¹ From the daily experiences of human life’s miseries, gathered through reasoning and terrified by divine warnings, we have long endeavored to expose the insignificance of our intellect. Though our loquacity may seem superfluous to some, we deem our speech necessary, not so much to instruct others as to awaken our own sluggishness. Furthermore, even if our reasoning only partially satisfies the wise, it will seem necessary and fitting for beginners and those lukewarm in faith. For what is harmful to conceal or to remain silent about should neither be hidden nor left unsaid. Thus, it has seemed better for us to speak, however unpolished our words, than to remain silent, for indeed, it is safer to speak of these matters than to engage in frivolous and idle talk. Therefore, dearest brethren, lend your ears to our words as if you were about to hear something necessary, and refresh the thirst of your souls with the waters of the divine fountain of which we now wish to speak. Drink, but do not be satisfied; refresh yourselves, but do not quench your thirst. For now, the Living Fountain, the Fountain of Life, calls us to Himself and says: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink”.

² Understand what you are to drink. Let Isaiah tell you, let the Fountain Himself tell you: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, says the Lord”. Therefore, the Lord Himself, our God, Jesus Christ, is the Fountain of Life, and He invites us to drink from Him. One drinks of Him who loves; one drinks who is filled with the Word of God, who loves fervently, who desires passionately; one drinks who burns with the love of wisdom. Let us, therefore, drink eagerly what the Jews have forsaken. For it may have been said concerning us, as with the Gentiles: “He stunned the heads of the mighty, they shall tremble, and the jaws of those who open their mouths shall be shattered, like the poor eating in secret”. And as it was written concerning the perfect, let it be said of us as well. Let us open the jaws of our inner man as we would to eat that Bread which came down from heaven, that we may consume it eagerly and hastily, as though eating in secret. Therefore, let us eat the Bread and drink from the Fountain—our Lord Jesus Christ—who declares Himself to be the Living Bread that gives life to the world and likewise shows Himself as the Fountain, saying: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink”.

³ Concerning this Fountain, the Prophet also says: “For with you is the fountain of life”. Consider from where this Fountain flows: from the same place where the Bread descends. For He who is both Bread and Fountain is the only-begotten Son, our God, Christ the Lord, whom we must always hunger for. Even though we eat Him in love, though we devour Him in desire, we must still long for Him as though we were famished. Similarly, as a Fountain, we must always drink Him with excessive love, always drink Him with the fullness of desire, and delight in the sweetness of His gentleness. For the Lord is sweet and pleasant: though we eat and drink Him, we must always hunger and thirst for Him, because our food and drink can never be fully consumed or exhausted. Though He is received, He is not depleted; though He is drunk, He is not diminished, for our Bread is eternal, and our Fountain is perennial. Our Fountain is sweet, as the Prophet says: “Come, every one that thirsts, come to the waters”. For this Fountain is for the thirsty, not for those who are satisfied. Thus, He calls to Himself those who hunger, whom He elsewhere blesses, that they may never be satisfied with drinking, but the more they drink, the more they thirst.

⁴ Rightly, therefore, should we desire and always seek the Fountain of wisdom, the Word of God on high, in whom, as the Apostle says, “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”. If you thirst, drink from the Fountain of Life; if you hunger, eat the Bread of Life. Blessed are those who hunger for this Bread and thirst for this Fountain, for always eating and drinking, they still desire to eat and drink. Sweet indeed is that which is always consumed yet always longed for, always tasted yet always desired. Thus, the royal prophet says: “O taste and see that the Lord is good”. Therefore, brethren, let us follow this calling by which we are invited to the Fountain of Life by Life itself. This Fountain is not only of living water but also of eternal life, of light, and of radiance. For from Him come all things—wisdom, life, eternal light. The Author of life is the Fountain of Life; the Creator of light is the Fountain of radiance. Therefore, let us, disregarding visible things, ascend in mind beyond the heavens to seek the Fountain of light, the Fountain of life, the Fountain of living water, like rational and most discerning fish, that we may drink the water that wells up to eternal life.

⁵ Would that You, O merciful God, kind Lord, deem me worthy to be taken up to that Fountain, so that I too might drink of the living water of the Living Fountain with those who thirst for You. That, enraptured by its ineffable sweetness, I may cleave to it forever and say: “How sweet is the Fountain of Living Water, whose water never fails but wells up to eternal life!”. O Lord, You are this Fountain—ever to be desired, ever to be drawn from. Grant us always, Lord Christ, this water, that it may be in us a well of water springing up to eternal life. Indeed, I ask for great things—who would not know it? But You, O King of glory, know how to grant great things, and You have promised great things: nothing greater than Yourself, and You have given Yourself to us. Therefore, we ask that we may know what we love, for we seek nothing but You. You are our all: our life, our light, our salvation, our food, our drink, our God. Inspire our hearts, I pray, O Jesus, with the breath of Your Spirit, and wound our souls with Your love, so that each of us may truthfully say: “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves”, for I am wounded with love. I desire to bear such wounds, O Lord. Blessed is the soul so wounded with love! Such a soul seeks the Fountain, drinks from it, yet always thirsts by drinking, always draws by desiring, always drinks by thirsting. Thus, such a soul seeks by loving and is healed by being wounded. May our God and Lord Jesus Christ, the gentle and saving physician, deign to wound our souls with this salutary wound, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is unity and glory forever and ever. Amen.