Mother Church invites us to celebrate Sunday, March 12, 2023, as the third Sunday of Lent – Year A. In the entrance antiphon we pray, “My eyes are always on the Lord, for he rescues my feet from the snare. Turn to me and have mercy on me, for I am alone and poor.”
The beautiful texts the Church has selected for our meditation this day center on water as sustaining and nourishing life. The gift of water in the first reading from Exodus prepares us for the gift of living water in Saint John’s Gospel message. The water from the rock and the living water of the Gospel all symbolize the water of baptism, a prominent theme in our Lenten reflection. As Saint Paul makes clear in the second reading, from his Letter to the Romans, this living water is the Holy Spirit, which pours God’s love into our hearts. Let us pray in the course of this Eucharist for the grace to receive the living water that only Christ Jesus can bring to us all, saints and sinners alike
First Reading: Exodus 17: 3-7.
In those days, the people thirsted for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?’ So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the fault-finding of the children of Israel, and because they put the Lord to the test by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Comment
Exodus, the book that recounts the escape of Israel from captivity and bondage in Egypt, is the second of the first five books of the OT. The first is Genesis, which deals with the origin of the world, mankind and the people of Israel; the third is Leviticus, which gives the lists of the laws of the priests of the tribe of Levi; the fourth is Numbers, which gives the list of those who came out of Egypt and wandered about in the desert; and the fifth is Deuteronomy, which is the second Law laid down by Moses before the entry into the Promised Land. These five books form a unit known collectively as the Pentateuch (from the Greek word for five books), or as the Torah (the Hebrew word for the Law).
The people of Israel are facing the severity of life in the desert, notably hunger and thirst. Soon they begin to doubt whether God is there at all. Their lack of trust in the goodness and power of God is evident in their murmuring against Moses. By doubting God’s presence, the people commit a grave sin because God had earlier fed them with manna from heaven. Through Moses, he had made the bitter water of Marah sweet and drinkable (Ex 15: 23).
Even with these acts of kindness, they still doubt God’s presence among them. God then intervenes and shows his divine protection by asking Moses to strike a rock with his staff, the same staff he used to strike the Nile when they were leaving Egypt. Moses does as he is told and water flows from the rock as proof of God’s constant presence with his people.
God once more shows his special love for his people by looking after their welfare as long as they obey him. By feeding them and giving them water to drink God shows his greatest act of deliverance for his people. This story of water flowing from the rock prepares us for the Gospel in which Christ reveals himself as the living water. In a sense then, this passage also prepares us for the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
What lesson am I taking home from this reading? Like the people of Israel, it is important for me to believe that God actually cares for me. He is not a God who is blind to my needs. He sees my miserable state, as he saw that of his people in Egypt, and comes to my rescue. He deeply cares for what happens to me and remains constant in his love for me. Thank you, Lord.
Second Reading: Letter to the Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8.
Brethren: Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man – though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
Comment
Saint Paul did not found the Church in Rome. It was probably founded by Jewish Christians from Judaea, or by Jews who had been converted to Christianity while on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There were frequent contacts between Rome, which was the most important city in Paul’s world, and Jerusalem. Paul began to plan an apostolic journey to Spain, combining this with an extended stay in Rome, where a considerable number of Christians were already established.
In his letter, Paul stresses the universality of salvation because all have sinned: Jews and Gentiles alike. God has revealed himself not only to the Jews through the Laws of Moses, but also to Gentiles through his creation and natural law.
The passage of our meditation explains how the death and resurrection of our Lord brings God’s love and friendship to man. In these verses, Saint Paul explains what this means in the lives we now live. Once we have faith, we have entered a life in which God’s justice and peace can take full effect. It emphasizes three theological virtues which every Christian should abide by: faith, hope and charity. Faith helps us to know and be sure of the things we hope for (Heb 11:1); hope ensures that we shall attain them, and enlivens our love of God; charity gives us energy to practice the other two theological virtues. The outcome of this growth in love, faith and hope is the everlasting peace, which is the essence of eternal life.
As long as we are on earth, Paul reasons, we may have peace to some degree but we still have our own share of suffering. However, as Christians, we must strive to rise above such suffering and stay faithful through endurance. Suffering is necessary for us because it is the normal way to grow in virtue (Jas 1: 2-4, 1 Pet 1: 5-7). A person who lives by faith, hope and charity realizes that suffering is not something meaningless but rather is designed by God to make us perfect.
Saint Paul talks of God’s love that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. God manifests his love for us by sending the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith. Saint Augustine says that “To love God is entirely a gift of love. He, without being loved, loves us and enabled us to love him. We were loved when we were still displeasing to him, so that we might be given something whereby we might please him. So it is that the Spirit of the Father and the Son, whom we love with the Father and the Son, pours charity into our hearts” (Saint Augustine, In Ioann.Evangeli, 102,5).
The message to take home from this reading is that Christ died for us when we were still sinners, a sign of God’s love for us; a love that never fails. We pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith so we will continue to love God with all our hearts, minds and souls, and our neighbour as ourselves. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God. Lord, you are really the Saviour of the world: give me the living water, so that I may never get thirsty. Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Saviour of the world.
Gospel: John 4: 5-42.
At that time, Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you." Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?" Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."
Comment
To better understand Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan woman, it is perhaps important to briefly review the differences between the Jews and the Samaritans, which plays an important part in this passage. In his beautiful book, Life of Christ, Archbishop Fulton Sheen says, among other things, that “The Samaritans were a hybrid race, formed centuries before, when the Israelites were brought into bondage. The Assyrians sent some of their own people among them to mix with them, thus creating a new race. The first colonists of Samaria brought idolatry with them, but later on, there was an introduction of a spurious Judaism. The Samaritans accepted the five books of Moses and some of the prophecies; but all other historical books were rejected because these recounted the story of the Jews whom they despised. Their worship was performed in a temple on Mount Garizim.” (p. 93).
After the Babylonian captivity, the Samaritans tried to ally themselves with the Jews for political reasons and to contribute to the building of the temple, but the Jews would not let them. From that time onwards the Jews and the Samaritans were always hostile to each other (Ezra 4:1ff).
In the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the woman is quick to refer to these differences between them. He is a Jew and she is a Samaritan, therefore there should not be any contact between them. Moreover, she is a woman and Jewish law does not allow a teacher, like Christ, to talk to a woman in public. That is why the apostles themselves are shocked to see him talking to her, although none of them has the courage to ask him why he was talking to her.
Our Lord, however, does not avoid people. He goes to them and brings them back to the fold. This is what he does with this woman, who comes to draw water from the well at an odd hour of the day when it is very hot. It is clear that she is not a woman like the rest, who must have been avoiding her because of the reputation she has in town as a woman of light virtues, who has had five husbands and is living with a sixth, who is not her husband. Whereas the other women fetch water from the well in the early hours of the morning or in the evening when it is cool, she comes in the afternoon when the sun is hot. That way, she will not cross path with the other women, who consider her a husband-snatcher who should be kept at arm’s length.
In this long dialogue, Christ enables the Samaritan woman to progressively grow in her faith. She comes from acknowledging her sins to accepting the true teaching about worshipping the Father in spirit and truth. She goes from an imperfect view of Christ as a mere wandering, thirsty Jew to prophet and finally Messiah who tells her everything about herself. Jesus speaks of himself as the living water that springs from God alone. It is the only water that can quench man’s thirst. He is the living fountain of all-quenching water. “Whoever drinks this water,” he tells the woman, “will never thirst.”
After her encounter with the Lord, this woman puts her entire trust in him. In her excitement, she leaves her bucket at the well and runs back home to tell the men: “Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (Jn 4:29). She becomes what Archbishop Fulton Sheen calls “one of the first home missionaries in the history of Christianity” (Life of Christ, p. 99).
She came to draw water but when she finds the True Well, she abandons her water jar behind and rushes off to evangelize the others. Our souls, Saint Augustine tells us, are restless until they rest in the Lord. After her encounter with Christ, her soul now finds rest in him and she commits herself fully to God. She finds new meaning in her life and becomes a bearer of Christ’s word of salvation to her city.
Our message of Lent is one of encounter with our Lord in the desert of our souls. We are all thirsty for the living water which only Christ alone can give us. The story of Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan woman tells us that Christ goes out looking for us wherever we are. He meets us at some unexpected places, around the well where we too are searching for water to quench our thirst. He is never tired of looking for us, nor is he worried over what people may think of his search for us. Even his apostles wonder why he is talking to a woman but this does not bother him at all. In his search for lost souls, Christ will go to any length. As he says “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32).
He has come for you and me, who thirst for living water. Christ is the source of that living water. He quenches the thirst of all who go to him. As Saint Paul tells his converts of Philippi, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 2:21). May this also be our conviction. Amen.
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