Third Sunday of Lent (A)

Fr. Julio César RAMOS González SDB(Mendoza, Argentina)

Today, just as in that Samarian afternoon, Jesus comes into our life, halfway through our Lenten journey, telling us, as He did to the Samaritan woman: “Give me a drink” (Jn 4:7). Saint John Paul II said: “His material thirst symbolizes a far deeper reality: it expresses His ardent desire that His dialogue partner and her fellow-citizens will open themselves to faith.”

The Preface of today’s Eucharist celebration speaks to us of this dialogue that ends up in a salvific barter where the Lord… “so deeply thirsted” for the salvation of the Samaritan woman “he set on fire in her the flame of God’s love”.

Even today Jesus continues to “thirst”, namely, to desire humanity “thirst” for our faith and love, “thirst” for our response of faith before so many Lenten invitations to conversion, to change, to reconcile to God and our brothers, to prepare ourselves, as much as we can, to receive a new life of resurrection in the nearing Easter.

“I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” (Jn 4:26): this direct and clear acknowledgment by Jesus of His mission, which He had never done before with anybody else, shows likewise God’s love, a love that undergoes more in quest for the sinner and promise of salvation, that will abundantly satiate the human desire for true Life. This is why, further down in this same Gospel, Jesus will proclaim: “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water* will flow from within him.’” (Jn 7:37b-38). So, your commitment today, is to go out of yourself and tell all men: “Come see a man who told me…” (Jn 4:29).

Thoughts on Today’s Gospel

• “Not for nothing was Jesus tired… The strength of Christ created you, the weakness of Christ recreated you. With his strength he created us, with his weakness he came to seek us out.” (Saint Augustine)
• “In the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, the topic of Christ’s “thirst” stands out in particular. It culminated in his cry on the Cross ‘I thirst’ (Jn 19:28). This thirst, like his weariness, had a physical basis. Yet Jesus thirsted for the faith of us all.” (Benedict XVI)
• “‘If you knew the gift of God!’ (Jn 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.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 2560)