Dear Friends,

This Third Sunday of Lent, Mother Church offers the bewildering story of Jesus encountering the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar. What is fascinating is the calm and tenderness with which Jesus initiates what, in the cultural terms of His day, would have been scandalous. The Samaritan woman, because of shame, approaches the well in the heat of midday (a time when no one else would actually be out) to avoid any kind of conversation, especially about her “situation.” Jesus, on the other hand, after sending His disciples away to find something to eat, is settling Himself down for a moment of quiet and restful reflection. And as luck would have it, she observes an unexpected someone at the well. Inevitably, she was wondering “Why?” “Why me?” “Why today?” Her only real “free” time away from the house and outside, and her normal routine is thrown out of whack. The Samaritan woman anxiously approaches, respecting the cultural mores of the day—head down and not making eye contact—to draw water from the well and return to her home, minding her own business all the while. Jesus, however, recognizes in this woman of contradictions … a lost sheep; and rousing Himself from His prayerful repose sets out into the wilderness of her conflicted life to extend to her the invitation to genuine peace, for which her heart so desperately longs. Beyond her initial shock that someone is at the well; drawing closer, she realizes that that someone is a man, and that that man is a Jewish man; and that this Jewish man is speaking to her, a Samaritan woman. If all of this is not enough to really mess up her day; He actually has the nerve, this enemy of hers, to ask her to give Him a drink!

This woman, who slinks around in shame during midday just so she would not have to engage with others, could have simply drawn the water she needed, ignored this bothersome stranger, and gone on her way. In fact, that is exactly what she should have done if she had followed the prescribed local customs regarding the proper conduct in such situations. Instead, His sincerity and her intrigue led her to make the risky choice to engage this stranger. This leap of faith, without her knowing it, allows her to encounter God Himself. She already knows that this decision will demand something of her, even if it is simply a cup of water or the scorn of anyone from the town who might actually see her with Him. But, if she only knew …

As the story develops, we see the transfiguration of this chance encounter into a relationship as we follow the way in which she addresses Jesus. She starts by calling Him, “Jew,” then “Sir,” then “prophet,” and finally “Messiah, the Christ … the anointed One.” Jesus accepts her, as she is there and then, in her brokenness, insecurity, confusion, and contradictions and addresses her respectfully and lovingly. The whole story is turned upside down and inside out. This woman knows that her life choices have made her a pariah; an embarrassment to her own people and spiritually unclean to the Jewish people. Bearing the burden of this identity and her awkward situation, she secretly goes to the well to get some water and continue with her lackluster life devoid of hope and peace. This woman is approached by Jesus, who by asking her for a drink of water rouses her from the slumber of her hopelessness. He invites her to delve deep into herself to realize that while capable of some poor/sinful/stupid choices … these choices do not define the person she truly is … created in the image of God. He offers her the eternal and life-giving water of divine grace. She accepts His invitation, yields her vision of things and drinks abundantly, so much so that she runs into the town, despised as she was, to announce that she had found the Messiah … or better, the Messiah had found her. And to her surprise and that of every subsequent generation; they heard her declaration of faith, listened to the passion of her heart with which she proclaimed the kerygma, and came to faith in this stranger who unexpectedly entered her life allowing her to discover her true and authentic self.

THIS IS OUR STORY—would that we see it and hear it and listen to the Word pulsing through its subtlety! We are all the woman of Sychar—aware of our limitations and sinfulness, yet unwilling to admit it to ourselves or to discuss it with anyone else. We, allowing ourselves to be defined by “our” choices, forget and deny the Truth that we are created in the image and likeness of the God of Love. Unexpectedly we encounter a stranger: who disrupts our schedule; demands something of our time—of ourselves; challenges us from the doldrums of life for which we have settled as “enough;” and calls us to True Life! Do we have the courage to offer Him the empty cup of our hearts to be filled with the eternal spring of His life and love? Will we be so refreshed as to go and share our joy of the encounter with Jesus, the source of true peace and everlasting life?

Be of good cheer, drink deep of the Spirit, and have a blessed week!

Msgr. Grous