3rd Sunday of Lent (Cycle A, Year II)
Community Word: Trusting God is living in His righteousness.
Theme: We live in God’s righteousness when we believe in Him because of His word.
Promise: “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;the water I shall give
will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn 4:14)
Reflection:
Our theme for the 3rd Sunday of Lent is: We live in God’s righteousness when we believe in Him because of His word. This is easier said than done. Do we truly believe in Him, or do we, like the Israelites in the first reading entertain doubts: “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” (Ex 17:7). When faced with difficulties and opposition, do we also grumble and complain, forgetting the blessings He has lavished upon us? Despite our tantrums and whining, God is good, and He will continue to provide for all our needs.
In the second reading, St. Paul speaks of the love of God which has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, through whom we have been given gifts to strengthen us as followers of Jesus, and for which we are grateful. For truly, God’s love knows no limits.
In the gospel, Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman as she draws water from a well. In doing so, he breaks two traditions. Hence, her surprised reaction: “How can you, a Jew, ask me a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” He responds, “If you know who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would ask him, and he would give you living water,” implying that the water she is drawing from the well merely satisfies a temporal need, while the living water He is offering will become a spring of living water welling up to eternal life.
Indeed, the water we all drink quenches our physical thirst, but fails to satisfy the deeper thirst of the spirit. In this gospel, Jesus gradually reveals Himself to the Samaritan woman as the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world. After this transforming encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan woman shares her experience with her own people, witnessing and telling them what she has discovered for herself. And, “as they heard Him themselves, they knew that He is truly the savior of the world” (Jn 4:42) and many of the towns people came to believe in Him, inviting him to stay with them. This is a case of a simple conversation that led to conversion.
The story of the Samaritan woman is not unlike our own journey into faith. We come gradually to know and understand who Jesus is in our life. Like her, we thirst and yearn for so many things that we think would make us truly happy and content, only to realize that achieving these perishable things is an empty pursuit, leaving us thirsting and hungering for more. Only by heeding Christ’s invitation to drink from the river of life He is offering can we truly find the meaning and contentment we seek in life.
As he was dying on the cross, Jesus Christ cried out “I thirst.” He was not asking for earthly drinking water. He was thirsting for human hearts. Let us not deny Him our love. Let us quench the thirst of Christ with our faith. God continues to thirst for that day when all will come to Him: “Let anyone who is thirsty, come to me; and let the one who believes in me drink, for the scripture says: Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water,” (Jn 7:38). But it is we, who should be seeking him. As the deer longs for flowing streams, our thirsting outcry ought to be: “O God, you are my God, it is you I seek; for you my body longs and my soul is thirsts, as a dry and weary land without water,”(Ps 63:2).
Let us constantly remind ourselves that if we continue to sin in our daily lives, despite all our show of devotions, religiosity and service, our inward journey with our God will still be empty and meaningless. While at the start of every New Year, we resolve to change our ways and do better, perhaps we can also list down our Lenten resolutions and seriously commit to a deeper relationship with Jesus. Let us make the season of Lent the start our own personal transformation, opening ourselves in faith to the salvific love of God, as we lay claim to Jesus’ promise: “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life,” (Jn 4:14).
Reflection Questions:
1. How ready am I to dialogue with strangers and stand witness to how I experienced Jesus my life?
2. What personal transformation am I seriously offering to Jesus this Lent to improve my relationship with Him?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
March 23, 2014 (Sun) Ex 17:3-7/Ps 95:1-2,6-7,8-9/Rom 5:1-2,5-8/Jn 4:5-15
March 24, 2014 (Mon) 2Kgs 5:1-15/Ps 42:2,3;43:3,4/Lk 4:24-30
March 25, 2014 (Tues) Is 7:10-14/Ps 40:7-8,8-9,10,11/Heb 10:4-10/Lk 1:26-38
March 26, 2014 (Wed) Dt 4:1,5-9/Ps 147:12-12,15-16,19-20/Mt 5:17-18
March 27, 2014 (Thur) Jer 7:23-28/Ps 95:1-2,6-7,8-9/Lk 11:14-23
March 28, 2014 (Fri) Hos 14:2-10/Ps 81:6-8,8-9,10,11,14,17/Mk 12:28-34
March 29, 2014 (Sat) Hos 6:1-6/Ps 51:3-4,18-19,20-21/Lk 18:9-14
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
