March 12
Third Sunday of Lent
“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
Readings
Reflection
There is a very important question that is asked at the end of the first reading from the book of Exodus this weekend. It is “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” We ponder that question in different forms and in different ways in our lives and spiritual thoughts. When we hear about something tragic happening to innocent people, we may ask: “where was God in their time of need?” We may ask the same questions when things happen to us as well. What the readings go on to say is that, indeed, our God is always in our midst, even if we are too busy or too stressed to perceive His presence.
The reading from Exodus documents the difficulties of the Israelites in their journey from their place of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. They were very thirsty, and water was hard to find, so they complained to Moses. He spoke to God and God made the water flow from the rock so they could slake their thirst. This was a period of testing to see whether God was with His people or not. In fact, He was, and still is, through the presence of his son Jesus and through the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel reflects this theme of water in a wonderful way when Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well in Sychar, a small town in Samaria. The woman comes to the well at noon, the hottest time of the day because there are fewer people there at that time. She does this because she is an object of shame and judgment by the people of the town because she has had five husbands and is now living with a man who is not her husband. Her conversation with Jesus is focused on water, but Jesus takes it to a higher level when he tells her about the living water that he gives. This living water is the Holy Spirit which quenches all our thirst for God’s love. Let us seek this water through our prayers, fasting and almsgiving during this penitential season of Lent.
Keep the faith,
Deacon Dare
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