Third Sunday of Lent

03-15-2020Weekly ReflectionFr. Will Schmid

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One of my favorite saints is St. Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th century Spanish soldier whose leg was badly damaged by a cannonball during battle. While in recovery, Ignatius read two books that changed his life: a book on the life of Jesus and a book on the lives of the saints. After reading these two books he noticed competing desires in his heart. One desire longed for worldly glory through knighthood. The other longed for heavenly glory by seeking to give up everything and following Jesus. As he examined these desires, he noticed that his desire for heavenly glory, while never overwhelming him, remained strong and consistent, while his desire for worldly glory, although it came on strong in the present moment (much stronger than his desire for heavenly gory) faded rather quickly. As a result of his prayerful analysis, he decided to abandon knighthood and follow Jesus. I mention St. Ignatius today because I believe his prayerful experience of the competing desires in his heart relates to our Gospel.

In today’s Gospel, the Samaritan woman was at the well because she needed water. A “well,” as we all know, is a source of water, and thus a source of earthly life. Yet, at the same time, for those who lived during the time of the Lord, it was also a source of social activity. Both Jacob and Moses met their wives at a well. However, the noon hour was a strange time to gather water from a well. Most people filled their water jars in the morning before beginning their day’s labor. They were often too busy to go back to the well, especially at the noon hour when the daily temperature was at its peak. This woman was clearly avoiding social interaction. This particular gathering place of the Samaritan community had become a sign of the shame she likely felt for her adulterous living situation.

Although the woman thirsted for water, Jesus thirsted for communion with her. The Gospel says that Jesus “had to pass through Samaria.” This is interesting. Geographically this is untrue. There were several routes to Galilee from Judea. This phrase, “had to,” is not geographical, but theological. Samaritans were notorious for having taken non-Jews as their spouses and embracing both non-Jewish customs and religious practices. As a result, they were seen as having been defiled. They were considered the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus had to go to Samaria because they were His lost sheep. His thirst was for them. This particular Samaritan woman became Jesus’ entryway into communion with the entire Samaritan people.

How did Jesus engage her so as to draw her into communion with Himself? First, He asked her for a drink of water. This is interesting. Jesus was perfectly capable of getting his own water. He didn’t need her help. Why, then, would the Lord ask such a question? Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water in order to engage her in a dialogue, to show her that He desired a relationship with her. Once this dialogue had begun, Jesus then said to her, “Go call your husband.” This is exactly the kind of question the woman wanted to avoid and the reason why she was avoiding the well in the morning. This woman has already had five husbands and was on her sixth. If Jesus already knew her situation, why would He bring this up? He knew that this was a sore subject for her. Jesus asked this question because in order to have full communion with her He needed to encourage her to confront what was keeping her from full communion with Himself. Interestingly, scholars note that there were five different non-Jewish religions that many of the Jewish people of Samaria had mixed with their Jewish faith, making this woman an image of the entire people of Samaria and their unfaithfulness to God’s covenant. This woman, and her people were unable to receive the living water of the Lord, as long as they remained unwilling to confront their sinfulness.

After this beautiful encounter with Jesus, John tells us that the woman “left her water jar.” Her encounter with Christ, her admission of guilt, and her realization of the power of a relationship with the living God revealed to her a much deeper desire in her heart. She no longer thirsted for water, but for communion with Jesus and for others to be in communion with Him. She left her sinfulness and her shame behind at the well and was no longer afraid of the Samaritan community. Instead of avoiding them, she then began to seek them out. She left the comfort of the well at the noon hour to return to the town that once provided her discomfort, and has now inspired the people of the town to leave the comfort of their town to the discomfort of the well at the noon hour to encounter Jesus. What a drastic change of events!

During the season of Lent, the Lord desires deeper communion with us. The encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well isn’t the only place in the Gospel where Jesus proclaims His thirst for mankind. He also says the words, “I thirst,” while dying on the Cross. Jesus surrenders His life because He thirsts for us. His suffering and death on the Cross is ordered toward communion with us. During Lent, we are invited by the Lord, as was St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Woman at the Well, to confront the competing desires of our hearts. We long for worldly things, but we also long for something more than what this world has to offer. Our longing for God, when we take time to confront it, is greater than our longing for the world and its glory. Confronting our sinfulness and the things that keep us from following the deepest desire of our hearts and choosing to leave them behind, is the first step in accepting deeper communion with Jesus. This is what the waters of baptism give, which our elect will experience one month from now. This is also the renewing grace given in the Sacrament of Reconciliation for those of us who have already been baptized. God gives us continued opportunities to return to Him, the One for whom our hearts truly desire.  

As St. Ignatius taught, one of the challenges of our earthly desires is that they are fast and powerful and can easily overwhelm us. Lent helps us put these desires in perspective. Denying ourselves small forms of worldly pleasure help us focus on our greater desire for the Lord. May we, through the grace of God and the intercessions of St. Ignatius and the Woman at the Well, take time this Lenten season to make a good confession and confront the competing desires of our hearts so that we can hear the voice of the Heavenly Father calling us into deeper communion with Himself, and may we find in Him the fulfillment of our hearts deepest desire. 

Peace in Christ,
Fr. Will