March 27, 2011
Third Sunday of Lent A
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
Here, then, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” Exodus 17:3-4
For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:13-15
Piety
Piety is the answer to our thirst for Jesus. Our piety is constituted by our goodness. All goodness has its source in Christ. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. There is no one outside of Mary that fits the bill of sinless. How many different ways thirst plays out in each of us: There is thirst for power, thirst for wealth and thirst for honor and glory and all the things of life that constitute greatness in our world. Everything short of Christ is incomplete in life. Christ is the incredible answer to what is love. The “no greater love than to give one’s life for another” shows the fullness of love in the life that was offered for everyone on the cross. The Father’s love in giving us his only son to die for us gives us in the Cross of Jesus the greatest statement of a God love. How we accept Christ is seen in our piety. We are faint imitations of Christ’s love in how we live our lives for the sake of each other. We are called Christians because of the way we live Christ’s love. But we are called to be real Christs in the truth of our destiny to find ourselves in Christ. We know we are created in the image and likeness of Christ. We have to convince our world that we are the victory of Christ by living a fullness of his resurrection in the joy we have of being his followers and so much more.
Study
The story of the woman of Samaria that came to draw water where Christ we resting, we study with great interest. Christ came to call sinners. We have no excuse for avoiding Christ. He calls us to drink from the blood and water that flowed from his pierced heart on the cross. We have the Sacramental life of the Church almost unused by the people of our world. The minimal of a Sunday liturgy seems to satisfy too many of our people. We need to hunger and to thirst for Christ as much as we thirst and hunger for food when we are fasting. Christ comes to our thirsts and our hungers. He is always there waiting on us and ready to meet our needs if we would ask. Our study gets us over the hurdle of not knowing what to ask and how to ask is what we learn by the story of the woman of Samaria. Christ is the fountain of everlasting life.
Action
Everyone has the thirst for Christ whether they know it or not. We go from our discovery of life in Christ to obtaining it for ourselves and sharing it with others. Our apostolic actions are the expression of the truth that the only way we can hold unto Christ is to share him. We have to give those in our lives a chance to discover what we hold so dear by the way we live and share our lives. Eucharist is the food of everlasting life and the minimal of Sundays becomes the frequency of daily communions as we grow. One or two extra times at Mass each week become the means by which we are not only taken into Christ, but also enlivened by his coming to us. It is a two way street. We make the journey to the sacraments and Christ comes back with us. We cannot give what we do not have. Christ gives us the living water that we may never thirst again. We bring our friends to Christ so that they can discover for themselves what it is that gives us life.
