First Reading: Exodus 17:3-7
Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
Alleluia: John 4:42, 15
Gospel: John 4:5-42
The readings for the Third Sunday in Lent are a progressive call to us to move from an aloof distrust of God’s faithful presence, of Him as our Rock and our supply of life-giving water to a rock solid faith in which we entrust ourselves to Him who has loved us and given Himself for us, believing in His presence and His being our Rock of Salvation and asking Him to provide that which we need for life, the living water of the Holy Spirit.
The readings begin with the Israelites grumbling against Moses because they were thirsty and didn’t see where the next drink was going to come from. Instead of turning to God themselves in prayers of petition for the water, trusting in His presence with them, they turn to God’s representative in the flesh, Moses, threatening him if he doesn’t come through what they want and need. So Moses turns to God himself and presents the problem to Him. God assures Moses that He will be present on the rock that Moses is to strike with his staff and God will provide the water that they will need.
The responsorial psalm then exhorts us to repent of our hard hearts and draw near to God in praise and adoration, proclaiming Him to be the Rock of our salvation and recognizing Him as our creator, shepherd and guide.
The Apostle Paul then assures us of our reconciliation with God and access to His grace which His Son, Jesus, has provided for us through faith or trust in Him. We can trust God, live in the hope of His glory, receiving His overflowing love through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We can entrust ourselves to God’s love because Jesus, His Son, died for us while we were still God’s enemies, holding ourselves far from His heart.
Finally, in the Gospel reading, we hear the story of Jesus waiting by a well in Samaria for a Samaritan woman who was an outcast even among her own people who were themselves considered outcasts by the Jews. John 4:4 says Jesus had to pass through Samaria. Actually, there was a longer bypass around Samaria that Jews normally took, because they didn’t want to have any dealings with the Samaritans. So why did Jesus have to go through Samaria? Because Jesus had an appointment with this woman and through her with the rest of the people in her village to bring His salvation to them.
At this point, I am going to take you to the beginning of Part 4, Section 1 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which touches upon this story. While I was still a Protestant desperately seeking to help in drawing near to God in prayer, I read this section where I discovered that Jesus loves me so much that he thirsts for me to draw near to Him in prayer. I had my first ecstatic experience of God’s love which lasted for a couple of hours. I was lost in the wonder of His love for me and the adoration of Him.
Feel free to check out the rest of that story and add your insights to this study. But here is the reading from the Catechism.
PART FOUR
CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION ONE
PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
2558 “Great is the mystery of the faith!” The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer.
WHAT IS PRAYER?
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. (St. Therese of Lisieux)
Prayer as God’s gift
2559 “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” (St. John Damascene) But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or “out of the depths” of a humble and contrite heart? (Psalm 130:1) He who humbles himself will be exalted; (Luke 18:9-14) humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” (Romans 8:26) are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.” (St. Augustine)
2560 “If you knew the gift of God!” (John 4:10) The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him. (St. Augustine)
2561 “You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10) Paradoxically our prayer of petition is a response to the plea of the living God: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water!” (Jeremiah 2:13) Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God. (John7:37-39; 19:28; Isaiah 12:3; 51:1; Zechariah 12:10; 13:1)
