First Reading: Exodus 17:3-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
Gospel: John 4:5-42
Reflection Questions
- What emotions ran through the Samaritan woman as she interacted with Jesus? Why do you think she felt like that?
- Describe how sin keeps us from a relationship with Christ. How does Christ help us get beyond the affects of sin?
- In this passage, Jesus connects eternal life with living a good moral life, worshiping God and being in a relationship with Him. How would you respond to the person who thinks that going to heaven is just a matter of being a ‘nice person’?
Gospel Reflection
Ever think you can hide something from God? Guess again. This Sunday’s Gospel takes us to an important story from the Gospel of St. John, the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. This account shows us Jesus’ ability to peer into the heart of each and every person. Jesus and His disciples had been traveling, and they stopped in a Samaritan town to rest. This passage can only be properly understood within the context of the bitter hatred between the Jews of Jesus’ day and the Samaritans. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be half-bred Jews, those who had betrayed a pure Judaism and intermarried with the Gentiles. For Jesus to even talk with a Samaritan, especially a Samaritan woman, was a major breaking of a cultural barrier. Jesus begins to have a dialogue with this woman, but it is evident that Jesus is using the conversation as a means of going deeper with the woman to challenge her to conversion. A few things stand out in this passage. First, Jesus is concerned with her eternal life, not just the quality of life she has here on earth. Second, Jesus connects her eternal life with her current moral state. She has been in adulterous relationships, and Jesus confronts her on them. Third, Jesus connects eternal life with her beliefs and worship. What we believe and how we worship God will affect whether we make it to heaven or not. Christ calls us to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. There is a clear reason why we worship God and how we worship Him. (This, of course, is connected to the Mass, in which God is worshipped in Spirit and Truth.) Finally, we see that the bottom line to eternal life is not a series of doctrines, but ultimately a relationship with a person, Jesus. When you and I encounter Jesus, we are given the invitation to totally give our lives over to Him. Because He is God, when we meet Jesus, we are challenged to give every part of our life to Him. We are called to completely turn away from sin so Christ’s goodness can live in us. This Lent, Christ invites us to hold nothing back from Him, giving over to Him every sin and every attraction to sin. God hates sin, and wants to completely obliterate it from us. God only acts when we ask Him to act. He has given us the freedom to hide things from Him, but He never stops inviting us to deeper conversion. Do not be afraid to completely abandon yourself to Christ! What the Samaritan woman – and her entire town – came to realize is that salvation comes from Jesus Himself. May we have the grace, this Lent, to deepen our love for Jesus, not being afraid of Him, but turning to Him as our Friend, Lord and Savior.
These reflections come from YM Central
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