Sermon by Father Alex McAllister SDS        Index

Third Sunday of Lent, Year A—2005 Homily

 

The story of the Woman at the Well in the Gospel of John is incredibly rich and full of meaning. It certainly offers plenty of material for fruitful meditation during this season of Lent.

We have too many things going on today to give it the detailed attention it deserves. We are very much looking forward to hearing our schoolchildren who will be singing their entry to the Thornbury Eisteddfod after Holy Communion.

We also have our Confirmation candidates who will be formally enrolled and accepted at this mass. They are to be Confirmed here by the bishop on 14th May.

They will be presenting me with a letter requesting to be Confirmed. This is something we take very seriously since they are requesting to be admitted as full members of Christ’s Church. They have taken this step of their own volition and after mature reflection.

Like that Woman at the Well these young people have encountered Christ, have come to believe in him and now declare their faith to the community in which they live.

It says in the Gospel reading that many Samaritans of that town believed in him on the strength of the woman’s testimony. We are certain that if these candidates remain faithful the same will be able to be said about them—many people believed in him on the strength of their testimony.

Indeed perhaps this could be a measure of our own faith, perhaps, especially in this time of Lent, each one of us should ask ourselves if through our testimony many people have come to faith in Christ.

In the case of the Samaritan Woman she came to faith herself and became the occasion of faith to those others because she said, ‘He told me all I have ever done.’ And, of course, what she had done was not very creditable having five so-called husbands.

What she had done was sinful but Christ, despite his extensive knowledge of her sins, speaks to her with great respect and acceptance. And he goes much further than this, he promises her living water, water that will be the key to eternal life. We realise here that he is referring to the waters of Baptism.

What our young people are doing in presenting themselves for Confirmation is bringing to completion their Baptism. They are affirming what was done on the day of their Christening and through Laying on of Hands and the Prayer of the Church will have the Holy Spirit poured out upon them. This is not for their own sake but to equip them for their mission of proclaiming the Gospel.

We pray for them today and our prayer is that they continue to grow in holiness and Christian maturity and that they will be effective witnesses for Christ in the world. May God bless them and give them the strength and courage they will need as full members of Christ’s Church.

 

The story of the Woman at the Well is full of teaching but it is a teaching spoken cryptically and is full of double meanings. It deserves to be studied closely and thoughtfully.

This Season of Lent is a time when we try to do something extra for God, something which will strengthen our faith and make us better Christians. There are many ways we can do this; traditionally people have focused on fasting and given up sweets, alcohol, meat, or other things such as cigarettes. Often we do this with an eye on our figures, and certainly losing a few pounds would benefit us all—perhaps especially me!

But there are other things we can do which would have a real spiritual benefit and would strengthen our Christian faith. Let me suggest that reading the Bible would be a good thing to do during Lent. Step one is to make sure that you actually have a Bible, there ought to be one in every Catholic home. But often it is on the lowest rack in the bookshelf and covered in dust.

Blow the cobwebs off and open it at today’s reading about the Woman at the Well and read it again, then focus on just the first couple of lines of the reading.

Think about that woman going out on an ordinary day to get water as she did thousands of times before. Think about the routine actions in your own life. Think about her meeting with Christ who came to her amidst these ordinary daily tasks and asked her for a drink. Ask yourself what he would ask from you now.

Mulling these two or three verses of the Gospel over in your mind for ten or twenty minutes can be extraordinarily productive. Dusting down that Bible a few times a week and just focusing on one or two lines or a small incident in the life of Jesus can open up new vistas in your spiritual life. Doing this regularly can lead to extraordinarily profound moments of prayer.

Jesus speaks about Living Water and we interpret this as the Water of Baptism and we are not wrong. But we can think of all kinds of Living Water—the Living Water of the Scriptures, the Living Water of Prayer, the Living Water of Worship, the Living Water of our Christian Fellowship.

We need to be fed, we need to have our thirst quenched but we need more than ordinary food and water which satisfy us only for a short time. Our hunger and thirst is not merely physical it is most of all a spiritual hunger and thirst and the Word of God is the food and drink that we really need, the words of Jesus in the scriptures are the only things that can bring us real satisfaction and fulfilment.