The angel brought me to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream came out from under the Temple threshold and flowed eastwards, since the Temple faced east…‘This water flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’

These words from Isaiah announce the heart of the Easter triduum: the heart of Jesus pierced open on the cross. As the apostle John, an eyewitness to the piercing of Jesus’ heart tells us, out gushed forth blood and water. The heart of Jesus is at the heart of the Christian mystery: the heart of our relationship with God as Christians is not an idea, but a beating human heart – which not only reveals the divine but is divine, pouring out upon us in abundance the infinite treasury of goods, love, care and life and the very persons of the Trinity itself – into those hearts which, like that of Jesus, are opened, to receive it. But who does receive it? Who of us takes time to do so? And how much time do we take? Let’s ask the Lord to help us in our poverty, help us to take time daily to open our hearts to receive the contents of the heart of Jesus into our own.