Thirsting for Living Water

Homily for the 3rd Sunday in Lent

During the A Cycle of the Lectionary for Sunday Mass, the Gospel texts in Ordinary Time in this liturgical year are taken from the evangelist Matthew, except for the third, fourth, and fifth weeks of Lent when we read from the Gospel of St. John. In these weeks we are put in touch with the earliest celebration of Lent. When the Church was very young, it provided a time for those who seeking Baptism to prepare for the sacrament. In this period, the catechumens, those seeking baptism, underwent an examination of their readiness to take on the Christian life, which is referred to as the “scrutinies.” Through the stories of the woman at the well, the man born blind and the raising of Lazarus, the catechumens are invited to examine the movement of the Spirit in their souls calling them to a deepening of the conversion needed for baptism.

This Sunday we hear the story of the woman at the well. As Jesus reveals that he knows her past and does not condemn her, he makes clear that his only concern is to put her in touch with the thirst God has placed in her soul of his unconditional love for her. Once she drinks that water, she discovers the eternal wellspring that will make inconsequential all the ways she has sought to slake the thirsts in her life. Once she understands this, she leaves behind the jar she has brought to the well and goes out and evangelizes others.

So, too, the catechumens are invited to put aside the unsatisfying attempts to find meaning and embrace the wellspring of God’s love. That is the conversion required for baptism, for only then can the newly baptized take up the mission of bringing the Gospel to the world. We have no catechumens here at St. Francis Woods. We are all baptized people and have undertaken the journey to which Jesus invites this woman. Consequently, we must ask ourselves what significance this particular Gospel reading has for us.

Metaphorically speaking, many of us are thirsting for something. Perhaps it is a desire for greater wealth or greater status in our local community. The seven deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth are all different kinds of thirst. Each one of them draws toward other sins as we try to slake our thirst for the things of this world. St. Paul calls all of these things sins of the flesh. The Gospel today speaks of the thirst for living water, something that intrigues the Samaritan Woman. She is obviously tired of drawing water from the well every day, especially because she has been shunned by the other women in the community because of her past.

What the Church asks of our catechumens can also be applied to us. What thirsts fill our lives? Where do we spend our energy? Do we have an unhealthy thirst that needs to be examined and perhaps turn us from our current path? Do we know the living water that Jesus offers us through the sacramental life of the Church? These questions are just a few of the things that we need to examine as we make our Lenter journey.

There are many stories about wells in the Scriptures. Hagar and Ishmael searched for water when Sarah asked Abraham to send them away. God provided water bubbling up from the desert sand. Isaac’s servant found his master’s bride Rebecca at a well. Moses rescued the daughters of the priest of Midian at a well. Elijah encountered a widow at a well when he was thirsty. Indeed, the Scriptures use wells as places to encounter God in many different ways. Thirst for God is real. We all experience it in one way or another. In the first reading, water flows from an unlikely place – a rock. The children of Israel were testing God and Moses because of their thirst. They were not satisfied with the fact that God had freed them from slavery. They wanted more. Do we recognize ourselves in this story?

In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul likens the love of God as a river of water pouring into our souls. Have we accepted this love? Are we satisfied with God’s love? Are we seeking for love in the wrong places.

Today, the Church asks us to consider our thirsts. Like the catechumens who are approaching baptism, we will be asked to renew our baptismal promises on Easter Sunday. We will be asked to put aside the temptations that come from Satan so that we can accept God’s love in the saving waters of Baptism. The woman at the well experiences that love and becomes a messenger for others who have not encountered the living waters of Jesus. May we also become people who teach others about God and God’s love for us.