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Saturday, March 22, 2014

Saturday is such a gift

Today is Saturday and we all enjoy Saturday in my community. Some sleep later, many just take time to read, get rid of mail that piles up during the week for those that are at work every week day; I just like the leisure we all feel and then the evening Mass. Tonight there is a concert at the seminary so I hope some of us go. We also have a house-guest which makes the week end special.
Now for something a bit more spiritual. I have been thinking of how Jesus revealed Himself with the Samaritan woman since this is the Gospel for the third Sunday of Lent. He was tired and thirsty and was sitting by the well waiting for this woman to come to draw water. He then asks her for a drink. Since Jewish men would not talk to a woman in public, especially an unknown Samaritan woman, she must have really been startled. However, she comes right back with a retort and so begins a fascinating dialogue between Jesus and this woman who He wants to not only convert but to have her become an evangelizer and go and call others. She seems struck by the fact that, as she tells people, Jesus has "told her all she has done." She knows that she is loved and also that she is known, forgiven, and befriended by one whom she now believes in with all her heart.
As I have often mentioned, as one of my theology professors used to say, "if you want to know the theology of a feast, go to the Preface." There is a special preface for the Third Sunday of Lent and it says:
"For when he asked the Samaritan woman for water to drink,
he had already created the gift of faith within her
and so ardently did he thirst for her faith,
that he kindled in her the fire of divine love."

Let us thank Jesus for the gift of faith and beg Him to kindle in our hearts the fire of His Love that will make us go out and invite others to come to Christ, the one who knows everything we have done and still loves us unconditionally!

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