Gospel for 15 March 2020
3rd Sunday of Lent
John 4:5-16,19-26,39-42
A spring of water welling up to eternal life
Jesus came to the Samaritan town called Sychar, near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well is there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat straight down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘What? You are a Jew and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?’ – Jews, in fact, do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus replied: If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you: give me a drink, you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water.’
‘You have no bucket, sir,’ she answered ‘and the well is deep: how could you get this living water? Are you a greater man than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?’ Jesus replied: Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again; but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.’
‘Sir,’ said the woman ‘give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water. I see you are a prophet, sir. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, while you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.’
Jesus said: ‘Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know: for salvation comes from the Jews. But the hour will come - in fact it is here already – when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.’
The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah – that is, Christ – is coming; and when he comes he will tell us everything.’ ‘I who am speaking to you,’ said Jesus ‘I am he.’
Many Samaritans of that town had believed in him on the strength of the woman’s testimony when she said, ‘He told me all I have ever done’, so, when the Samaritans came up to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed for two days, and when he spoke to them many more came to believe; and they said to the woman, ‘Now we no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he really is the saviour of the world.’
Reflexion
‘Sir,’ said the woman ‘give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water. How wonderful? To never thirst or hunger again. To never have to bear with disappointment after disappointments, loss, or even the pain of broken promises and dreams. Where could one find such a never ending source that will always satisfy, a source that will never run dry?
Our Lord gives us the answer - He is that bottomless well, the source of life, the river of grace that will never run dry as it drains its content into the oceans of our hearts. He tells us: “anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.”
We all know that life itself is not always satisfying as it can fall short of our expectations. We are left searching for something more than what we have, but we do not know what it is exactly or where to find it. Our Saviour Jesus Christ knows. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst,” so says our Lord (John 6:35).
That is why the Eucharist is for us Catholics the “daily food” we hunger for, we thirst for, we yearn for and we pray for. Some of the Sacraments are given to us only once (Baptism and Confirmation). But our Lord knows that the Eucharist is a gift that we must consume not only once but continually for as long as we live. Just as our bodies require daily sustenance, our souls too need daily nourishment and fulfillment.
But again, food when it is consumed frequently may lead to boredom. As they say “familiarity breeds contempt.” Too much of something good can make us less appreciative of it. It is only when we are deprived of that food, especially our favourite food, that we begin to yearn and hunger for it once more.
That is the reason why the Church calls us to observe the Eucharistic fast - to fast from food at least one hour before holy communion. Why? Fasting accentuates our hunger and thirst for the Eucharist. Our fasting from something which is good, that is food for our sustenance, prepares us for something better. Imagine being full before a delightful buffet. There will be no space left in our stomachs to enjoy the banquet laid before us. So to create a real, tangible, physical thirst and hunger for the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, we need to fast.
Of course, the Church would never think of asking us to fast from the Holy Eucharist permanently, especially when we are properly disposed and in a state of grace. How could she possibly deprive us of the food of angels, the bread from heaven and the antidote to death? But in order to truly enjoy the benefits of this life-giving sacrament, we must learn to cherish and appreciate its real value. If not, as St Paul warns us, “For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”
During these weeks of suspension of public masses, you will be asked to fast - not just from sin, from sloth, from gossip and indifference to your brothers’ need - but from the greatest food which God has given to us - the Body and Blood of His Only Begotten Son. I hope that through this difficult fasting, you may truly come to hunger, thirst and yearn for the one thing, the one good that surpasses all other goods in this world. At the end of this fast, humbled, spiritually hungry and thirsty, may we come before the Lord and echo the words of the Samaritan woman, “give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty” again.