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3rd Sunday of Lent Year A: Are You Thirsty?
Water is a precious thing, because it’s essential to life. Human thirst for water becomes a symbol of the deeper thirst for the divine. “Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is thirsting for you, my God. My soul is thirsting for God, the living God” [Ps 42]. The theme of thirst runs through today’s liturgy. Jesus, thirsty under the mid-day sun, asks for a drink from a Samaritan woman to satisfy His physical thirst, but He went ahead to offer her what He called “The Living Water,” which satisfied her deeper thirst. The living water which Jesus talked about and offered was the “Spirit of God’s love,” the foretaste of eternal life. Our own life of grace started with the “Waters of Baptism.”
The Samaritan woman made a kind of journey of faith in her encounter with Jesus. At first, she knew Jesus as “Sir,” a polite title. Then she recognized Him as “Prophet” and then she begins to believe “He is the Christ!” which she confessed. Her encounter with Jesus freed her to become a missionary, bringing Jesus to others as the “source of living water of God’s love.” “Jesus thirsted for her soul and for her salvation. Her willing reception of the gift of Jesus also brings satiation to the heart of the Lord. Jesus’ rummage through her sin and rubbish that was clustering her soul was to discover her dignity within,” says St Augustine. He sees her not as an ordinary Samaritan woman, but as a daughter of God. She is the symbol of every person coming to faith in Christ.
Her journey is parallel to the journey of faith taken by those in OCIA as they seek to know more about Jesus and prepare for the “Living Water” of baptism on their way to entering the Church at Easter. Today will be the first of the three Scrutinies for those going through OCIA. “The three Scrutinies are meant to uncover, and then heal, all that is weak, defective or sinful in the heart of the elect, and they bring out and strengthen all that is upright, strong and good.” [OCIA N.141].
We will never get to know the Lord if we do not take time to talk with Him, to listen, to respond, to have a conversation and to do more than just tell Him what we want Him to do for us. Like the Samaritan woman, we must be thirsty for the “Living Water.” We will only quench our thirst when we seek the Lord and find Him. “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God,” says St. Augustine. The Parish Revival is an opportunity to come together as a parish and do this search and encounter as a community. We must invest in our spiritual growth as a parish. We need to set time aside to spend with Him like the Samaritan woman.
As much as we thirst for Jesus, He feels the same way about us. “He longs for you; He thirst for you,” says St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata. When we seek Him, He’s going to pour His “Living Water: The Holy Spirit” into us. He is in our midst in such simple things as water, bread and wine: “The Eucharist.” When we seek Christ sincerely, He offers us lasting joy and refreshes us with the “Living Water,” which never ceases to flow. Thus St. Paul affirms: “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Come and drink from the “Living Spring,” who is Jesus. Amen.