DAILY- HOMILY

March 19, 2017 - 3rd SUNDAY OF LENT

Violet

Ex 17: 3 - 7 / Rom 5: 1 - 2, 5 - 8 / Jn 4: 5 – 42

FROM THE GOSPEL READING:     Jn 4: 9- 15, 21 - 26

     The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan and a woman, for a drink" (For Jews, in fact, have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus replied, "If you only knew the Gift of God! If you knew who it is that asks you for a drink, you yourself would have asked me and I would give you living water."

   The woman answered, "Sir, you have no bucket and this well is deep; where is your living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well after he drank from it himself, together with his sons and cattle?"

     Jesus said to her, "Those who drink of this water will be thirsty again; but those who drink of the water that I shall give will never be thirsty; for the water that I shall give will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

     The woman said to him, "Give me this water that I may never be thirsty and never have to come here to draw water." ...

     Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you shall worship the Father, but that will not be on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship without knowledge, while we Jews worship with knowledge, for salvation comes from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is even now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for that is the kind of worshippers the Father wants. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

     The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah, that is the Christ, is coming; when he comes, he will tell us everything. And Jesus said, "I who am talking to you, I am he."

REFLECTION 

     A tired and thirsty Jesus sits by Jacob's well in Sychar in Samaria - quite unusual as Jews were told not to enter Samaritan towns. Meanwhile, a Samaritan woman also comes to draw water from the same well. It surprised the woman that Jesus would engage in conversation with her about so-called living water that is able to quench one's deepest thirst: "those who drink of the water that I shall give will never be thirsty."

     The Samaritan woman knows what Jesus was talking about. Despite differences in their beliefs, she recognizes Jesus' statements. She also wanted the same living water: "Give me this water, that I may never be thirsty or never have to come back here."

     Today we are invited to reflect on our hearts' deepest desire, the one desire about to quench our deepest thirst and our deepest hunger. In our search for our deepest desire, we stumble upon fleeting ones. We can only pursue our hearts' deepest desire when we are free from any kind of inordinate attachment. We all have attachments, some healthy, though some may appear healthy but may not be helpful at all. And as such they become inordinate attachments and, for some, even addictions.

     Ultimately our hearts' deepest desire orients us to do God's will. His will is really not something external to us. St. Ignatius of Loyola tells us that we can know God's will through our hearts' deepest desires. God's

will is deeply embedded in our hearts at the onset of life. By prayer we can discern the will of God and obtain strength to do it.

     Redeemed by Christ by his own blood and sacrifice, this living water comes down to us in and through the Church, through the sacraments and through our relationships with one another. In and through the Church, we can faithfully discern God's will, the one desire that will quench our deepest thirst and satisfy our deepest hunger.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     BR. JOSEPH PATRICK D. ECHEVARRIA SJ

     GRAZIANO AND JOJI NEGRONI

     JOSEPH FERRER 

     PEARLIE CHAN 

     ROLLY MAR SAGA

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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   |  The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the

   |  priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish

   |  distributed free and for personal use only.  

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