Immerse: For All Who Thirst

For all who thirst, immerse. Come to the waters issuing from the altar of Our Lady of Good Counsel parish. A mercy pool awaits you, smack dab in the center of Kansas City.

Every Thursday night from 7-8:30 pm during Lent and Pentecost (Feb. 18-May 20, except April 1st), a Spirited team of Catholics and evangelicals welcome anyone for community, cleansing, and Jesus’ healing Presence. Immerse. For all who thirst.

We will enthrone the Lord of the House though song, rejoice in witnesses of His mercy, and welcome healing waters. Gifted pray-ers will help guide and give voice to the saturation Jesus offers every soul. For all who thirst. Immerse.

Immerse came to me last June while running up an incline toward Westport, an historic part of Kansas City now a hub for partying and alternative communities. I turned a corner and was transfixed by a huge two-towered church rising above Westport. Headlines flashed in my heart--‘A city on a hill cannot be hidden’ (Matt. 5:14)! As I ran by the parish, I recognized it as one I had attended due to its status as official shrine of Divine Mercy for KC. (‘O Blood and Water that gushed forth from the heart of the Savior as a fount of mercy for me…’) Immediately I saw water, as if flowing from the altar, gush out the front doors, down the broad steps, then onto the grit and funk of old Westport. For those who thirst. Immerse.

I recalled the prophet’s description of a river flowing from the temple (Ez. 47), gushing from its foundations, and rising ankle-deep then to the knees and waist until over one’s head, unstoppable in healing; ‘For where the river flows, everything will live’ (v. 9).

Ezekiel foresaw a mere shadow of glory, Christ Crucified, releasing blood for new life, water for cleansing, and His very Spirit for raising the dead. For those who thirst. Immerse. See you there. The waters are rising.