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Dear St. Christopher’s Family,
Nothing is ‘Just’ a Symbol. We have a habit of talking about symbols as things that are just short of ‘Real,’ whatever that means. Surely, in the story of our faith there are symbols, but in many ways they are the special ingredient in the narrative of the story that actually makes that story more real than a just-the-facts narrative. Symbols point to a reality, but in such a way that they are part of that reality in itself.
There’s a lot going on in this Sunday’s gospel. Certainly it is long, and there are a number of threads that all get woven together to show us who Jesus is. But this week I’m attracted to thinking about a particular symbol: the Well. In classical literature, any time you see a well, it’s a sign that somehow you’re about to have an encounter with the Divine. Moses met the daughters of Jethro the Midianite at a well just before encountering the Burning Bush. In Homer’s Hymn to Eleusinian Demeter, the daughters of King Keleos meet the Goddess at the well. And while it’s not exactly a well, it is the ‘Lady of the Lake,’ in the mystical waters at Glastonbury who presents King Arthur with Excalibur. Even in modern children’s literature, a vast field full of tiny ponds is the gateway to the different worlds in the Narnia universe (see The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis).
Now why is this more than just a curious set of literary coincidences? Because when we recognize symbols, something in our brains tells us to expect something special. And for each of us, there are things in our lives, when we take time to notice them, that sometimes put our minds in a place where we can acknowledge God’s presence: a candle, particular music, or an icon of some kind. Learning to recognize how these things dispose us to see God becomes a joyful chore. In those times we come so close to God, and God comes so close to us, that we know what God wants us to do.
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