March 27, 2011

I found this image on the internet.

JESUS AT THE WELL - AND HIS MESSAGE TO A PAGAN SINNER!

March 27 -Third Sunday in Lent By the time you read this, how will things be in Haiti? These poor people seem to have experienced every possible trial: a violent earthquake, heat and lack of food and water, then too much water ... a situation, therefore, even worse than the one described in today's First Reading. Not that the Chosen People had it easy. Absolutely not. They have been on the march for a long time, not sure of their destination, no sense of unity, no central organization, a leader who speaks to them - correctly - about the goodness of a God Whose goodness, however, they quickly forget in the long, weary days of going nowhere Their cry, in fact, is not a call for help but a bitter complaint. They have turned against God and their despair - however understandable - will be remembered, e.g. in Ps 78, 17-19.

Then comes relief - a typical God-provided relief and from the most unlikely source: an old rock in the desert. Even the faith of Moses did not fit the occasion. The Reading does not say so but we know that he struck the rock twice and for this seemingly minor infringement he was not allowed actually to lead the people into the promised land - merely to view it from a distance. Very sobering incident. How readily we talk about faith and obedience ... and how difficult it is to have either!

Rousing us out of this touch of depression we have a joyful Responsorial Psalm which it would be wonderful to sing if we had the music. Anyway, music or not, this Psalm lifts our spirits. Oh that we could listen to His voice and try to avoid rebellion in the midst of our own "deserts." It's not easy but perhaps in Lent we will make a special effort?

The Second Reading touches again on the theme of water but in the sense mentioned in the Gospel: "the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit." Or, to put it more accurately, after Baptism we have within us not only the Master but also the Father and the Spirit - they are inseparable. - and from the Spirit flows the water of life. Mystical language, certainly, but we don't have to understand it, just believe in the love of God for us.

From the First Reading - and the Second - we pass to the Gospel which has so many ideas and themes that we have to make a choice. There is the weariness of Christ - the infinite Creator of all things. There is the fact that he is in Samaritan country - not without some danger to his life. There is the meeting of a public sinner with the Lord of heaven and earth. There is the nonchalance of Jesus who chats freely with this woman, although we read that "his disciples, returning, were surprised to find him speaking with a woman." Why? Because it was simply "not done" in Jewish circles. In other circumstances he might have been accused of propositioning her!There is the interesting dialog showing that the woman - though far from perfect - did have some religious background. And finally - and most astonishingly - when the woman mentions that she and her people expect the great Messiah . . . the Lord reveals his identity to her, woman, a sinner, a member of a people heartily detested and despised by the true Jews!! Go figure!

Perhaps the reason was that she had faith which the religious certainly did not have. So this is one more possible theme in this exceptionally rich Gospel passage. Of course the major interest for us in it is the reference to water which the woman understands in its ordinary sense while Jesus is speaking of something greater: not just water alone but water transformed by the power of Christ. And here again we return to the great event of the Baptism of Jesus who was not changed by stepping into the water of the Jordan but rather changed that very water to become, in the Sacrament of Baptism, the door admitting him into our lives.

In a way it's a pity that most people receive Baptism as infants and thereafter pay scant attention to it not to talk of wanting to undo it. ( Last year we read of quite a few people who, shocked and disgusted by the many Church scandals, asked to be "unbaptized." My understanding is that this is not possible - Baptism marks you forever (just like Ordination), so the meaning may be that the people concerned felt the Church was not good enough for them. There were many of these cases in Ireland where the priesthood and the Church have taken a terrible beating. But this move is a mistake. You can't reform a Movement by leaving it - that reduces to zero your possibility of doing something positive. Moreover can the offended laity not identify with the good priests and the good laity in the Church? )

But these considerations musn't distract us from the messages of hope and future happiness contained in our liturgy.

(continued)

~March Concord Ch 6