Third Sunday of Lent
As we enter the third week of Lent, the Church invites us on a journey, walking alongside the catechumens preparing for Baptism at Easter. The Sunday readings of Year A are designed to deepen our longing for the “living water” promised to them—and to remind us of the grace given to us in our own baptismal journey.
Water is a symbol we can easily grasp; it makes up 60% of our bodies, and we cannot survive long without it. “Stay hydrated” is a common catch phrase, but what if we applied that same urgency to our souls? In the desert of our daily struggles—anxiety, busyness, or broken relationships—our souls are often as parched as the Israelites in the wilderness. On the spiritual plane, our “thirst” reveals that the deepest longing of the human heart is for God. This yearning is so profoundly expressed in Psalm 63: “O God, you are my God; at dawn I seek you; for you my soul is thirsting. For you my flesh is pining, like a dry, weary land without water” (Ps 63:2).
The Israelites’ thirsty grumbling in the desert finds its ultimate reversal in today’s gospel: Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. She comes at noon to avoid being seen, trying to fill her life with water that leaves her thirsty again and again. Jesus breaks through all social and religious barriers to ask for a drink from the well, but then turns the tables to offer her water—but much more than water—a “spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This living water doesn’t just quench a momentary thirst; it becomes an internal source of life. The beauty of this encounter is that the woman leaves her water jar behind; she no longer needs the old ways of trying to satisfy her soul.
Where and how do we find this amazing spring of water that has the power to bestow eternal life? Fr. Jacques Philippe offers us this insight: “Faith and prayer enable us to discover the presence of God in us, a pure, ever-flowing spring of water by which we are washed and renewed. We discover the true face of God, God in his fatherhood, his mercy, his absolute and unconditional love… It is through faithfulness to prayer that we enter into a real experience of God” (The Way of Trust and Love, pp. 83-84).
This Lent, let us not be afraid to bring our parched, thirsty hearts to the well of Christ’s love. Let us stop running after empty cisterns and instead allow the Eucharist, the Word, and the silence of prayer to be our refreshment. Let us, like the woman at the well, leave behind our old jars and drink deeply from the living water already within us.
Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB
Posted in Articles for Lent, Daily Reflections