Spring and Brook

Catherine Nolan

A natural spring can signify the eternal: it is a constant source of water through all the seasons, never drying up or freezing. In fact, springs often maintain a stable temperature throughout the year, feeling cold in summer weather, and warm in winter. They are often too cold to allow mosquitoes to breed, though they will shelter fish. A spring of water also seems complete in itself, fed by no outside source. The realm of the eternal, in the Catholic perspective, is likewise completely independent of all temporal reality. An eternal being is permanent but is also dynamic, always in act, and never diminishing.

In contrast, a running brook is much like time. Fed by another source, water flows quickly through, never pausing or returning. Streams can be traced back to the springs from which they flow. Our lives find a similar source in eternity, to which we will someday return. Time itself, like the water in a stream, is beyond our control. Each moment quickly passes, and we are forced onwards without option. Like streams, lives are not always long, and end often unexpectedly. During our lives, we must take time to consider our relationship with our eternal Creator.