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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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3 Lent
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Third Sunday of Lent -
A Cycle - John
4:5-15,19-26,39,40-42
A British princess was treated graciously by a shopclerk.
She told his employer of his deference to her station. The puzzled
shopkeeper said, "Princess, he treats everyone the same way."
One reason the Father humanized His Son in the person of
Jesus was to allow us to find a divine person eminently approachable.
Thus we can latch onto Him in happy days but also in blue ones. One can
prove this thesis by using today's Gospel.
The first point to notice is the woman is not named. John
wanted her to be a type for us sinners. Slip your name into the blank
spot. There is room for every mother's child of us.
The Christ painted here by the artist John is sensitive
and warm. The reader can just about extend a hand and feel the Teacher.
When the Gospel opens, Jesus and His people are on the run
from southern Palestine. John the Baptist had just been arrested.
Christ did not want to wait around until the authorities decided to
round up the usual suspects.
He and His party were heading quick march into the safety
of the northern Palestinian mountains. He knew that territory better
than the south. There nobody would lay a hand on Him. He would campaign
again but on His own terms.
One of the great charms of Jesus, who owned nothing
but a
toothbrush bought at Wal-Mart, is that He could break camp anytime and
at any place. He did not own enough to fill even a brown paper bag.
John is asking us why we need to have so many possessions. We need a
fleet of trucks to move us. After all, we can only wear one pair of
shoes at a time.
For safety reasons, Jesus was moving through Samaria. The
Samaritans disliked the Jews then as much as many Arabs do today. The
Jewish police would not dare follow Him lest they bemurdered.
Ironically, events would prove the Nazarene received a better hearing
from the Samaritans than from His own fellow-Jews.
He and the twelve were only into the second of their three
day journey. They had covered thirty blistering miles and with no
bottled water.
The party finally came to a deep well fed by a fresh
spring of
delicious cool water. It was near the town of Sychar.
There was a problem. Jesus had no rope or bucket. The well
was one hundred feet deep. Shrewd John is faxing us the message that
the clever Jesus began His journey without a jar. John here is asking
all of us, "Isn't this a Christ you can identify with? Have you not
yourselves made similar dumb mistakes?"
His apostles rush off to Home Depot to buy rope and a
bucket. But the Teacher is too dehydrated to join them. His get up and
go had got up and gone. His feet were killing Him. His wet clothing was
sticking to His skin. John is shouting to us, "Jesus knew what
exhaustion was." Do you feel you cannot relate with Him?"
John too is telling us the Messiah gave others the
opportunityto do favors for Him. He knew that others are anxious
to be generous. Do we accept favors reluctantly?
No doubt Christ sat in the shade offered by the well. The
energies He had left were spent fighting off the mosquitoes looking for
lunch. He was feeling sorry for Himself. Can you not identify with Him?
The Samaritan woman found herself attracted to this
Christ. Why was she so swept off her feet by the Man at the well? This
was not the first man she had met. If anything, she was an authority on
men. She could have written her own Dear Abby column. As Christ gently
reminded her, she had six lovers. She had forgotten more about men than
most women will ever know.
Professional prostitute though she might be, Christ engaged
this woman as an equal. He showered her with kindness and treated her
as a princess. This type of deference she had never received from any
of her Johns. They had treated her like white trash. He realized the
truth of the aphorism that while words can't break bones, they can
break hearts. Christ saw in her not the evil she had done but rather
the heroine she could become with His encouragement.
Do you believe Jesus will not forgive your sins? Recall
the sinner who asked the monk: "Will Jesus really forgive me?" The monk
asked: "Do you throw away dirty clothes?" "No." "Then neither will
Jesus throw you away. No matter what your past, your future is
spotless."
Come and drink a glass of cool well water with
Christ and confess your sins. |
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
3 Lent
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We Can Be Better
The
Third Sunday of Lent presents the long Gospel account of the meeting of
Jesus with the Samaritan Woman at a well.I usually have to
prepare a homily based on this Gospel every year since this is the
Gospel for Masses with catechumens and candidates coming into the
Church in the RCIA experience.But this is such a rich Gospel
that I am still finding new aspects of it that preach to me.Then
again, all scripture is alive, the Living Word of God.
I am
struck this year by two questions that are new to me: the first is,
“Why did this woman make such a radical change so quickly?”The
second question is, “Why did the townsfolk emphasize that their reason
for faith had shifted from the what the woman said to what Jesus was
saying?”
The
first question.When Jesus encountered the woman, He broke the
normal practice of Jews and ask her, a Samaritan, for assistance.
A conversation follows between the two which seems to have a lot of
give and take:
“I
am shocked that you are asking me for water.”
“If
you knew who was asking you, you would ask him for water that would
quench your thirst for eternity.”
There’s even a discussion on who’s correct in the theology
department: the Jews who worship in Jerusalem or the Samaritans who
worship on the Holy Mountain.And so forth.
In
the middle of all this, Jesus says something to the woman that causes
her to allow him to change her life.He told her that He knew she
was living with a man outside of marriage, and that she had been
married five times before this.He told her that He knew she had
been immoral and was continuing her sinful ways.
This
caused the woman to change her life.Why?It doesn’t make
sense that a Samaritan woman would be soimpressed with the
accusations of a Jewish man.There must be more to this.
Jesus’ tone must have conveyed His concern for her.She must have
felt that she was being addressed as a person, not as an object of
scorn by Jews or even by men in general.Jesus’ tone must have
said to her, “My dear woman, you can be better than this.”He
speaks to her heart and her heart turns to Him.
You
can be better than this.Recently that phrase has been bouncing
inside my head, not just as something I say to others, but as something
I say to myself.I can be better this.I can be better than
an immoral society that sees sex as a recreation and morality as a
trite vestige of the past. I can be better than a society that seeks
fulfillment in material possessions and condemns itself to the
meaningless acquisition of stuff.Even if there have been times
that I (and you) have not been different, have not been holy, for
holiness is to be set aside, different for the Lord.
Perhaps, the problem is that I (and you)tend to see sin as
either mortal or superficial fluff.So, if we haven’t committed a
mortal sin, we think that we are not that bad and we don’t see the
weight our behavior lays on ourselves, or on others.We don’t see
the pain we are inflicting on the Body of Christ because, after all we
just stubbed its toe; we didn’t amputate its foot.Maybe some of
the reasons why I am not better is that I have not really tried hard to
be better. Maybe, it’s the same with you.Perhaps that temper,
that lack of patience, that bad language on the road, etc, that you
bring to reconciliation every time pops up again quickly because you
are not convinced that you can be better than you have been.
Perhaps, if you are involved in serious sin, you don’t go to confession
because you have given up the fight and feel you will not be able to
avoid the sin in the future.Maybe you are selling yourself
short.Maybe I am too.
Jesus transformed the woman at the well because He was concerned about
her.He wanted her to be the best person she could be.He
told her that she could do it.And she heard His message
screaming to her in her heart.She determined to change her life
and then wanted to shout out to the world that she had an experience of
the Messiah.
That
is why we seek penance during Lent.That’s why we go to
confession throughout the year.We know that Jesus loves
us.We know that He cares for each of us individually.We
know that He sees the bumps and bruises of our lives that we impose
upon ourselves and others.He doesn’t condone our sins, be they
big or little.He hurts for us.He wants us to be
better.And His Love transforms us.We want to be better
because we also want to have a constant experience of the Messiah’s
love.
That
brings me to the second question:Why did the townsfolk switch
their reasons for faith from the woman they knew to this strange Jew
she told them about?They saw that the woman had changed, and for
the first time they saw that she was happy.They wanted a share
in this happiness themselves and thought that she must be right in what
she was saying about this Jew.But then they experienced
Jesus.Now the woman became secondary to them.Jesus was
all that mattered.They allowed the words of the Word of God to
change their lives.They believed and followed not because of
what someone had said about Jesus, but because of Jesus.
It
is not what the preacher says about Jesus that matters.It is not
what the writer writes about Jesus that matters.All that matters
is Jesus Christ.We are not followers of Apollos, or Paul, or
this priest, or that deacon.We are followers of Jesus
Christ.And Jesus Christ tells us that we can be better than we
are.
He
makes us want to be better than we are. His overpowering love gives us
the courage to change our lives and to embrace His Life.The
blood that poured from his wounds on the cross has ignited our bodies
with the fire of his Love.
“You
can be better than this,” He says to us in the tender, warm voice of
Love.
And
we will be better.
Happy Lent.
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http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in Spanish - see Spanish
homilies
3 Lent
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Why So Dissatisfied?
(February 24, 2008)
Bottom line: Like the woman at the well, we feel a deep sense of
dissatisfaction - and we do not know why. Jesus gives the answer.
You may have heard about the man who died and St. Peter told him he had
a choice: He could either go to heaven or hell. The man said, of
course, he wanted to go to heaven. "Not so fast," said St. Peter, "you
get to spend a day in each place and then decide." He went down to hell
and it had plush carpets, full-service bar, a magnificent golf course -
and everyone conversing politely. When he went to heaven, it seemed OK,
but not so attractive as the other place. So he told St. Peter he
wanted to go to the first place. When he got back to hell, everything
had changed. It was muddy, the food was terrible and people were
growling at each other - and at the new arrival. So the man asked the
chief devil what was going on. The devil said, "A few days ago we were
campaigning - but now the elections are over!"
As that story illustrates, what political campaigns promise and what
they deliver are often two different things. Before he became pope,
Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a book on politics and morality.* He begins by
observing that "politicians of all parties take it for granted that
they need to promise changes." He notes that there is "a deep and
prevailing sense of dissatisfaction precisely in those places where
prosperity and freedom have attained hitherto unknown heights."
Politicians know they are addressing dissatisfied people. The question
is: Where does that deep sadness come from? And if our abundant, open
society does not satisfy us, what will? Today's Gospel indicates the
answer. Jesus meets a woman who is very unhappy. She had tried five
different men and none made her happy. No surprise there. The real
surprise was that she had not become completely jaded and cynical. When
Jesus spoke about flowing water that would slake her thirst, she did
not scoff. No, she said, "Sir, give me that water."
Jesus gives her what no one had ever given her. Not empty promises.
Jesus gives "living water." He gives himself. "I am he."
Unfortunately, we tend to be like the guy trying to cross a small
desert. Instead of bringing a canteen of water, he takes along a bottle
of high caffeine soda with tons of sugar. The first drink tastes good
and gives him a high. But it doesn't do much for his thirst. He starts
to feel agitated, so he takes another gulp and winds up more thirsty
than before. He sits and wants to fall asleep forever. He doesn't
realize that over the next sand dune lies an oasis with cool, flowing
water.
Today - in the middle of Lent - Jesus says to stand up and come to him.
He invites us to come to the living water. Come to the only one who can
satisfy your thirst. Come to Jesus.
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*Values in a Time of Upheaveal - highly recommended Lenten reading
Spanish Version
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
3 Lent
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Background:
Today’s Gospel is a story of surprises. Everyone is surprised,
the woman at the well, the apostles, the townspeople. Everyone but
Jesus who knew that, while his work was primarily with the Jews, he had
come to save everyone – Greeks, Romans, Syrians, and even Samaritans
whom Jews disliked more even than gentiles, because they were so
similar but did not worship in Jerusalem. The Good News Jesus came to
preach was filled with surprises. If we are not surprised any more it
is because somehow we have lost our sense of wonder and surprise. The
good news has become old hat. We should listen to the story today as
though we’d never heard it before.
Story:
Once upon a time a new family moved into an elegant suburban
parish, one which was very progressive. It had all kinds of committees,
and ministries, and there were meetings all the time, and teenagers
went to Appalachia in the spring to help build homes, and adults ran
soup kitchens for the homeless, and there were clothing drives and
blood donations, and the people in the parish figured that they were
pretty good at what they did. But the new family was a challenge. They
had dark skins but they were not African Americans or Hispanics. They
talked a funny guttural sounding language, and seemed to have a lot of
money. There were a father and a mother and three kids of grammar
school age and two grandparents, and they had a lot of visitors in
their big home. They improved the landscape of the house and painted
the window frames and put up a backboard on the garage. They had three
cars – a Lexus, a Cady and a Lincoln aviator and the women in the
family, including the girl who was probably in 8th grade never appeared
outside the house, except in the latest fashion. The word spread around
the neighborhoodthat they were drug dealers. Then another
neighborhood rumorbegan that they were Arabs, probably Saudi oil
millionaires. Then yet another rumor reported that they were, would you
believe IRAQI! Well, someone in the parish called the FBI and the
Bureau said they knew all about them and were watching them closely.
Then some of the kids said that the Lincoln Navigator was packed with
things that looked like they might be bombs. The neighborhood began a
nightly “watch” in which cars drove by the house, just to make sure
there were no dangerous meetings. All they observed were big but quiet
parties ofvery well dressed men and women. Well, when school
began, didn’t the three kids showup for the first day of
Catholic school, wearing the approved uniforms.So a committee of
the parishioners went to see the pastor to protest letting these
“non-Catholics” into the Catholic school. They’re Catholics, the pastor
said. They’re Iraqi, They’re Caldees send the pastor. What’s a Caldee?
Iraqi Christians. They were Christians when we Irish were still paining
out faces blue. They have a parish down town, but the family moved out
here so they could send their kids to a Catholic school. The older girl
is quite a basketball player. They made a big donation to the parish.
They own a string of camera stores. The committee went home, thinking
that the pastor had been joking with them. They looked of Caldee on the
net. Sure enough they were Catholics. They wondered why all Catholics
couldn’t look alike!
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
3 Lent
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Feb, 24, 2008
John 4: 5-42
Demetrius R. Dumm, O.S.B.
Third Sunday of Lent
Gospel Summary
It is high noon when Jesus stops to rest by the well of Jacob. His
revelation about life-giving water will provide a light that challenges
the sun. When he asks the Samaritan woman for a drink, she is amazed
that he seems so unaware of how things really are. Does he not know
about the human conventions that have condemned her to social
invisibility? After all, women were supposed to be ignored in public
and she was also a despised Samaritan. How can Jesus be so out of
touch?
When Jesus answers her, we discover that it is she who is out of touch.
For she does not know about the "gift of God" that Jesus offers--a gift
that is as refreshing and enlivening as bubbling, cool spring water,
and thus so much better than the stale, stagnant well water on which
she has been trying to survive. The woman's eyes must have sparkled as
Jesus awakened in her the dream of a life of freedom and dignity. "Sir,
give me this water."
We learn about the nature of this "living water" a bit later when the
woman asks Jesus whether it is better to worship in Jerusalem or on the
Samaritan Mt. Gerizim. Jesus defers to Jerusalem but adds immediately
that such considerations are no longer relevant. What counts now is to
welcome the Spirit who can transform the hearts of people by enabling
them to experience the ultimate truth of God's love for them. Religious
places and rituals remain important but only insofar as they lead to
this experience of God's love made manifest in one's personal union
with Christ.
Life Implications
It is all too easy for most of us to identify with the Samaritan woman
when she experienced life as often unfair and unjust, that is, as stale
well water. Many powerful human institutions conceal systemic injustice
in the sense that opportunities and rewards are too often provided on
the basis of connections rather than of ability or merit. Even those
who benefit from such arrangements will sense the lack of that joy that
comes from a life where love is more important then security. To shrug
off injustice as simply "the way things are" is to be condemned to the
half-life of stagnant well water.
Today's gospel invites us to dream about the possibility of a world
where opportunity and hope replace the bondage of fear and despair. God
really does not want us to live a life of quiet desperation. Jesus has
come to reveal the Father's love and the Spirit is ready to convince us
of that fact. The Spirit of Jesus whispers constantly to us: "If you
only knew the gift of God…" Our eyes too can sparkle as we dare to
imagine a world, at least within our hearts, where the experience of
God's invincible love becomes a source of refreshing, life-giving water
to quench our thirst for goodness and justice.
In order to avoid a cynical attitude toward life, we need to realize
that the Holy Spirit wants us to redeem our own little corner of the
world. We do not need to be a Messiah, but we do need to inject some
messianic hope into the area of life that we can influence. The
conversion of the world begins with the conversion of a kitchen or a
dining room or a workplace. If each one of us would do that, the larger
world would soon become what God intended it to be--a place where
justice blossoms and where love bears wonderful fruit.
Demetrius R. Dumm, O.S.B.
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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
JGHealey@aol.com
3 Lent |
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
3 Lent
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Third Sunday
Exodus 17, 3-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5, 1-2. 5-8; St. John 4, 5-42
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today's gospel is the magnificent and moving account of Jesus'
encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. What begins as a
seemingly chance encounter while drawing water, becomes for the woman
the revelation of the God-man: "I know there is a Messiah coming," the
woman says, and Christ responds: "I who speak to you am he." She
receives a gift: "the water I give shall become a fountain
within...welling up to eternal life." Will we be like this simple
woman, whose simplicity enables her to encounter, without prejudice,
the revelation of Almighty God? Will each one of us accept God as He
lovingly and wisely reveals Himself, or will we, tragically, reject Him
because He does not appear according to our preconceived notions?
God's desire to embrace us draws near in Christ, and we enjoy the
nearness of God in prayer.
'If you knew the gift of God!' (Jn 4:10) The wonder of prayer is
revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ
comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks
us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of
God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the
encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for
him." (CCC 2560)
Accept and practice daily the gift of prayer. Our baptism joins us to
the perfect prayer and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The well of prayer is
as deep as God, and our thirst is quenched fully only in Him. The
waters of baptism "welling up to eternal life" are the key to the life
of prayer. Pray. "Draw water joyfully at the springs of salvation."
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy"---Father Cusick
Publish with permission.) www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
3 Lent |
Third Sunday of Lent,
Year A
This lengthy passage from the Gospel of John about the Woman at the
Well has been studied and commented upon by many learned authors down
through the centuries. Whole books have been devoted to it’s
dissection. And so anything I say this morning can really only be
regarded as giving just a glimpse of the riches to be found in it.
Many authors have examined the customs of the times governing the
relationships between men and women and have concluded that the woman’s
action of approaching the well at noontime when a man was sitting there
inevitably meant that she was of dubious reputation. The later
revelation about her five husbands only confirms the assumption.
Whether this is so or not, she certainly was both a Samaritan and a
woman and therefore not someone any respectable Jew would engage in
conversation. But respectability was never something Jesus regarded
highly.
Jesus asks her for a drink and so initiates this fascinating dialogue
on two levels. He is speaking about living water and the life of grace
while she is thinking only of the water in the well and the mundane
realities of her rather chequered life.
She says: Give me some of that living water so that I may never get
thirsty and never have to come to the well again. There is a hint of
incredulity and mockery in her voice. And then Jesus’ penetrating
remark cuts right through her defences: Go call your husband.
Her response exposes her vulnerability: I have no husband. And Jesus
reveals his knowledge about those five previous husbands and she
realises that this is no ordinary man standing before her.
She believes him to be a prophet and tries to engage him in a standard
religious discussion about the differences between Jews and
Samaritans—as if that’s the sort of thing you would say when you talk
to a professional religious person.
This gives Jesus the opportunity to speak about how all these earthly
differences will soon be transcended. The woman says she knows that the
Messiah is to come and that then all will be revealed. Jesus simply
replies: I am He.
We can almost experience through the page the depth of the silence that
must have followed that astonishing statement. Then disciples suddenly
return from their shopping expedition and their encounter is
interrupted.
The woman is filled with joy and rushes to her people to tell them
about Jesus, in turn they come to him and also experience a similar
conversion.
This Gospel story provides us with a wonderful paradigm for our own
conversion story. It provides the classic pattern for all religious
conversion. Acknowledgement of sinfulness, experiencing non-judgemental
acceptance by Jesus, followed by some event or remark which cuts
through to the inner core of the person and then a moment of startling
insight or revelation leading to a proclamation of the Gospel to others
who in their own turn experience this process for themselves.
Each of us has most likely experienced a similar sequence of events in
our own life which has brought us to faith or which has more deeply
confirmed us in the faith that we already have.
Each of us is in our own way therefore is involved in a similar drama.
(And I deliberately use the present tense.) We do not live mundane and
boring lives of interest to no one. We are key players in a cosmic
drama which involves God himself.
And this is not a one-act play in which at some opportune moment we
experience conversion and then live on as before. No, this is an
extraordinary epic which lasts till the end of time; it has many
episodes and frequent twists and turns of the plot.
And what is this so-called Living Water that will well up to eternal
life; this water which once we have drunk it we will never be thirsty
again?
This Living Water is the water of Baptism, it is the grace of Christ,
it is the great outpouring of God’s love and salvation that is the
direct consequence of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary and his
resurrection from out of the empty tomb.
In our hearts we need to drink long and deep this refreshing and
healing water. When we embrace Christ and give the assent of faith to
his Gospel we become one with him; we experience his life living in us;
we experience his power living through us.
We have become altogether new creatures and it is no longer a case of
accepting Christ because that is what our parents brought us up to do
or any other second-hand religion but as the Samaritans said: We no
longer believe because of what you have told us; we have heard him
ourselves and we know that he really is the Saviour of the World! |
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Contact Father at cbonar@cfl.rr.com;
information about his book of homilies is available at www.clydebonar.com.
3 Lent |
Third Sunday of Lent,
Cycle A
Readings: Exodus 17: 3-7; Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8; John 4: 5-42
A Spring of Living Waters
Introduction
For miles, Jesus and his disciples had walked the dusty roads. They're
tired. They're thirsty. Finally, about noon, they come upon Jacob's
well. A woman is drawing water. Jesus says to the woman, "Give me a
drink."
Why Jesus was so unprepared for his journey, we are not told. But, he
wasn't. Today, every traveler carries some bottled spring water. But,
Jesus carried no drinking water. He didn't have a bucket to lower into
the well to draw water. He didn't even have a cup.
So, Christ asked the woman for a drink of water. An act of kindness.
Something she could easily do.
Easy To Do
And, that's our first point: God only asks us to do what's easy to do.
The work may strain our muscles, the task might take some time, but we
have the ability to do anything God asks us to do.
Recall our student days. A young lad aspires to be an engineer. But, he
watches his older brother struggle with calculus, and wonders if could
ever work the calculus problems. Why did the lad worry? Fractions
hadn't been any problem. A great teacher drew out his math skills, and
he'd passed fractions with flying colors. Same with algebra class. Why
fret about calculus? After the lad had conquered trigonometry and
differential equations, calculus would be a snap.
When we use the talents God gave us, follow the interests God put
within us, we sail down the road. Not that we don't have to work! And
work hard. If we do not do the homework, we will not pass calculus!
So easy. Whatever we do. One step at a time. Each step building on the
previous step. The Olympic gold medal figure skater: first had to learn
to skate. Then, practiced the jumps wearing a harness, guided by a
coach. Until one day the skater dazzles us with the artful jumps of an
accomplished athlete.
Same with our prayer life. Perhaps we see a person quietly praying
before the Blessed Sacrament. We think, what a holy person. Then we
hear the story of the person's spiritual journey. Always at weekend
Mass, often at daily Mass. She frequently prays the Rosary; during
Lent, each Friday she makes the Stations of the Cross.
Then, she began to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. Each week, same
day, same hour. During the hour, she'd say some prayers, do a little
spiritual reading, and some time to just sit and be quiet in God's
presence. Pretty soon, that hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament
became the most meaningful hour of her week.
For anyone, each next step on the spiritual journey comes so naturally,
is so easy.
Take anything in life, athletic skill or academic accomplishment, our
spiritual lives, God never asks us to do anything difficult. We have to
make the effort, but God only asks us to do what's easy to do.
We Resist
Easy, yes. But even so, the Samaritan woman does not want to give Jesus
a drink. She resists. The woman at the well shows her prejudice, she
becomes judgmental. And, defensive.
She asks, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?"
Here's the prejudice. Jews and Samaritans did not get along. Jews
looked down on Samaritans because the Samaritans had married pagans.
Everybody knew, a good Jew only marries another Jew. Not only that, the
Samaritans had adopted some of the pagan ways of their husbands and
wives. Because of religious differences, animosity had gown up between
the Jews and the Samaritans.
But, God is prejudice against no one. Christ invites all people.
Samaritans as well as Jews, woman as well as men. God loves everyone.
Then, the Samaritan woman becomes judgmental. Jesus tells her he will
give her "living water." Her retort: "the cistern is deep, you do not
even have a bucket;" "where can you get this living water." To her,
Jesus is speaking nonsense. We know she did not understand. Her
judgment, Christ makes a foolish boast.
We do well to remember some other words of Jesus: "Do not judge, and
you will not be judged" (Luke 6:37). If Jesus says he can give us
"living water," we know Christ speaks the word of God.
Still resisting, when Jesus asks the woman at the well to call her
husband, she answers, "I do not have a husband." Jesus knew, and we
know, she'd had five husbands and was now living with another man. The
Samaritan woman became defensive. Stay away from my personal life,
she's telling Jesus. She certainly did not want to talk about the men
in her life. There had been too many men.
Of course, Jesus doesn't want us to sin, we are to keep the Sixth
Commandment. To keep all the Commandments. But, God knows we all slip.
Christ is here for us, saint or sinner. The Samaritan woman did not
need to be defensive. Neither do we.
What God asks us to do is easy. It's us who make things difficult. Our
prejudices pop through at the least expected moment, we defend
ourselves, we pass judgments on what others do.
"Living Waters"
Then Jesus tells the woman at the well he will give her "living water."
In Biblical times, "living water" meant swiftly running water, like a
bubbling brook. Water so precious and so scarce in those arid lands,
water became the symbol of the life-giving presence of God.
Christ promises a "spring of water welling up to eternal life." Water
to enable us right now to live in the kingdom of God; to share in the
very life of God himself.
Let's see how this works. First, the living waters nourish us. Then,
refreshed with the waters of the Holy Spirit, we act more God-like. A
mother did the day her teenage son brought home some new friends. She
looked at them. Hair too long. Baggy sweaters, boys' trousers way too
low. Weird color nail polish. Pierced jewelry worn on more than the
ears. A mother gasped!
But, refreshed by living waters, the mother brought out the soft
drinks, put out some snack foods. Her son's friends give her a
cheerful, "Thank you." She thought, they don't smell, their very
polite. Why, these are great kids, no wonder my son likes them.
When we're filled with living waters, we look beyond appearances. We
see the other's heart, we look for the good.
Living waters purify us. We put on Christ. What disturbs God begins to
disturb us. For example, gossip. We know we should not talk about other
people, should not spread rumors. But, how juicy the stories, how we
want to be first to spread the dirt.
Living waters wash away our temptation. After we gossip, we get a bad
taste in our mouths. Purified by living waters, we don't want to know
who's cheating on their wife or husband, we don't want to know who's
filing a dishonest income tax return. We wish we had never heard the
juicy story. The spring of living waters within our souls purifies us,
giving us the mind-set of Christ.
Then, should we sin, living waters refresh us. We gain a new, subtle,
refined sense of our shortcomings. Like the day a homeowner ordered new
drapes for his living room. Carefully selected, just the right colors,
cheerful, in good taste. The measurements exactly written on the order.
Everything perfect. Until he picked up the order. The clerk make a $100
error in his favor. Was he going to take the windfall, or point out the
mistake to the clerk?
Refreshed with living water, there was no choice. He corrected the
clerk, paid the full price. And, felt good about himself.
Jesus tells the woman at the well he will give her "living water." The
refreshing waters of the Holy Spirit. Nourished with these waters,
purified, and refreshed, we share in the very life of God himself.
Conclusion
Christ promises "a spring of waters welling up to eternal life." Let us
set aside our resistance, banish whatever keeps us form Christ, do the
easy tasks God sets before us.
At baptism, we were washed with life giving waters. At the Easter Mass
in a few weeks, we will renew our baptismal promises. Let this spring
of water flow, to nourish us, purify us, and refresh us. The life
giving, the living waters.
Alternate Conclusion When Celebrating the First Scrutiny
Today we celebrate the first scrutiny with our catechumens. The
scrutinies are rites of self-searching and repentance. By the
scrutinies, our catechumens seek the living waters promised the woman
at the well. Let us and them set aside our resistance, banish whatever
keeps us from Christ.
At our Easter Vigil Mass, these catechumens will be washed with the
same baptismal waters which flowed over each of us. The waters which
nourish us, purify us, and refresh us. The life giving, the living
waters. |
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of
the author.
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