The readings for this Third Sunday of Lent are filled with images of water and thirst - St. Paul says, “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Jesus speaks of living water with the woman at the well: a spring of water that is spiritual and wells up to eternal life.
I was thinking about the importance of water to those who live in the desert, especially in the time of Jesus. The simple act of needing a drink meant walking (at times) a great distance to the well, and then taking away only what water they were able to carry. (Water is pretty heavy…) Even in today’s world, clean water is still difficult for many people to get and to have for everyday use. There is even a prediction (like so other many important, life-giving things) that clean, potable water is a future commodity for selling and control.
The Responsorial Psalm today (#95) is “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” It reminds us that every prayer of praise, petition and thanksgiving must be supported and sustained by sincere repentance. A hardened heart is a serious spiritual condition caused by repeated refusals to recognize and acquiesce to our loving God─like the Samaritan woman initially not recognizing Jesus as living water. None of us is immune from a hardness of heart, which can alienate us from God, and turn us from the well.
We hear the Gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus today, and how her life changed after an encounter with Him. We need to ask ourselves if our lives have been changed by our encounter with Him as well. Lent is an opportunity to change our hearts, to live more holy and better lives. Our Lenten journey is the perfect time to focus on our faith; all the things we pledge to give up and all the things we pledge to do is a design for conscious spiritual growth. It is not too late, never too late to drink from the well. Today we sing together our sincere desire to not harden our hearts, and to choose for the water of life.
The Samaritan woman was excited to know that Living Water would be available to her any time she needed it, she wouldn’t have to go far, and it was a never-ending spring. All of us, like her, should be excited about this—and our Lenten journey is to help us understand and live her experience at the well with Jesus. Drink up!
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
I was thinking about the importance of water to those who live in the desert, especially in the time of Jesus. The simple act of needing a drink meant walking (at times) a great distance to the well, and then taking away only what water they were able to carry. (Water is pretty heavy…) Even in today’s world, clean water is still difficult for many people to get and to have for everyday use. There is even a prediction (like so other many important, life-giving things) that clean, potable water is a future commodity for selling and control.
The Responsorial Psalm today (#95) is “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” It reminds us that every prayer of praise, petition and thanksgiving must be supported and sustained by sincere repentance. A hardened heart is a serious spiritual condition caused by repeated refusals to recognize and acquiesce to our loving God─like the Samaritan woman initially not recognizing Jesus as living water. None of us is immune from a hardness of heart, which can alienate us from God, and turn us from the well.
We hear the Gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus today, and how her life changed after an encounter with Him. We need to ask ourselves if our lives have been changed by our encounter with Him as well. Lent is an opportunity to change our hearts, to live more holy and better lives. Our Lenten journey is the perfect time to focus on our faith; all the things we pledge to give up and all the things we pledge to do is a design for conscious spiritual growth. It is not too late, never too late to drink from the well. Today we sing together our sincere desire to not harden our hearts, and to choose for the water of life.
The Samaritan woman was excited to know that Living Water would be available to her any time she needed it, she wouldn’t have to go far, and it was a never-ending spring. All of us, like her, should be excited about this—and our Lenten journey is to help us understand and live her experience at the well with Jesus. Drink up!
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
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