In honor of World Water Day – marked inter alia by the Vatican – here is a meditative prayer on water that I wrote in preparation for the baptism of my son. The prayer adapts the text of the Blessing over Baptismal Waters, and does so in two ways: In its recounting of salvation history, this prayer first of all highlights the role of women. Secondly, it seeks to let the waters of birth and the waters of baptism flow together. Below is the text.
And remember, our best teacher on water is: thirst. A blessed World Water Day to all, especially to those who thirst.
Living God,
we call you mother
because you are the source of all life.
You have showered us with grace
through sacramental signs
which tell of the wonders of your unseen power.
In Baptism we embrace your gift of water
which you have made a symbol
of your own overflowing life.
At the very dawn of creation
you birthed the cosmos
and took it in your arms to nurture it.
Ever since then
mothers have known your creative energy
in the breaking of their waters
when giving birth.
Your Spirit breathed gently on the waters of creation
making them wellsprings of life.
You taught the waves
their words of wisdom
and the ocean depths
their silent song of praise.
The torrential waters of the great flood
became a sign of the waters of Baptism
as they brought an end to worlds of violence
and a new beginning of life.
In the rainbow
you gave water
the color of hope.
You showed Hagar a well in the desert
to revive her dying child.
You inspired Hebrew midwives
to save the children of Israel
thus preparing a people
to walk through the waters of the Red Sea.
You moved a Levite woman
to hide her son in a basket
and entrust him to a river.
Miriam sang your praises
as you freed her people from slavery
and drowned Pharaoh’s chariots
in the waters of the sea.
Like a mother
you carried your people
through the desert,
providing water in the wilderness.
No wonder your prophets spoke of your grace
as morning dew
as overflowing torrent
as mother’s milk.
When the time had come,
your Word took human form
in the water of Mary’s womb.
Blessed, indeed, the fruit of this womb:
Jesus.
He was baptized in the waters of the Jordan.
At a well, he spoke truth to an outcast woman
and promised her living waters.
He calmed the storms over the sea of Galilee
and the wind and waves recognized his voice.
Dying on a cross,
water and blood flowed from his side.
In them, you birthed your church.
Living God
you have made water a symbol of your life
ever since the dawn of creation.
Let your Spirit now breathe gently on these waters of Baptism
that they may become for us the waters of life,
the color of hope,
the sound of rain in the desert.
May you birth those to be baptized
into the new creation of water and the Spirit
and take them in your arms to nurture them
from now on until the very end of time
when the river of the water of life
will be all in all.
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