I am lowly,
I am powerful.
With me, you have life.
Without me, you have death.
Who, and what am I?
That Who is Christ. That what is water.
Water and Christ are joined together in many ways. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river [1]. Then He called His first disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. [2] At the wedding of Cana, He performed His first miracle by turning "six stone water jars" of water into wine. [3] At the Last Supper, "[H]e took a cup, and when [H]e had given thanks, [H]e gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'" [4] This cup held wine from the fruit of the vine that depended on water to give it life. After His ministry ended, when Jesus was on the cross, blood and water flowed from His side after it was pierced by a spear. [5]
Just as water is essential to all life on earth, Christ is essential to eternal life in Heaven. Water that sustains life must be kept pristine just as God must be kept from being secularized. Based on this assertion, one has to wonder if Bergolio had secularized creation when he compared it to a poem and had secularized the papacy when he did not mention God even once when he made his comments, as reported, on "Feb. 24 during a meeting with 90 international experts participating in a 'Dialogue on Water' at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences." [6]
Quoted below in its entirety is a Catholic News Service article dated February 24, 2017, entitled Promote life by protecting, sharing clean water, pope says [7]:
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Access to clean drinking water is a basic human right and a key component in protecting human life, Pope Francis said.
"The right to water is essential for the survival of persons and decisive for the future of humanity," the pope said Feb. 24 during a meeting with 90 international experts participating in a "Dialogue on Water" at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Looking at all the conflicts around the globe, Pope Francis said, "I ask myself if we are not moving toward a great world war over water."
Access to water is a basic and urgent matter, he said. "Basic, because where there is water there is life, making it possible for societies to arise and advance. Urgent, because our common home needs to be protected."
Citing "troubling" statistics from the United Nations, the pope said, "each day -- each day! -- a thousand children die from water-related illnesses and millions of persons consume polluted water."
While the situation is urgent, it is not insurmountable, he said. "Our commitment to giving water its proper place calls for developing a culture of care -- that may sound poetic, but that is fine because creation is a poem."
Scientists, business leaders, religious believers and politicians must work together to educate people on the need to protect water resources and to find more ways to ensure greater access to clean water "so that others can live," he said.
A lack of clean and safe drinking water "is a source of great suffering in our common home," the pope said. "It also cries out for practical solutions capable of surmounting the selfish concerns that prevent everyone from exercising this fundamental right."
"We need to unite our voices in a single cause; then it will no longer be a case of hearing individual or isolated voices, but rather the plea of our brothers and sisters echoed in our own, and the cry of the earth for respect and responsible sharing in a treasure belonging to all," he said.
If each person contributes, he said, "we will be helping to make our common home a more livable and fraternal place, where none are rejected or excluded, but all enjoy the goods needed to live and to grow in dignity."
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26:17-30, quoted without line number and footnote.
[6] http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/promote-life-by-protecting-sharing-clean-water-pope-says.cfm
[7] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
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