THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
The giver who began by asking
INTRODUCTION AND CONFITEOR
The Gospel today tells of a woman who was searching for a water that would quench her thirst for happiness.
Right out of the blue she encountered a person who told her that he could provide her with that water. The person was Christ.
We are all looking for the elusive ‘something‘ that will make us happy. We come here this morning to encounter the only person who can give us what we are looking for.
Let us pause a while to draw close to him. [Pause]
Like a deer that yearns for running streams, so our souls are yearning for you. Lord, have mercy.
Preserve us, we take refuge in you: our happiness lies in you alone. Christ, have mercy.
Near restful waters you lead us, to revive our drooping spirits. Lord, have mercy.
HEADINGS FOR READINGS
First Reading (Exodus 17:3-7). Despite their ingratitude, God shows his care for his people by providing water for them in the desert.
Second Reading (Romans 5:1-2.5-8). God has proved his extraordinary love for us by- the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
Gospel (John 4:5-42). This contains the account of one of the most touching encounters of the Gospel – Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. (Shorter form recommended).
1st Reading – Exodus 17:3-7
3 In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?”
4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? a little more and they will stone me!”
5 The LORD answered Moses, “Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river.
6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.” This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.
7 The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD in our midst or not?”
Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8 Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
9 Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
2nd Reading – Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
1 Brothers and sisters: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
7 Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.
8 But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
Verse Before The Gospel – John 4:42, 15
42 Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world;
15 give me living water, that I may never thirst again.
Gospel – John 4:5-42
5 Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
14 but 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.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.”
17 Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
18 For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.”
27 At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people,
29 “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?”
30 They went out of the town and came to him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.
35 Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
36 The reaper is already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
37 For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”
39 Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.”
40 When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
41 Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
Or John 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42
5 Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
14 but 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.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
19b “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.”
39a Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.
40 When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
41 Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
HOMILY
Jean Vanier never tires of saying that all of us, even the mentally handicapped, have a great wealth of the heart. Unfortunately, this wealth often goes untapped because people are not awakened to what they possess and encouraged to share it. One of the worst things we can do for poor people is to keep on giving handouts. In this way we keep them in a position of dependence. We can stifle people with gifts.
Sometimes we do more for others by asking something of them. By asking something of them we awaken them and challenge them to grow. We give them a chance to love and enter the world of sharing. The greatest good we can do for other people, is not to give of them of our own wealth, but to show them their own. Tagore has a lovely parable about this.
One day a beggar man was making the rounds of his native village. But door after door was closed in his face, so that at the end of the morning he had nothing to show for his efforts. As he made his way out of the village, the hot noon sun beat down on him. Weary and dejected, he sat down by the side of the road. At his side lay a sack which contained his last handful of grain. In the evening he would grind it down and bake a last cake of bread.
Suddenly his face lit up. He saw the king’s carriage coming towards him. ‘The king is a kind man,’ he said to himself. ‘He will not pass without giving me something.’ He got to his feet at once, his heart beating with excitement. To his delight he noticed that the royal carriage was slowing down. In fact, it came to a halt exactly opposite the spot where he stood with his hand stretched out in a begging attitude.
Down came the window, and the king appeared at it. The beggar man bowed low and was about to say: ‘Good day, your Majesty. Could you spare a little money for me, your most unworthy servant?’ But the king got in the first words. Reaching out an empty hand he said: ‘Could you spare a little corn for your king?’
The beggar man was completely taken aback at this strange turn of events. But he soon recovered and said: ‘Certainly, your Majesty.’ With that he opened the sack, took a quick look inside, then picked out the smallest grain he could find, and gave it to the king. He apologised that it was so little, saying it was all he could spare. The king thanked him, and the carriage moved off, leaving the beggar man with a terrible feeling of disappointment and emptiness.
All day long he sat there by the roadside begging but got nothing. When evening came on he made his way home, sad, tired, and hungry. Once home, he took a pan and emptied the last of the corn from the sack into it. As he inspected the meager heap of grains that resulted, he made a startling discovery – the smallest grain of corn had turned into a grain of pure gold.
Then he bitterly regretted the fact that he had been so miserly with his king. If only he had known what gift the king wanted to give him, then most surely he would have given him every single grain of corn in the sack. In that case, he would now be a rich man and would never have to beg again.
The moral of the parable is simple: it is by sharing that we are enriched. The real art then is being able to get people to share. Jesus had this art. He often began by asking. There are many examples in the Gospels. At Cana he asked the servants to fill the jars with water. Then he turned this water into wine. But if the servants hadn’t provided the water there would have been no miracle. The same with the miracle of the loaves and fishes. He multiplied the few they gave him. And we have a lovely example in today’s Gospel.
Jesus’ approach to this outcast woman was ever so gentle. He didn’t force himself into her life. Had he done so she would no doubt have immediately closed up. There is a world of difference between asking a person for the key to her house, and battering the door down. Jesus began by asking. He began as the one in need. He disarmed her with a simple request for a drink of water. She gave him the water, and a dialogue ensued. She soon sensed that here was a man who had time for her and who seemed to understand her. Before she realised it, she had shared with him the whole story of her sad life. Again, ever so gently, he got her to face what she had been running from. He showed her that up to now \she had been looking for the right thing (love) but in the wrong places. Then he told her that he could give her the ‘water’ that would quench her thirst for love and meaning in life. Where was this water to come from? Surprisingly, it was to come (to bubble up) from inside her. The spring was already there. It was just that up to now it had been hidden and blocked off.
Christ meets us where we are. At any time, any place, in any circumstance the encounter can take place. You get a feeling that for some Catholics this encounter never happens. If this is so, then it is a great pity. For Christ says to us what he said to that lost woman: ‘If you only knew the gift God wants to give you ’
However, this encounter rarely happens in a dramatic way. More often it comes as the result of a slow growth in intimacy with Christ, until the time comes when (again like the woman) we are an open book to him. Then we will not be afraid to let him see how poor we really are, and how thirsty we are for lasting happiness and love. And if he asks something from us, it is. only because he has something better to give us in return.
‘It is very difficult to admit one’s poverty, weakness, and sins. Hence we are unable to receive the “gift of God” Jesus wishes to give us.’ (Jean Vanier)
‘Prayer is not asking things of God but receiving what he wants to give you.’ (Anon)
PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL
Let us not be afraid to acknowledge our inner thirst, and let us pray with confidence to Christ who alone can quench it. R. Lord, hear our prayer.
For all followers of Christ: that they may turn away from the murky waters of sin, and seek instead the clear waters of grace. [Pause] We pray to the Lord.
For people everywhere: that they may realise that all the drink in the world will never quench the thirst God has placed in the human heart. [Pause] We pray to the Lord.
Christ asked the woman for a drink, and she gave it to him. That we may respond to the thirsts of our brothers and sisters. [Pause] We pray to the Lord.
That through prayer and the reception of the sacraments, we may grow steadily in friendship and intimacy with Christ. [Pause] We pray to the Lord.
. For local needs.
, Let us pray:
Heavenly Father. you sent your Son into our world to quench our thirst with the living water of your grace. Help us to listen to him, and to accept his gift of living water. We ask this through the same Christ our Lord.
COMMUNION REFLECTION
There is a thirst in every human heart.
Each of us is like that lonely Samaritan woman.
We are thirsting for something,
something that will satisfy all our longings.
The only trouble is,
we often search in the wrong places.
We draw water from many wells:
the water of praise to quench our thirst for self-esteem;
the water of success to quench our thirst for importance;
the water of pleasure to quench our thirst for joy
But we still get thirsty.
For those who have encountered Christ
the search is over.
He alone can provide clean living water
to quench our inner thirst.
The encounter with Christ can happen
at any time and any place.
When it happens,
he will cause a spring to well up inside us.
The water from this spring will sustain us
in our journey to the Promised Land of eternal life.