Third Sunday of Lent: Year A First Reading: EXODUS 17:3-7 Second Reading: ROMANS 5:1-2, 5-8 Gospel Reading: JOHN 4:5-42 As early as the fourth century., the period of preparation for the sacred Triduum and for the immediate baptismal preparation of catechumens was dominated by three important scripture texts. In Year A of the three year liturgical cycle, these texts constitute the gospels for the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent. Each of these gospels has been coupled with a reading from the Hebrew Scriptures designed to place the gospel proclamation in the framework of salvation history. Because each of the persons featured in the gospels, e.g. the woman of Samaria, the man born blind and Lazarus, is a paradigm of conversion, their stories offer excellent catechesis for Lenten penitents. Each gospel also features the transforming love of Christ for those whom he calls to salvation; he is living water, light and sight for the blind, and the source of life for all who believe. Fresh, potable water is a necessity of life which most readers of this publication can probably take for granted. As near as the kitchen sink, cooler or fountain, water is also available in different flavors and at various prices for more sophisticated and/or jaded palates. Although the need for water has not changed, it is a natural element over which we have gained control. “Is it possible, under such conditions, for water to retain its salvific significance? The symbolism we use in catechumenal and baptismal liturgy, is it not perhaps irrelevant for people?” However, not all of this world’s people enjoy the same advantages. The country of Bahrain, for example, is one of the hottest regions on earth. Located on the Persian Gulf, Bahrain’s comparatively numerous population has no fresh water supply. Survival is possible only because of copious springs at the bottom of the sea. Each day, divers with large goatskin bags wound around their left arms, take heavy stones in their right hands and plunge deep into the sea. When they reach the undersea springs, they release the stone which has helped them to descend, open their bags over the strong jet of water and close them quickly; then, buoyed up by the ascending current from the springs, the rise to the surface where they are given a fresh bag and stone in order to dive, again and again, until sufficient water has been collected for the day. Because of the arduousness of this process, water is a valued and precious commodity in Bahrain and its people are appropriately sensitive and respectful of its significance for their lives. Today, the church, in an effort to renew a similar sensitivity and respect among us, puts before us for our reflection, the scriptural motif of water. In both the first reading and the gospel, water is presented as a gift, necessary for life, a gift which God, who alone is the source of life, can give. With water in the wilderness, God sustained the people he had called forth from slavery, blessed with freedom, and graced with an abiding relationship (covenant) with himself. Master and creator of the universe, who made the “waters above” and the “waters below” (Genesis 1:7), Yahweh was also the keeper and creator of the history of his people. For Israel, water became a symbol of Yahweh’s constant care and attentive presence. In order to have their every thirst slaked by him, Israel had only to believe (Exodus). Paul, in his letter to the Romans, described the saving water of God’s love as a gift poured out into the hearts of powerless but believing sinners. In the gospel, Jesus’ exchange with the woman at the well awakened in her a thirst for the wholeness and integrity which she had lost and which he had come to satisfy. Her joy was contagious and instilled in others a similar thirst for the living water he offered and continues to offer to all who believe. Today, various assemblies are gathered together by a shared need for the water of salvation. Washed in it at baptism, renewed by its abundance at each Eucharist, alerted to it in every proclamation of the Word, and daily empowered by the Spirit, we are challenged to remain thirsty for the living water which only God can give.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 11:25:52 +0000
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