THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT -- YEAR A

READINGS First Reading: Ex 17: 3-7; Second: Rom 5: 1-2. 5-8 Gospel: Jn 4: 5-42

THEME OF THE READINGS 

The active and efficacious presence of God in the history of salvation and in the life of mankind can be considered the unifying concept in the liturgy of this third Sunday in Lent. The Israelites are walking through the desert toward the Promised Land, and they are dying of thirst. God intervenes, and through the action of Moses, abundant waters spring from the rock of mount Horeb (First Reading). In the meeting with the Samaritan woman and with the inhabitants of Sychar, Jesus reveals he is the gift of God, the presence of God among the people: the water that slakes the thirst of the human heart, the presence and efficacious word who transforms from within those who see him and listen to him (Gospel). In the letter to the Romans, St. Paul wrote: "God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit." God is present in man through the Spirit, pouring himself like water into the human heart (Second Reading). 

DOCTRINAL MESSAGE

The history of salvation, in which we are immersed, is the theological expression of the divine initiative and of his loving presence and dialogue with mankind. God who "created" the people of Israel, does not abandon them in their need, but fulfills his promise of fidelity in the pact of alliance and accompanies them with his power in their wanderings through the desert. This divine presence is not always "visible." In fact, the opposite seems true: that God has forgotten his people, and the latter cry out in hunger and thirst in nostalgia for the past. God is moved and intervenes effectively by sending manna, abundance of water, quail, the hope of a "land of milk and honey." Then the people realize God is truly faithful and renews its confidence in him and his elect: Moses, Joshua, etc.

The Samaritan woman, and her countrymen, seem abandoned by God, as for centuries they have left the true worship of Yahweh and followed the gods of other peoples, renouncing Yahweh, the only God, and their Jewish identity (cf. 2 Kg 17, 28-31). They are religious persons, but have allowed themselves to be influenced by idolatry, they do not know the true God or where and how to worship him. Nevertheless, God shows his nearness and presence through Jesus Christ and the first Christian preachers. Jesus reveals himself as the true Messiah, the anointed of Yahweh who saves his people, and reveals the true worship of God, which does not depend on a place, but on interior disposition: worship in spirit and in truth. The Hellenic Christians of Jerusalem would evangelize, a few years later, all the region of Samaria with very good results. God is faithful to his people and to his plan for salvation.

God's faithfulness, his efficacious presence in us and among us, is felt by us through the action of the Holy Spirit, the living water poured into our hearts, the gift the Father has given us to "remind" us of his love. This action of the Holy Spirit gives us the certainty of being "saved" by the work of Jesus Christ, who dies for us, and opens us to hope, a hope that does not deceive, because it is guaranteed by the first fruits of salvation already tasted in this world.

PASTORAL SUGGESTIONS

Today there are signs of God and of his presence among us, but there are also signs of evil and of its action in the world. Among the faithful, there will be those who concentrate on the signs of evil, but also those, hopefully the majority, who concentrate on the signs of good and of the divine presence. In the pastoral sense, it is best to be very aware of both kinds, but to highlight the good, as those signs speak to us of God's presence among us.

Pope John Paul II gives us a good example. He dedicated the catechesis of November 18 and 25, 1998 specifically to point out the signs of hope in the world and in the Church. Let us go over these signs with the Pope.

Among the signs of hope present in the world the Pope singled out: the progress made by science, technology and especially medicine, in the service of human life; the enormous progress in the field of communications, especially social communications; a greater sense of responsibility as regards the environment; the efforts to re-establish peace and justice wherever they have been violated; the desire for reconciliation and solidarity among different peoples, in particular in the complex relation between the North and the South of the world. All these signs of hope, well directed, will contribute to create the civilization of love and to establish universal fraternity. These are signs that Christians must acknowledge, thank God and, wherever possible, collaborate in their implementation according to God's plan.

Another sign of hope pointed out by the Pope is respect for the Church: to welcome the charisms the Holy Spirit is distributing abundantly in the Church; to promote the vocation and the mission of the laity, which foretells a mature and fertile epiphany among the laity; acknowledgement and expression of the role of woman and of "the feminine nature" in the Church; the flowering of ecclesial movements; the ecumenical movement in which the Holy Spirit has committed the members of the different Christian churches; the open space for dialogue with other religions and with contemporary culture. God is faithful, and he continues to be efficaciously present in the history of the world and of the Church.

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOA.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].