Living Water, New Life
Lent's third Sunday
Dear Saints,
This Sunday's Gospel presents a lively exchange between Jesus and a Samaritan woman.
We don't realize, I think, how absurd this scene is. Let me count the ways:
Since their return from exile in Babylon, the central section of Israel's ancestral land was occupied by a group of people claiming to be Abraham's true descendants. Who made that incendiary claim and defended it with their lives? That's right: the Samaritans.
Jesus is known to be a holy man. He's at the head of a movement to bring Israel back to God. It's unthinkable for him to be alone with a woman, for all the risk that would entail (gossip, the temptation to immorality, etc.).
The woman is of ill-repute. Coming to the well at midday meant she'd miss the morning crowd. The women of the town would have known her and her indiscretions well. Neither she nor they cared to face up to it.
This is unsafe territory all around. But there Jesus is, risking everything to reach an untouchable.
The story doesn't stop there. In a dramatic reversal of fortune, this character of serial contamination becomes a spring of water welling up to eternal life for the very people who were most likely to condemn her.
Just as he wooed the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus comes to claim every human heart. When we entrust ourselves to him, his merciful love at work in us and through us - unlikely candidates though we may be - will renew the face of the earth.
I hope to see you soon!
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
PS Please be in touch, especially if you are distancing yourself socially from others. You are not alone, and we are here to help.
PPS Check out Bishop Barron's commentary (below) on the Woman at the Well.
PPPS Welcome Home to Healing will go on, coronavirus and all. Churches in the Diocese of Paterson are open for confessions every Monday night from 7:00-8:30pm. The last Monday for the initiative is March 30th.
Bishop Barron on the Woman at the Well
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Third Sunday of Lent
Christ and the Woman of Samaria
by Giovanni Lanfranco, 1582-1647