The Stations of the Living Water

OPENING PRAYER

Christ, 
In Your mercy, 
You have emptied Yourself, pouring from your pierced side
The blood which would cover the world for the sake of redemption, 
And the water which would flood and make it clean. 
Let me be united to You in Your suffering. 
For You, I thirst. 
For You, I make myself nothing, 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: Consider God’s mighty act of creation. By His Word, He accomplishes His first parting of the waters. He creates an instrument of salvation, making the invisible visible. 

Christ,
the Incarnate Word, 
You pour out the waters of creation from Your pierced side for the sake of humanity’s purification. 
In contemplating the wound on Your side, may I bear witness to the covenantal love made manifest in Your Passion, the cost of my redemption. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: Through the great flood, God provides His people with a new beginning. But while the face of the earth is cleansed from sin, the hearts of those aboard the ark still harbor evil. These purgative waters foreshadow the ultimate purification, achieved through the perfect sacrifice of the Crucified Christ. 

Christ, Most Merciful Redeemer, 
The blood and water poured out from Your side deliver and restore creation.
Through the waters of baptism, I have been cleansed and called: cleansed from Original Sin, and called to bear witness to the freedom purchased through Your immense and unfathomable act of love. May I, like Noah, leave the world behind in order to love the one who first loved me. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You.

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: God, who revealed His power over the waters at the beginning of creation, now reveals His power through the waters of the Red Sea in a miracle of obedience, trust, and victory. When faced with the assaults of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Moses encourages the Israelites to trust in the Lord’s plans for them. This trust—this faith—foreshadows the trust required by the disciples who would bear witness to the ultimate victory: Christ’s triumph over evil in His Death and Resurrection. 

Trust in the Lord’s Providence forms peace in tribulation, endurance in sufferings, and hope in the unknown. May we, like Moses and the Israelites, trust in the Lord’s Providence, knowing that all things work for our good. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: Camped in the desert, the Israelites demand that Moses provide water to quench their thirst. The Lord then commands Moses to strike a rock, bringing forth water for the people. Even after being tested, the Lord remains faithful. 

And so, even after being tested, the Lord continues to provide for His people today. May we use the experience of the Israelites as evidence that, even in points of desolation, the Lord is with us. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: Naaman, a Syrian general afflicted with leprosy, is directed by a messenger of the prophet Elisha to bathe in the Jordan River to remedy his afflictions. This direction is met with frustration: Naaman believes that Elisha should heal him directly, and that, as a Syrian, he should not have to bathe in Israel’s rivers. When he eventually acts according to the prophet’s instruction, he is made clean in the very same waters where, centuries later, Christ would be baptized and begin his earthly ministry. 

Throughout salvation history, the Lord’s call has been rejected in favor of comfort, pride, and pleasure. May we, like Naaman, come to receive and accept our call, and be made clean by the grace of God. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: We are reminded by the prophet Jeremiah of the sufferings of the Israelites during the Babylonian invasion and exile, following a period of rampant idolatry among the Israelites. Rather than drinking from the fount of living water continuously provided by the Lord, they craft their own broken vessels. 

Independence from God can never satisfy the thirst in our hearts. May we never take for granted the gifts given to us by God, and may we pray for the continued conversion of our hearts and the world.

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: How should we live? To where can we direct our attention? On what should we spend our resources? In a world of individualism, consumerism, and listlessness, how can we be truly satisfied? The prophet Isaiah answers these questions with an invitation to God’s abundance: “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! Listen, that you might have life.” 

Even in times that are difficult for us to understand, we can have faith in God’s promise of abundance. May we transcend the temptations of this world and seek the Lord in all that we do. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: Why might the Samaritan woman have gone to draw water from the well at noon, the hottest part of the day? In the Samaritan culture—where women were little more than property, where historical animosity meant that Samaritans were hated by the Jews, and where her marital status would deem her an outcast—perhaps the heat of midday was the only point at which she could quench her thirst. Christ, however, saw her as she was: created uniquely in the image and likeness of God. When He asked her for a drink, He not only physically thirsted for water from the well, but thirsted for her salvation. 

Guilt and shame often prevent us from seeking the mercy of God, but it is at these points in our lives where God’s grace can heal. May we remember that God is Love, and just as we thirst for Him, He thirsts for us. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: At the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, the Feast of Tabernacles commemorates all the Lord’s provisions to the Israelites during their time in the wilderness. Jesus offers new provisions to His people on the last day of the festival, making a bold proclamation: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink." 

The Lord once again brings about new life in water; this time, in Christ. May we always long for Christ, the Living Water. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: By His Word, God formed the seas at the beginning of creation. By His Word, He transformed the water to wine at Cana. By His Word, He now transfigures the wine to blood, saving and redeeming His creation at the table of sacrifice. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, and a reminder of God’s action in all of creation. 

Christ offers His blood, the blood of the new covenant, for the forgiveness of sins. May we always remain close to Him in the most holy sacrament of the altar, and let the effects of this sacrifice permeate our every action in the world. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: In His last moments before being taken to His crucifixion, Christ kneels in the Garden of Gethsemane, and prays to His Father that there may be another way to accomplish His will, and that this cup of bitter suffering may pass Him by. In His anguish, Christ begins to sweat the blood that will soon be poured out for human redemption. 

Even in the face of death, Christ’s fears and anxieties did not prevent Him from acting according to the Father’s will. May we commit our lives to prayer and, with Jesus in the garden, always submit to the will of God. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

[Time of silent prayer]

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: In order to ensure that Jesus has truly died, a Roman soldier pierces His side. 
Immediately, blood—
the same blood which He sweat in the garden, 
the same blood which He gives us in the Eucharist—
and water—
the water by which the seas are formed, 
the earth is purged for Noah, 
the Israelites are saved from Egypt, 
His people’s thirst is quenched in the wilderness, 
the leper is made clean, 
the same water which the Lord offers to His people to satisfy their deepest longings—
pour out from His pierced side.
May we always remember this sacrifice of Love, by which God, in His infinite goodness and mercy, redeems and cleanses His broken people. 

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: We adore You, O Christ, the Living Water, 

All: for by Your pierced side outpoured, You have redeemed the world. 

Reflection: Those beloved friends of Jesus took his body, battered and worn and prepared it for burial. Could they have laid him, dusty and blood-covered in the new tomb?

How beautiful it must have been to see them tenderly reverence his broken form. They would have washed his injured hands and pierced side. Then lovingly, they anointed him with oil.

Leader: O blood and water, which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

All: I trust in You. 

Leader: You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

All: O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! 

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!