibility and elevates it in the liturgy of Baptism. It certainly takes water seriously!
In the natural world, water signifies both a bonding and a dismemberment between nature and ourselves. There is generous rain, but there is also flood. There is bountiful moisture for the land, but there are periods of drought, too. Nature cares and nature is indifferent. Perhaps the seeming casual indifference of nature is an odd kind of providence: It causes us to care. We are stewards not only of the land, but also of the waters.
In exercising care for the waters that are meant for all, we learn the importance of our solidarity and communion with nature. There is an integrity to Creation that makes separateness or indifference on our part truly a false way of thinking and action. The waters are a community source, not simply an individual concern. The health and cleanliness of our waters makes us realize that others need what we need. They may live upstream or downstream. They may live in an adjacent rural area or in a town or city at some distance, but water is a genuine matter of concern to all.
What we have learned in recent years is that the waters can sustain or destroy us, just as we can sustain or destroy the waters. There is an ecology to the waters; there is a way to live with lakes and stream, ocean and rivers. Human beings can fail or succeed in this, and the consequences can be disastrous for ourselves, for the land, and for the rest of creation that we cherish. Good conservation is a matter of the common good when it comes to the waters. If grow indifferent to the health of streams and water tables, we do so at our own peril.
Perhaps this year we might ask the Lord not just to send rain on parched land, but to send the rain of common care into our hearts. We pray that we will preserve this wondrous rich and communal gift of the Creator to us all: the waters!
(Adapted from The Globe, "We are stewards of the land and the water",
by Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo, Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa.)
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