Blog

Third Sunday of Lent, Monsignor Greg

Human relations have two dimensions. There are the differences that divide us, there are the needs that unite us. Jesus chose to emphasize the latter. Our Gospel passage for this weekend’s Mass is a case in point. Jesus needed a bucket on a rope to get to the water, the woman had that. The woman needed some acceptance, albeit from a stranger, and Jesus gave it to her. She was at the well “outside” the village whereas the social well was in the heart of the village where all the other women gathered to get water and to socialize. She was “left out.” No doubt she was living a lonely life and Jesus gave her some attention she sorely needed. Even though He was a man and she was a woman; even though He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan; their needs united them, He needed water, she needed acceptance.

There was also something “spiritual” about their encounter as well. As He pointed out, she had five broken marriages. That’s probably one of the reasons she wasn’t accepted by the other women of the village. Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t married to the man she now lived with. She was not only lonely, but she was also spiritually lost. Jesus didn’t condemn her, nor chastise her. He told her that she could find her way through Him. She needed water for her soul, and He could be that water for her.

When we gather at Mass, each of us comes with our own history that only Jesus knows about. Good for some people; a struggle for others. Wrong for some people; right for others. The one thing that unites us is that we come to the well of the Holy Eucharist, to encounter the Person who can give us Living Water through His Body and Blood. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He wants to be our companion on this pilgrimage of life, our journey of Faith. If we bring our thirst to Him and allow Him to feed our hunger, our spirits will be lifted, as was the case of the woman at the well two thousand years ago. -Msgr. Greg