THE SPIRIT, THE WATER, AND THE BLOOD

A REFLECTION FOR LOW SUNDAY

“There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”  This quotation from today’s Epistle may escape our comprehension if we read it superficially.  But St. John obviously has an important message to convey here, as he compares these three witnesses in earth to the three in heaven who are no less than the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost.  So we shouldn’t gloss over what, in this world, are somehow equivalent to God himself.

These three witnesses are witnesses to what?  St. John tells us that it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. And here is the key, the common denominator if you like, between the witnesses in heaven and the witnesses in earth. The Holy Ghost of heaven is the same Spirit that witnesses in earth.  

And where are we to find this Spirit?  The answer is in the words of our Lord, where he instructs the Church to preach everything he taught (Matt. 28:19–20) and promises the protection of the Holy Spirit to “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). That mandate and that promise guarantee the Church will never fall away from his teachings (Matt. 16:18, 1 Tim. 3:15), even if individual Catholics might.  It’s why we can still put our trust today in all the truths of the Catholic faith, despite many of them having been twisted, denied and corrupted by individual popes, bishops and theologians since Vatican II.

To avail ourselves of these truths, we must then be members of the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.  Which explains the necessity of Water, the waters of Baptism, that wash away our original sin and make us members of the Catholic Church.  It explains too the necessity of Blood, for it is only through the Precious Blood of Christ that we avail ourselves of the graces of his Redemption, and become ourselves living temples, living tabernacles, of the Holy Ghost through his real presence within us in the Holy Eucharist.

Spirit, Water, Blood, these three things.  Together they bear witness to all the truths we believe.  As living members of the Church, we faithful Catholics may be worthy to be a part of that mystical Body that belongs to Christ our Lord, who is Truth.  Let’s not forget this wonderful grace we have been given, and remain, by our godly behavior, in that state of grace, and united to that Body.