OSF Reflection: 3rd Sunday of Lent

Reflection

1st Reading Exodus 17:3-7

Responsorial Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

2nd Reading Romans 5:1-2,5-8

Gospel John 4:5-42

 

Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure. (Canticle of the Creatures, St. Francis)

 

Parched or Thirsty?

 

The 1st Reading and the Gospel are about water! Water is necessary for all living creatures including you and I. Without water there can be no life. Francis of Assisi saw such a necessity when he praised the gift of water as useful, humble, precious and pure.

 

Speaking of water, we see in today’s readings two images of one being parched or thirsty. Parched literally means dried up while the word thirsty can suggest a strong desire for something. Our 1st Reading is about being parched. Being parched we are struggling, annoyed, irritated with a situation just like the Hebrews who grumbled against Moses and against God. They yearned not for the Promised Land but for the comfort of what they had while in their captivity in Egypt. This complaining, this grumbling and quarreling dried up the Chosen People and they became parched. They tested God at Massah and Meribah.

 

The Gospel offers a scene at the well and the request from Christ for a cup of water. Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman is an encounter where there is a desire, a thirst and a hunger for something that she is aware is missing in her life. Her conversation with Christ leads to a recognition of what that thirst is and that Christ can satisfy the true thirst of her heart and soul. This encounter and conversation lead to evangelization as she proclaims what I yearn and desire for I have found in Jesus.

 

This Lent are you parched or thirsty? Are you testing the Lord or yearning for the Lord? If today you hear God’s voice harden not your heart which can become parched but instead allow the living waters of Christ to fill your heart’s thirst for a deeper intimacy with Christ this Lent.

 

Prayer: O God, you are my God, for You I long; For You my soul is thirsting.

Brother Richard Contino, OSF