March 7, 1999Third Sunday of Lent |
The image of water is prominent in this weekend's readings - with the water coming from the rock which Moses struck, and the image of the water with the Woman at the Well, and the teaching of the Living Water. These are fitting images for Lent and for the reflection on the importance of the Sacrament of Baptism. The story of the woman at the well is much more than a recounting of a conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at a well in the town of Schechem. Fr. Raymond Brown SS, in his two-volume work on THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN, writes concerning the passage about the living water, that In this scene John has given us the drama of a soul; struggling to rise from the things of this world to belief in Jesus. Not only the Samaritan woman but every man must come to recognize who it is that speaks, and must ask Jesus for living water...What was Jesus referring to when he spoke of giving 'living water' to the woman? Clearly the living water is not Jesus himself but something spiritual that he offers to the believer who can recognize God's gift. The living water is not eternal life but leads to it. The very use of the symbol of water shows how realistically John thought of eternal life. Some interpretations of this living water are 1) Jesus' revelation or teaching; 2) the Spirit communicated by Jesus; and sometimes 3) Sanctifying grace. All three interpretations have merit!
The origin of pretzels came out of Italian monasteries' practices during Lent. Since fat, eggs and milk were forbidden during Lent at that time these special breads, shaped in the form of praying arms, were made with a dough consisting only of flour, salt and water. They were known as bracellae, the Latin word for little arms. In Germany this word became bretzel. They were a common Lenten food throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. In the original shape of arms folded across the chest in prayer, they became a year round snack only during the last century.
Another Lenten food that began in England after the forbidden fat, eggs and milk were once again allowed was Hot Cross Buns. These are sweet rolls containing currants or raisins. They originally ate them on Good Friday so they were iced with a cross. Later they came to be served all during Lent. Today most bakeries prepare them during the Lenten-Easter season.
God is never far from us. Even when we feel alone or abandoned the Lord is there with us.
We find in the first reading from Exodus 17:3-7, the people complaining that they are in the desert without water. They are going to die. Through His servant Moses, God reassures them and water gushes forth from the rock. The Lord is the One who is close to them.
This closeness is fully revealed in the Gospel as Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Jesus initiates the conversation: give me something to drink. She is bewildered and confused that a man and more unlikely, a Jew would ask for a drink of water.
In this powerful passage she comes to recognize that Jesus, and He alone, can give her water that will quench her thirst not just physically but spiritually.
We, too, are invited into the dialog between Jesus and this woman and have our thirst satiated by the living water that only the Lord can give.
The challenge here is not just to drink but to tell all about He who offers the true water, the divine life, which will satisfy our deepest yearnings.
Let this powerful episode free us to enter into conversation with the Lord Jesus this week. He, is the One who is able to come into our lives with a profound sense of peace. As Jesus says, let us worship in Spirit and in Truth, that is, let Him quench our thirst for the ultimate meaning of life.
Fr. Ron
The gospel reading tells us the story of the Samaritan woman who offered to Jesus water from the well; he, in turn, offered her the living water of eternal life (prefiguring baptism). As a result, she and many others came to know that Jesus is the Savior.
In a similar fashion the first reading from Exodus points out to us that the Israelites grumbled against Moses for leading them out of Egypt. They were thirsty, and there was no water in the desert. So Moses struck a rock with his staff, and water flowed out for the people to drink.
Analogously, St. Paul shares with us in the second reading that the love of God has been poured into our hearts, and that love is immeasurable: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us to bring us life.
Message:
The "living water" of our religion -- which comes to us through baptism, liturgical celebration, personal spirituality, continuing education in the faith, willingness to witness, and ongoing inner renewal -- is both death-dealing and life-giving. As we wash away the obstacles to being fully alive and the stumbling blocks to spiritual progress, we discover the nourishment and energy necessary for knowing, encountering, and identifying with the Lord Jesus, the source of "living water." This approach to religion typifies our thirst for, awareness of, movement toward, and commitment to the life-giving waters of Christ, who out of love died for us that we might live. In this renewal of our baptism, we concentrate our attention this week on the virtue of love -- realizing the love shown to us, returning the love given to us.
Application:
The way we apply and identify with the message of today's Word of God can be captured in a few questions:
--Father Benet OFM
Over the course of generations, the Christian mind has gained from the Gospel as it is read in the ecclesial community a fine sensitivity and an acute perception of the seeds of death contained in sin, as well as a sensitivity and an acuteness of perception for identifying them in the thousand guises under which sin shows itself. This is what is commonly called the sense of sin.
This sense is rooted in man's moral conscience and is at it were its thermometer. It is linked to the sense of God, since it derives from man's conscious relationship with God as his Creator, Lord and Father. Hence, just as it is impossible to eradicate completely the sense of God or to silence the conscience completely, so the sense of sin is never completely eliminated.
Nevertheless, it happens not infrequently in history, for more or less lengthy periods and under the influence of many different factors, that the moral conscience of many people becomes seriously clouded. ... It is inevitable therefore that in this situation there is an obscuring also of the sense of sin, which is closely connected with the moral conscience, the search for truth and the desire to make a responsible use of freedom. When the conscience is weakened the sense of God is also obscured, and as a result, with the loss of this decisive inner point of reference, the sense of sin is lost.
The restoration of a proper sense of sin is the first way of facing the grave spiritual crisis looming over man today. But the sense of sin can only be restored through a clear reminder of the unchangeable principles of reason and faith which the moral teaching of the Church has always upheld. [RP n. 18]
Without a healthy awareness of their own sinfulness, people will never experience the depth of God's redeeming love for them while they were still sinners (see Rom 5:8). [TPS 38/6, 1993, 371]
-- Pope John Paul II
There are human events that God uses to call us toward Himself. These closing years of the second millennium offer a unique opportunity to bring to an end a time of sinfulness and to take hope in a new era of grace. God's fidelity has been proven from the past and beckons us to begin anew. Catholics everywhere should consider a worthy and confident return to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The moment is right. The time now. The future is open. The Church invites us all to enter tomorrow leaving the sinful past behind. No matter how long it may have been since you last sought reconciliation through this sacrament, this moment is particularly appropriate to celebrate God's mercy and love. Similar to other powerful moments of grace, the coming of the great Jubilee is a time to reflect upon the truly important events that mark all of our lives. We have been singularly blessed to live at this moment in human history.
The uniqueness of this moment is also a grace that none of us will ever witness again. These next few months that lie ahead of the Jubilee, increasingly will be trivialized by commercial advertisement. Some might be tempted to believe that the greatest concern would be the worldwide malfunctioning of our computers. Some might even think that this is only a prelude to a great party on the eve of the year 2000. There will also be prophets of doom who might invite us to see the coming millennium as a great disaster or time of reckoning. The gentle and faithful voice of the Church seeks to have us see this as a time ripe for reconciliation, for peacemaking, for renewal and for the restoration of treasured relationships. This is a time for conversion like no other that we have ever witnessed. Surely it is a moment for every Catholic to receive the sacrament that began with Jesus' wish and promise of peace for us all.
The grace of conversion is God's gift to us to draw closer to him and to one another and the grace of this moment in history is like none other that we have witnessed before or shall a second time.
Ever discover you just can't eat? Maybe you have an exam coming up. Or you're about to give a speech. Or it's only days before your wedding.
Emotional events in our lives can cause physical reaction---tensing up the stomach, making it hard to even think about food. We naturally fast as a means of preparing.
Imagine the church, the body of Christ, as one giant organism getting ready for the big event of the year, Easter. The emotional promise of that day is causing a physical reaction in us. It's hard to think about food when we're drawing so close to the celebration of death and resurrection of the Lord.
Our most common form of liturgical fasting is the hour we spend before receiving Communion, abstaining from food and drink. Most of us don't think about it any more, but it used to be a three hour fast, and prior to that, a fast from midnight. This had the advantage of making communion the first food of the day, a real spiritual "breakfast."
The canon and local laws regarding fasting during Lent are well publicized each year. We abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, and we fast (eating only one full meal) on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
But the liturgy presumes that fasting, or some form of self-sacrifice, accompanies the Lenten season. On Ash Wednesday, the opening prayer asks God to "make this day holy by our self-denial." The prayers of blessing over the ashes asks to "keep us faithful to the discipline of Lent." Before blessing the palms on Palm Sunday the presider will remind us that "for five weeks of Lent we have been preparing, by works of charity and self-sacrifice, for the celebration of our Lord's paschal mystery."
Holy Saturday, not just Good Friday, implies the presence of a fast. The church abstains from communion; it may be given only to the dying. And those preparing for Baptism, "should refrain from their usual activities, spend their time in prayer and reflection, and, as far as they can, observe a fast. (RCIA 185). We all, may find that extending the fast from Good Friday through Saturday helps us celebrate Easter better.
Fasting heightens our anticipation of Easter and gives us solidarity with the world's hungry. A fast at home will give new life to the prayers we hear and the songs we sing this Lent!
Paul Turner
Modern Litrugy
1. EXODUS 17:3-7.
We hear how the Israelites, freed from slavery, must cross the desert to the promised land. Without water they will die. They complained to Moses, who, in turn, talked to God about the problem. The story stands as reminder of our spiritual thirst and God's determination to provide for us.
APPLICATION: That vague restlessness we feel on our best days, that longing for something more than the ordinary lives we lead, is the thirst only God can quench.
2. ROMANS 5:1-2, 5-8.
St. Paul reminds us of the ground of our faith and hope. Christ died for us when we were sinners. Like the people of the desert, we have been rescued by God and his everlasting love.
APPLICATION: In the waters of Baptism, we first taste the results of Christ's death for sinners and his resurrection into holy glory.
3. JOHN 4:5-42.
Once more the image of water will be presented to us, and this time by Jesus himself. He promised the Samaritan woman a kind of water which would quench her spiritual thirst forever.
APPLICATION: Jesus invites us, Come to the water!. He accepts us as we are and enables us to accept him as He is.
Fr. Eugene R. Sinz
THEME: NEW BEGINNINGS: Ever since I was a child, I've loved the first day of school. As a teacher I still loved the first day of school. Now that I have my own children, I really love the first day of school. New beginnings. That's what we see in today's readings. God promises Abram a rich heritage and plenty of descendants. All he has to do is leave home. The Transfiguration is one of the most awesome changes in recorded history. Change reminds us that we are on a journey. Faith reminds us that we are not alone. God goes with us.
God provided life (water) for the Hebrew people where it seemed impossible for water to come from a rock. St. Paul reminds us that the love of Christ is more powerful, more extraordinary, than anyone can imagine. The Samaritan woman at Jacob's well witnessed the extraordinary event of Jesus' love of her, and her unbelief in him is transformed into trusting faith. What is the dryness and lifelessness in our lives? Are we caught in going through the motions without real meaning? Are we oppressed by the dryness of always being in control? Can we make a journey of conversion into life-giving water, into trusting faith, into a life with direction and meaning?
On this third weekend of Lent, elected Catechumens celebrate the "First Scrutiny." It is not an excuse for pastor or parish to poke or probe into their lives. Rather, it is a rite of self- searching, for serious examination. And as we help them do this, we, the faithful in Christ, cannot help but do it ourselves. The gospel tells the story of a woman from an outcast nation discussing theology with Jesus at Jacob's well. The gospel proclaims our beliefs: 1) All life is dependant on God, 2) We worship God alone, 3) Christ, the Redeemer is living water. The gospel raises the questions, "What dries out my life?" For what am I thirsty?"
Lent originated as a time of final preparation for those who were to be initiated into the Church at Easter. As the practice of public penance developed in the Church, this season was also a time for preparing penitents for Reconciliation on Holy Thursday.
In the early Church, catechumens were called to intensive preparation for the sacraments in these weeks before Easter, which were a time of purification and enlightenment. The element of purification was stressed in the scrutinies, solemn exorcisms celebrated by the bishop to assure that the lives of the elect had truly changed and that they were free of any demons that might keep them from following Christ wholeheartedly. The presentation to candidates of the Gospels, the profession of faith, and the Lord's Prayer were intended to enlighten candidates, to lead them to see things in a new way.
Lent was also, in early Churches, a season for penitents to prepare for Reconciliation with the Christian community. By allowing themselves to be marked with ashes, penitents gave evidence of their sincere desire to do penance. Fasting, prayer and almsgiving were the three great ways of penance that these Christians were called to embrace.
In the Roman calendar today, Lent has been restored to its Baptismal and penitential character. Conversion, however, is not the calling of only a few among us, but rather of the whole community. Thus, as the elect prepare for initiation at the Easter Vigil, all of us are called to reflect on the meaning of our Baptism.
Here's how we all wish Y2K would go.....
January 1, 2000
RE: Vacation Pay
Dear Valued Employee
Our records indicate that you have not used any vacation time over the past 100 years(s). As I'm sure you are aware, employees are granted 3 weeks of paid leave per year of pay in lieu of time off. One additional week is granted for every 5 years of service. Please either take 9,400 days off of work or notify our office and your next paycheck will reflect payment of $8,277,432.22 which will include all pay and interest for the past 1,200 months.
Sincerely, Automated Payroll Processing
In Jesus' Love, Fr. John
