‘ “Like the deer that yearns for the fountains of water, so my soul is yearning for you, O God." As those deer, then, yearn for fountains of water so it is with our deer: they have come out of Egypt and left the world, they have slain Pharaoh and all his army in the waters of baptism. Now, after slaying the devil, they yearn for the fountains of the Church: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

‘That the Father is a fountain is related in Jeremiah: *They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water:" We read elsewhere of the Son: “They have forsaken the fountain of wisdom." Again, of the Holy Spirit: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, there will rise up in him a fountain of water welling up to eternal life." Straightaway the evangelist explains that the Saviour was speaking of the Holy Spirit.

‘These quotations clearly demonstrate that the three fountains of the Church are the mystery of the Trinity. The soul of the believer, of the baptised person, yearns for these fountains, and he says: "My soul has thirsted for God, the living fountain." See, what they asked for has come to pass: they have come and stood before the face of God; they have appeared before the altar and the sacred mysteries of the Saviour. Admitted to the body of Christ and reborn in the life-giving fountain, they speak with confidence and say: "I will go to the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God." The house of God is the Church, this is the wonderful tabernacle: for in it is the voice of exultation and praise, and the sound of those who keep festival." (St Jerome)

'You who have now put on Christ and follow our guidance are like little fish on the hook: you are being pulled up out of the deep waters of this world by the word of God.’

(St Jerome).

30 September 2021 readings: Nehemiah 8:1–12• Psalm 18(19):8–11 • Luke 10:1–12

Luke 11:47–52 • St Teresa of Avila

Make no mistake and be under no illusion, the Pharisees and Jesus were on a collision course and it was never going to be pretty — the gloves were off, the hostility was out in the open.  Jesus did not hold back but called them to account for the blood of the prophets from Abel, the son of Adam and Eve (Gen. 4), to Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, the chief priest during the reign of Kingjoash of Judah (837–800 BC), who was killed in the temple when he tried to call the nation back to true worship (see 2 Chron. 24:17–22).  Jesus’s fate was sealed, his path to the cross certain, as the religious establishment of the day was rocked to its very core by his exposure of their hypocrisy.

The Pharisees built tombs for the prophets their forefathers had persecuted and martyred; they claimed to speak for God but resisted the words. spoken by the prophets. Injesus we see the culmination of the ministry of every prophet of old. Israel’s prophets spoke about Christ and always pointed to Christ. Now someone greater than the prophets, the Christ, was among them, and so began a profound resistance which would culminate in the plot to kill him.  Jesus condemned the Pharisees because their hearts had become hard and resistant to God’s plan of salvation. They had become closed to the work of God in their midst and in their lives.

True, we might not kill the prophets but we can kill the work of God by being hard and resistant to what the Spirit is doing in our lives and in our Church. The Spirit is at work today in many individuals and movements or streams, such as the Charismatic movement, the Neocathechumenate, Opus Dei, Focolare, the MaltFriscans, Youth 2000 and, last but not least, the sincere young people in our parishes who are ever eager to sing at Mass, play musical instruments and participate in the life of the Church. We must guard our hearts against our own prejudice and preferences – the Spirit blows where the Spirit wills, and we must learn to celebrate his work in our midst and not undermine it or even kill it.

Heavenly Father, by your grace may we resist and overcome ways of thinking which limit the work of the Spirit, and may we rejoice in what you are doing in the Church today.

Ephesians 1:1–10 • Psalm 97(98) • Luke 11:47–54