Third Sunday of Lent

The Gospel of this Sunday of Lent presents to us the dialogue of Jesus with a Samaritan; which shows us how Jesus acted against what was allowed or acceptable, by entering into a dialogue with a Samaritan and specially a woman. This tells us that God goes beyond prejudices and borders, goes beyond Samaritans and Jews, goes beyond any religion.

"How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" said the woman who was about to draw water. A question that reflects the differences, intolerance and even hatred of each other, in the times of Jesus and today’s date. With a simple request like "Give me a drink", Jesus started a conversation that seemed mundane, but the act of asking for help was the one that meant the most, the act of asking for help from someone who should not.

This conversation takes an interesting turn and focuses on a different kind of thirst and a different kind of water, "living water". The thirst of the human spirit is not the same thirst that comes from our physical body. The physical thirst calms down with the water that emanates from a well. The thirst of the human spirit, of the soul, of the heart is something very different. What the soul longs for is a little more complex, it is the longing for integrity, belonging, meaning, direction, and community, all those things combined.

Our hearts long for purpose and direction, and that purpose is expressed as love, forgiveness, mercy, compassion and justice. Water can quench our thirst, but it cannot calm our hearts. There are some things that allow life, such as water, and there are other things that give life, such as mercy, forgiveness and compassion. Only the water that flows from the spirit, compassion and community can fill us.

Jesus sends us those people who are excluded due to poverty, race, sexual orientation, immigration status or illness. We just need to reach beyond our personal concerns and we might realize we are committing ourselves only to a small fragment of what life has to offer, but when we see beyond our personal borders, we will be able to drink from so many other wells of living water.

I invite each and every one of us to find a way to quench our thirst, to drink living water, by helping someone who you think might need help, loving someone who suffers. I invite you to follow in Jesus' footsteps, "do the will of the one who sent us and finish his work."

"We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world." so let's go out, drink living water and offer living water, not only to our family and friends, also to the Samaritans, to those people who would be surprised that we are talking to them. Let us confirm for ourselves that this living water is eternal life and salvation.

Laura Montes Huicochea