ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET
The Water of Life
30 members of All Saints went to Walsingham for the annual parish pilgrimage
from 28 to 30 April. Here Matthew Duckett considers an unusual depiction
of Mary encountered during the pilgrimage.
On the icon stand, in the little upstairs orthodox chapel at Walsingham,
lay the icon of the chapel's title: “The Mother of God of the Life-Giving
Source”. It is an unusual image; its principal feature is a large
basin on a stand, like a font. In this basin the Blessed Virgin is shown,
seated up to her waist, her hands raised in prayer, and on her lap is
the Christ Child, His hands stretched out to bless those beneath. From
the basin spouts of water flow into a pool below, where figures representative
of humanity – the well and the sick of all kinds - stoop to take
the water of life.
It is a singularly fitting image for Walsingham. When Mary appeared here
in 1061 to request that the lady Richeldis build a replica of the Holy
House of Nazareth, a spring of water appeared at the designated site.
As in so many places of Marian apparition, the gift of water was accompanied
by graces and healing, both spiritual and physical. This original spring
was lost at the destruction of the shrine, but when the Holy House was
rebuilt in 1931 an ancient well, contemporary with the first shrine, was
found beneath the foundations and restored to use. This is now a central
part of the Walsingham pilgrimage and, as in the past, many graces are
received by those who use the waters in faith.
Scripture abounds with the imagery of water, representing the abundance
of life that God gives. The waters of the holy well, rising from mysterious
depths beneath the sanctuary of Mary, recall the promise of Christ: “Anyone
who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the
water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up
to eternal life.” (John 4 15)
At Walsingham the pilgrim is drawn more deeply into the mystery of Christ,
the hidden source of life, the living water that wells up in the depths
of the soul. This, indeed, is the key to Walsingham: Christ is at the
heart of everything that happens there, giving the water of life to all
who thirst. He is there in the profound silence of prayer that fills the
shrine even at the busiest times. He is there in the ordinary daily life
of pilgrims, little groups of the Church-in-miniature getting along with
one another as we share ’bus and bedroom and board. He is there
in the Holy House, the place of the Incarnation where the Divine Word
delights to dwell with His people. He is there to heal the sick and reconcile
the penitent through the ministry of His Church. He is there above all
in the Eucharistic life of the shrine, in Mass and procession and Benediction.
Of course, it is in no way incongruous that Christ stands at the heart
of Mary’s shrine. It was through her that the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us; it is to Him that she leads humanity, now as through
the ages; it is through her intercession that Christ gives the water that
wells up to eternal life. So she and Christ are depicted together in the
icon of the Life-Giving Source; seated with her Son she is the orans,
the praying one, who has stood in the breach of fallen humanity and by
her Yes has opened the way for Him. Their roles are indeed distinct: it
is she who prays, He who gives the blessing, but her will is one with
His as they are intimately united in the one act of grace.
When we return from pilgrimage, refreshed anew with the water of life,
we do not leave all this behind. Rather, we return with a renewed awareness
of Christ present in our daily life of work and prayer, of Mary praying
with us and for us, and of the water that wells up to eternal life, His
gift through her prayers, the Divine life that rises in the depths of
the soul for those who will receive it.