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MAY 16
MIDFEAST OF PENTECOST
“In the middle of the Feast, O Savior, / Fill my thirsting soul with the waters
of godliness, as You did cry to all: / If anyone thirst let him come to Me
and drink! / O Christ God, Fountain of our life, glory to You!” (Byzantine
Troparion-hymn of the Midfeast of Pentecost)
How appropriate that on the “Midfeast” of Pentecost (i.e., the midpoint
between the feasts of Pascha and Pentecost, according to the Older
Calendar), the main hymn or “troparion” talks about spiritual thirst.
When Lent is long over, the Paschal celebration has faded, and summer is
upon us, I tend to drift, perhaps unnoticeably, into spiritual indifference.
So, as my heart and mind begins to head for a sandy beach, the Church
reminds me of a waterless desert, where I may find myself right now,
barely noticing it.
The main theme of the Sundays preceding Pentecost is “water,” along
with spiritual “thirst.” There is the kind of water that is not our ultimate
answer, like the pool of Bethesda in John 5 (read in church on the Sunday
of the Paralytic), and like Jacob’s well in John 4 (read on the next Sunday,
of the Samaritan Woman). It is only in communion with Christ, in His
Holy Spirit, that my inner “thirst,” the hole in my heart, is filled.
So this season, whether we’re headed for a sandy beach, or a swimming
pool, or perhaps a pub (shout-out to any readers in Australia ), let me
take pause and take care, first, of “my thirsting soul.” Today I come to Him
and drink, as He invites me to do, on a daily basis. “O Christ God, Fountain
of our life, glory to You!”
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