15 March, 2020. 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A

1st Reading: Exodus 17:3-7

God provides refreshment for the people in the wilderness

The people thirsted for water in the desert. They complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Responsorial: Psalm 94: 1-2, 6-9

Response: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts

Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Let us come before him, giving thanks,
with songs let us hail the Lord.

Come in; let us bow and bend low;
let us kneel before the God who made us
for he is our God
and we the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the desert
when your fathers put me to the test;
when they tried me,
though they saw my work.’

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

God has reconciled us through the life of Christ

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Gospel: John 4:5-42

Jesus offers living water, the gift of the Holy Spirit

Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, an the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jeusalem.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, 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 know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour.. Others have labour.ed, and you have entered into their labour..”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.”

May your words, O Lord be on my lips, and in my heart. May they guide me on life’s journey and keep me near to you.

Drinking from the fountain of life

Without a constant water-supply our life would be impossible since our bodies need constant hydration. Not so obvious is the soul’s thirst for meaning, for vision and purpose in life. We can be so taken up with surface concerns as to neglect our spirit’s longing for God. Like the Israelites, we focus upon our physical needs, but are often unmindful of our Creator who supplies them. It is Jesus who offers us the reviving water of eternal life, an ability for union with God, which is our deepest need. In today’s Gospel he satisfies a thirsting soul. When water is brought to it, how the desert can blossom. (We may cite examples of successful irrigation in Israel, Egypt, California.) The miracle of growth can take place in the parched soul, if God lets his Spirit flow over us. All doubt, fear and sin will yield to the new life of grace.

Our baptism, the sacrament of our washing with the water of Christian faith was a priveleged contact with the grace of Christ. By it we were planted in the garden of God, with room to put down roots, and draw vital nourishment from the living spring of the Saviour. Yet we need continuing help, to keep spiritually alive and pleasing to God as life goes on. Like the desert-wandering Jews, we suffer from thirst; we grow weary in confronting problems and temptations (sketch examples — ) Jesus guarantees the “living water” we need. His own Spirit is always at hand to give courage and fidelity.

“To dwell in the house of the Lord.” This desire is shared by the mystic tradition in other religions: namely, a yearning to be in the presence of God, and be welcomed by God. All people are called to drink from that fountain that bubbles with life. In times of widespread religious scepticism, the hope of heaven as eternal life after death is often rejected as wishful thinking. But we cling to this hope, relying on the word of Jesus. The early Christians drew hope and joy from this prospect of eternal life. They persevered until death for the sake of “the glory that will be revealed in us.” We too are asked to to live the values of the Gospel, in hope of finally taking our place at the fountain of life.

An tsíocháin a bhronnann Íosa ar na creidmhigh

Tugann ocras Íosa deis dó an t-ocras agus an cíocras a bhí air an obair a thug an tAthair dó a chur i gcrích, le síolchur agus fómhar. Is coitiant inniú amhras i gcúrsaí creidimh – amhras faoi phointí de theagasc morálta, faoi fhírinní an chreidimh, fiú féin faoi bheith ann do Dhia. Cuid de fhealsúnacht áirithe an lae inniú nach ann do chinnteacht ar bith. Tuairmíocht seachas cinnteacht a bheadh ann, a athraíonn ó aois go haois.

Ní deimhneacht nó cinnteacht shiceolaíoch, a bhfuil a préamha san aigne dhaonna, atá i gceist ag Íosa, ach suáilce dhiaga an dóchais, bronntanas ó Dhia, a thugann cinnteacht atá thar acmhainn an nádúir dhaonna. Is deimhneacht agus cinnteacht í a bhfuil síocháin ag ghabháil léi, an tsíocháin sin a bhronnann Íosa ar na creidmhigh agus nach féidir le haoinne í a thógaint uathu. (Máirtín Mac Conmara)