The Well is the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures… and the Bucket is Prayer

 What is this water that the Lord is talking about, and in what sense does it satisfy all thirst? I would like to respond with the help of St. Thomas Aquinas, using his Commentary on the Gospel of John. Why St. Thomas? He is the greatest doctor of the Church. Pope John XXII, back in 1322 when Aquinas was canonized, said this about him: “By the use of his works a man could profit more in one year than if he studies the doctrine of others for his whole life.” And maybe today, after hearing a little bit of his explanations, you will agree with the Pope.

The woman said to Jesus, “Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his children and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but the one who drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty.”

1. Aquinas says that the water Jesus is talking about is His doctrine. “[Jesus] shows that his doctrine is the best water because it has the effect of water, that is, it takes away thirst much more than does that natural water.” It is as if Jesus were saying, “You say that Jacob gave you a well; but I will give you better water, because ‘whoever drinks this water,’ that is, natural water, or the water of sensual desire and concupiscence, although it may satisfy his appetite for a while, ‘will be thirsty again,’ because the desire for pleasure is insatiable: ‘When will I wake up and find wine again?’ (Prv 23:35). ‘But whoever drinks the water,’ that is, spiritual water, ‘that I give, will never be thirsty again.’ ‘My servants will drink, and you will be thirsty,’ as said in Isaiah (65:13).”

2. Then, Aquinas addresses a possible objection. “We read in Sirach (24:29): ‘Those who drink me will still thirst’: how is it possible that we will never be thirsty if we drink this water of divine wisdom, since this Wisdom itself says we will still thirst? I answer that both are true: because he who drinks the water that Christ gives still thirsts and does not thirst. But whoever drinks natural water will become thirsty again for two reasons.

a) First, because material and natural water is not eternal, and it does not have an eternal cause, but an impermanent one; therefore its effects must also cease: ‘All these things have passed away like a shadow’ (Wis 5:9). But spiritual water has an eternal cause, that is, the Holy Spirit, who is the unfailing fountain of life. Accordingly, he who drinks of this ‘will never thirst;’ just as someone who had within himself a fountain of living water would never thirst.”

b) “The other reason is that there is a difference between a spiritual and a temporal thing. For although each produces a thirst, they do so in different ways. When a temporal thing is possessed it causes us to be thirsty, not for the thing itself, but for something else; while a spiritual thing when possessed takes away the thirst for other things, and causes us to thirst for it.”

- “The reason for this is that before temporal things are possessed, they are highly regarded and thought satisfying; but after they are possessed, they are found to be neither so great as thought nor sufficient to satisfy our desires, and so our desires are not satisfied but move on to something else.” You probably have experienced the disappointment of sin. When we were tempted, we were convinced that only if we committed that sin we would find the rest we were looking for… and then we had nothing. A similar experience is the disappointment that comes from achieving something that we thought would make us feel happy, and once we obtained it… life was the same, and we didn’t know where to go from there. So, temporal things, once possessed, produce thirst for other things.

- “On the other hand, a spiritual thing is not known unless it is possessed: ‘No one knows but he who receives it’ (Rv 2:17). So, when it is not possessed, it does not produce a desire; but once it is possessed and known, then it brings pleasure and produces desire: not however, the desire to possess something else but, rather, because it is imperfectly known on account of the deficiency of the one receiving it, it produces a desire in us to possess it perfectly. We read of this thirst: ‘My soul thirsted for God, the living fountain’ (Ps 41:2).” When you understand something new in the Scriptures, you say, “Oh, how beautiful, I wish I could understand more, I wish I could see God himself!” The gift of wisdom and the grace of the Holy Spirit produce the same effect: they refresh the soul with delight, they take away the inordinate desire for other things and create a longing for more, for fulfilment, for perfect happiness.

“This thirst is not completely taken away in this world because in this life we cannot understand spiritual things; consequently, one who drinks this water will still thirst for its completion. But he will not ‘be thirsty again,’ as though the water will run out, for we read (Ps 35:9): ‘They will be intoxicated from the richness of your house.’” We will not be thirsty again, not because we will no longer need water, but because we will have the well within us. The well is the Holy Spirit “that has been given to us” (Rom 5:5), and the bucket to draw water is prayer. In this life, then, we will always thirst for more of this water. “Instead, in the life of glory, where the blessed drink perfectly the water of divine grace, they will never be thirsty again: ‘Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for what is right,’ that is, in this world, ‘for they will be satisfied,’ in the life of glory (Mt 5:6).”

The well is the Scriptures, the well is also the Holy Spirit, the bucket is prayer. If you are thirsty, pray. The well is not far, it is deep, deep within you. Are we thirsty? Of course we are, everybody is. Where are we drawing water from? The world’s promises are disappointing; God’s promises are not. Jesus promises that we will never be thirsty again. Let us grab our bucket and go to the well.