By Bishop John Tong
People have reason to be afraid of water, as those who have experienced the water prison realise. What is a water prison ? Imagine a small, dark dungeon with a narrow concrete table or altar in the middle of it.
The room is flooded so that only the table is above the water level. The guards take two stubborn prisoners who need to be taught a lesson and put them on the table every morning. The prisoners sit on the concrete, back to back, with no space to move until bedtime.
After 40 days the men should be either crazy or ready to sign any confession, if they have not already fallen into the water and drowned.
A Catholic Priest was put into a water prison. His companion complained and cursed from the first day, but the Priest decided to meditate and make a private retreat.
Before long the non-Christian prisoner became curious as to how his partner could be so serene under such circumstances. He began to ask him questions.
The Priest took the opportunity to explain the Gospel and the teachings of the church to him and eventually the catechumen asked 'There is water here, what is to prevent me from being baptised?'. And so the Priest baptised him, there & then, just as Philip baptised the Ethiopian eunuch in the Acts of the Apostles.
The Non-Christian had at first been afraid of the water around his small table, but not when the Spirit came.
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