Cycle A - Year I:  

12 March 2023: Third Sunday of Lent 

(Liturgical Color: Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        Exodus 173-7

Second Reading:   Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

Gospel:  Please Read  John 4:5-42 

The woman at the well...

Water quenches our thirst, cleans our bodies and nourishes life on earth. Without water no living creatures will survive. Scientists would look for the presence of water in other planets to know if they are habitable for humans. That's how important water is to living creatures.

This Sunday's Gospel is from St. John the evangelist. We will hear about water and how our Lord Jesus Christ uses the image of water in the preaching of God's kingdom.

The story is about a Samaritan woman whom Jesus encountered at Jacob's well.  She comes to draw water in the middle of the noon-day heat so as to avoid others from her town for fear of their judgment upon her; because she was a sinful woman.

At the well Jesus was alone with the woman and He speaks with her for a while; His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.  Tired from His journey, our Lord asked the woman for a drink. Their conversation revolves around drinking water.   

As the story goes, the Samaritan woman is deeply touched by her casual but transforming conversation with our Lord. What truly touched her was that within the context of Jesus knowing all about her, all her sinful life and broken relationships, Jesus still treated her with the greatest respect and dignity.  Here was Jesus, He knows all about her but wanted to give her "living water" nonetheless.  Our Lord wanted to satisfy the thirst that she was feeling in her soul.  So that as the Lord spoke to her, and as she experienced His gentleness and acceptance, that thirst within her began to be quenched. This was a new experience for the Samaritan woman who had been ridiculed and rejected by her townmates for her sinfulness.

Biblical experts tell us that the Gospel of John reveals Jesus' true identity through a series of episodes that can be called "recognition scenes".  This particular encounter by the Samaritan woman is one of such "encounter scenes".  And these encounters with our Lord are really opportunities for people to recognize Jesus as the Son of God, the Word made flesh, and share this Good News to others. Now, some do, like the woman in this scene, who goes to tell her neighbors about Jesus as the Messiah. But some don't, like the High Priests and the crowds during Jesus' trial. Still some recognize Him but do not have the courage to make a public witness, like Nicodemus and perhaps even Pontius Pilate.

The woman in the well experienced quenching the thirst in her soul because what she really needed, and what we all need as well, is this perfect love and acceptance that Jesus offers.  In the Gospel story, our Lord offered it to the woman in the well, and He offers it to us now.

Let us reflect upon the undeniable thirst for God that is within us. Once we are aware of it, make the conscious choice to let Jesus satiate our thirst with this "living water" through the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist.

So let us pray.  Our Lord Jesus, You are the living water that my soul needs. May I meet You in the heat of the day, in the trials of life, and in my shame and guilt. May I encounter Your love, gentleness and acceptance in these moments, and may that love become the source of new life in You, My Lord Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!