The Third Sunday of Lent

-



John presents for us today a great dramatic and theatrical encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. Jesus is tired after his long journey and sits by the well for something to drink.

First of all she comes to the well at noon which would have been a long time after some of the other women had come to the well. It presupposes that she had been shunned by the other women of the village because of her great sins and yet it is this sinner who preaches to her community about Jesus. There is also the bad relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans this goes back to the year 722 when the Assyrian army descended on northern Israel and took its population into exile. This is why the Samaritan woman was very surprised when Jesus spoke to her at the well.

The symbol of water has become a very important symbol in the Church. It cleanses and also blesses us. When we think of the waters of baptism it washes us clean and gives us new life in the Lord. We remind ourselves of that new life every time we come into the Church and bless ourselves with Holy Water. But, what makes this water blessed is the Holy Spirit. Water is the means, but the Holy Spirit flowing into us is the reality.

In the story that is presented here today the living water allows the woman to be aware of her sinfulness but also find forgiveness.
What can we learn from this Gospel? Well I think the first thing that we can see is that the woman was looking for fulfilment and in a sense that maybe the reason why she had gone through so many Men. And yet she has stumbled across a man who can give her life and He can show her how important it is to live life to the full in right relationship with others.

We, I feel, a lot of the time are looking for fulfilment to be happy and find that living water within us: God’s Holy Spirit. We search and search and sometimes find no answers it is here that we have to hold on to our faith and hope in Jesus Christ. We need just life the woman in the story to be open to the possibility of God’s Holy Spirit living through us and being guided by his love.
Our search must start with prayer and finding God and him speaking to us in prayer. And even when we do not have the answers or even the language to speak the Holy Spirit dwelling within us allows us to listen in the silence to the voice of God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts in beautifully:

“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 seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Weather we realise it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours, God thirsts that we may thirst for him” (Para 2560)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Year of Service

-
Image
  This last weekend I was able to look back with friends at the wonderful year I had with the Vincentian Volunteers. Looking back I can see that there are many elements to this year that have remained always with me. These I can now see and after reflection have shaped my life since this most formative year. From this year I went on to train for the priesthood and became a priest. After 16 years I left ministry and now try my best to live my Christian values and life in the world. In a recent upgrade to my CV I realised that my whole adult life has been in some sort of service to others and usually to the most vulnerable and those on the fringes of society. From working in Top Shop to ministry to the Hospital to the work I now do in education. This all stems from this year I had with the community and putting Love in action. Yes I have made mistakes on the way and my human frailty has been evident but this life was never going to easy and straight forward.  When I look back on that yea
Read more

Easter

-
Image
  Over the last few years I have had major issues with the Catholic Church. I think that my issue is the authority of the Church and how many clergy, not all, use and abuse their power and class the laity as stupid idiots. I can say this as for 16 years I was a priest and caught up in the system. When you're in the middle of it you can't aways see what is going on around you. I could not see what the Church as a structure was doing to peoples lives. Until I was out I realised that the Church and Im talking about the Catholic Church here is full up of repressed men who are scared of change scared of themselves and scared of the laity. Those who speak out especially clergy who want significant change are laughed at by others and classed as trouble makers. This includes Pope Francis himself who wants change but sometimes can't get it because of what he has inherited. It is an issue that has gone on your centuries.  This does not allow for a healthy functioning Church. There ne
Read more

What have we learnt? Covid and the last year.

-
Image
Over the last year since the start of the Covid pandemic there has been much in the press about the affects on society. We have seen that there are many people who are anxious, feel alone and worried about the future. So I looked on the Internet for the Christian response to the Pandemic. I was not surprised to see that there were many articles to suggest that the Christian Church as a whole has failed in this time.  In the first Lockdown the Churches were asked to close and there was no public worship. As the infection rate went down the Churches could open for private prayer. In the recent lockdown many places of worship have remained open although the infection rate being a lot higher. I have maybe been a thorn in peoples sides by asking why. I even wrote to the Cardinal  to ask him why. I argued that they should be left shut because of the demographic that tend to go. I got a standard reply back. When I looked in newsletters I read many times about how to give your collection and t
Read more