Like so many of us, English poet Francis Thompson spent much of his life running away from God. At one time he had trained for the priesthood, but was rejected as unsuitable. He later studied medicine, but never managed to pass his final examinations. Hopeless and angry, he turned away from God and became a destitute opium addict on the streets of London.
Yet all was not lost. He managed to submit an essay and a poem to a Catholic magazine. For months they sat unread in a file. But when they were finally examined, it was determined that they were the work of a true talent. The magazine editor and his wife befriended Thompson and arranged for his stay at a countryside monastery, where his health improved, and his faith in God was restored.
Thompson ultimately composed the “Hound of Heaven,” a well-known and much-loved poem. It describes God, like a hound chasing a hare, patiently but persistently pursuing the poet’s soul, in spite of his futile attempts to flee, avoid, or find substitutes for God. “I am He Whom thou seekest,” concludes God. “Rise, clasp my hand, and come.”
We can see a similar pattern in the relationship between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, as described in today’s gospel. Like Francis Thompson, she at first didn’t want anything to do with Jesus. When she saw him approaching, her first thought must have been, “Please- just go away!” There was a reason she was drawing water at noon, the hottest part of the day: She wanted to avoid meeting anyone else! But Jesus understood that. And so it was he who opened the conversation.
This has been the experience of many people, including myself, and perhaps you too. We didn’t set out on a quest for Jesus; we didn’t go looking for God. Instead, it was God who came looking for us. As a priest friend of mine once said, “God isn’t like a stuffy aristocrat, sitting aloof in a drawing room somewhere, keeping a polite distance from us. Instead, he’s more like a Jewish mother, nudging us, pushing us, cajoling us, craftily scheming that we might allow him into our life.”
But back to the Samaritan woman. After Jesus’ initial approach, she remains guarded and cautious- and rightly so! As there was a long-standing animosity between Jews and Samaritans, it was highly unusual for Jesus to have spoken with her. And there were gender issues too. Men just didn’t speak in public with women, who were considered second-class citizens.
The Samaritan woman was understandably suspicious of Jesus’ motives, and she hesitated to accept his gift of living water. But don’t we sometimes act this way? Is not “No thanks, I already have all I need” our first reaction when someone tries to interest us in something religious? We get defensive, because we wonder what their true intentions are.
Thankfully, Jesus knows us- and the Samaritan woman- all too well. He persists and convinces her to accept his gift. But she sadly misunderstands what it is he offers. So Jesus tries a different tactic, revealing his knowledge about her multiple marriages. Jesus doesn’t reject her for this. He doesn’t say, “Come back here after you straighten out your life.” He says instead, “I know what your life is like, and with the grace I’ll give, it can change for the better!”
This is an important point, because for many people an imperfect past is an obstacle to continued conversion. One Methodist pastor recalls how he and his wife once suggested a dinner outing with friends who had just moved into a new home. The new homeowners were eager to meet at a restaurant, but the pastor sensed that they weren’t ready for houseguests. The conversation at dinner confirmed this. “We want you to come see the house,” they said, “but only after we get it all cleaned up!”
The pastor concludes, “Is not this our way with God? We want everything to be just right when we relate to God. And when it’s not, we turn away and try to run. We dare not invite Christ into our life! The only problem: God pursues us.”
Again, back to the Samaritan woman. By this time, she’s warming to Jesus. She’s gone from seeing him as a hostile male Jew to perceiving him as a prophet! But maybe this frightens her a little. We can imagine that she’s had some painful relationships, in light of her five ex-husbands. Perhaps she’s afraid of getting too close to Jesus. And so, to sidetrack their new friendship, she asks distracting questions about the proper place for worship and the coming of the Messiah. In effect, to keep things from getting too personal, she steers the conversation away from matters of the heart to matters of the head.
We’re sometimes guilty of exactly the same thing. We can be attracted to God, but we don’t want to get to close to him. Who knows what that may involve? We find it easy to pray to “Almighty God,” a title that reflects God’s distance from us. But it can be hard to call God “Father,” as Jesus always did, because this implies love, family, and intimacy. So often we seek to keep God at arm’s length- just like the Samaritan woman.
But Jesus wanted more from his relationship with her, and we wants more from his relationship with us. He’ll stop at nothing short of a deep, abiding friendship. At the end of their conversation, Jesus revealed to the Samaritan woman that he is the Messiah, and her faith came to completion. Today, Jesus continues his conversation with us, that we too might drink his living water. “How wonderful and how great,” wrote St. Cyprian, “is the patience of God!”
As we examine the Gospel for this weekend’s Mass we do well to understand that is fundamentally a gospel about our desires and how the Lord reaches us through them. Prior to looking at the text, consider a few things:
What it is that really makes you happy? There are endless ways this question could be answered. We desire so many things: food, water, shelter, clothing and creature comforts. We long for a sense of belonging, affection, & peace. Sometimes we hope for stability and simplicity, at other times we yearn for change and variety. Our hearts are a sea of desires, wishes and longings. The gospel today says that a woman went to the well to draw water. She is each one of us and her desire for water is a symbol of all our desires.
Have you ever considered that your desires are in fact infinite? Can you even think of a time that you were ever entirely satisfied, a time when you needed absolutely nothing? Even if you can imagine such a time, it didn’t last did it? In fact our desires are infinite, without limit.
The well in today’s gospel symbolizes this world. Jesus says to the woman and to us: “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again.” The world cannot really provide what are looking for. No matter how much this world offers us, it will never ultimately satisfy us, for the world is finite and our desires are infinite. In this way our heart teaches us something very important about ourselves: We were not made for this world, we were made for something, for someone, who is infinite, who alone can satisfy us. We were made for God.
The Water offered is the Holy Spirit – Jesus says elsewhere: If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive…(Jn. 7:37-39).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say about the meanings of our longings: The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for…With his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God’s existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material, can have its origin only in God (Catechism # 27, 33).
Scripture too speaks to us our desires: Of You my heart has spoken: “Seek His face.” It is your face O Lord that I seek; hide not your face! (Psalm 27:8-9). Or again, Only in God will my soul be at rest, he is my hope, my salvation (Psalm 62:1,5) St. Augustine wrote classic words to describe our hearts’ truest longing: Thou hast made us for Thyself O Lord and our hearts are restless till the rest in Thee. (Confessions 1,1).
With this in mind, let’s look at the journey that this woman (this means you) makes to Jesus. Things start out rough but in the end she discovers here heart’s truest desire. The journey is made in stages.
Rendezvous – Notice that the initiative here is Jesus’ As the Lord teaches elsewhere, It was not you who chose me, It was I who chose you (John 15:16). Jesus encounters a woman from Samaria at Jacob’s well. She desires water, but Jesus knows that her desire is for far more than water or anything that the world gives. Here desire has brought her face to face with Jesus, a holy and fortunate rendezvous, if you will. Jesus begins a discussion with her about her heart’s truest longing.
Request – The discussion begins with a request. The text says: It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” Imagine, God asking you for anything. What a stunning thing! What can she or we really give God? The answer is simply this, the gift of our very self. God has put a threshold before our heart that even he will not cross, unless we say yes. This request of Jesus initiates a discussion, a dialogue of two hearts. As we shall see, the woman, like most of us, struggles with this dialogue. It is, to be sure a delicate, even painful process for us to accept the invitation to self-giving the Lord makes. Something in us draws back in fear. Scripture says, It is an awesome thing to fall into the hands of living God! (Heb 10:31).
Rebuke – Sure enough, she draws back with fear and anger. She says, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” –For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans. In our journey to God, we do not always trust or understand Him at first. Some fear to relate to God because they think their freedom will be lost, or too many changes will be required. Others loathe the commandments, or fear they cannot keep them. Still others are angry at the unexpected twists and turns of this life and do not want to trust a God who doesn’t always play by their rules. The woman’s anger, in particular, is based on the prejudices of the day. Her anger is not really at Jesus, it is at “the Jews” to whom Samaritans are hostile. This is sometimes the case with God as well. It is not always the Lord Jesus, or God the Father, that people hate or distrust, it is Christians. For it remains true, some have been hurt by the Church, or by Christians. Others have prejudiced opinions influenced by a hostile media and world. But, praise, God, Jesus is willing to stay in the conversation, and so we next see:
Repetition – Jesus repeats his offer for a relationship. He says, If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. I don’t know about you, but I am mighty glad that the Lord does not merely write us off when we say no. Jesus stays in the conversation and even sweetens the deal by making an offer to give her fresh, living water. The Lord does the same for us. First he gave the Law, then he gave the prophets, now he gives his Son. It just keeps getting better. First he gave water, then he changed it to wine, then he changed it to his blood. And, despite our often harsh rejection of God, he keeps the dialogue open and going.
Ridicule – The Woman is still hostile and now even ridicules Jesus: Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks? To the world, the teachings of God often appear to be foolishness. People often dismiss religious faith as fanciful and unrealistic. But here too the Lord is patient and continues on.
Reminder – Jesus now re-frames the question by reminding the woman of the obvious: Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. What she is relying on can’t come through for her. The world’s water does not satisfy us, the world’s delights are transitory. They promise ultimate satisfaction, but twenty minutes later we are thirsty again. The world is the gift that keeps on taking, it takes our money, our loyalty, our freedom, our time, and gives us only transitory, and ultimately unsatisfying pleasures, in return. It’s a bad deal. Every one who drinks from this well be thirsty again.
Re-upping the offer – Jesus says, But whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Here the Lord speaks of happiness and satisfaction that he will give, that grows in us and makes us more and more alive. The “water” he offers, as we saw above, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit lives in us, and transforms us, we become more and more content with what we have. As the life of God grows in us we become more alive in God and joyful in what he is doing for us. This is what the Lord offers us: the gift of a new and transformed life, the gift to become fully alive in God. I am a witness of this. How about you?
Result – The woman has moved in Jesus’ direction. She has warmed to his offer and so she says: Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. Here is the result of the Lord’s persistence. Thank God that he does not give up on us, he keeps calling, even when we say no, even when we sin, he just keeps call our name!
Requirement – Jesus want to give this gift, but first he must help her make room for it. For the truth is, she has unrepented sin. A glass that is filled with sand cannot be filled with water. The sand must be emptied first and then the cup cleansed. Only then can the water flow. Thus Jesus says, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” Now she does what most of us do when we are in an uncomfortable spot, she changes the subject. She attempts to engage in a discussion about what mountain to worship on. Jesus is patient with her and answers her, but ultimately draws her back to the subject, which is her heart and what her desires are really all about.
Reconciliation – Now here the conversation gets private, we are not permitted to listen in. It is just between Jesus and her. But whatever it was, she in elated and will later declare: “He told me everything I ever did.” And there is no sense in her tone that Jesus was merely accusatory. Rather it would seem that Jesus helped her to understand her heart, and her struggle. And old song says, I once was lost in sin but Jesus took me in and then a little light from heaven filled my soul. He bathed my heart in love and he wrote my name above and just a little talk with Jesus made me whole. Here Jesus reconciles her with God and with her own self.
Rejoicing – The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” They went out of the town and came to him. Do not miss that little detail: she left her water jar. The very thing she was depending on to collect the things of the world is left behind. What is your water jar? What do you use to gain access to the world and to collect its offerings? For most of us, it is money. And scripture says, For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Tim 6:10). At any rate she is joyfully empowered to leave this enslaving water jar behind. Now, freed from its load, she is able to run to town and declare Jesus to others. Her joy must have been infectious, for soon enough they are following her out to meet the Lord!
So here is the journey of a woman who is ultimately each one of us. This is our journey, out of dependence, out of a kind of enslaving attachment to the world, and unto Jesus, who alone can set us free. Here is our journey to understand that our desires are ultimately about God.
It’s a very special and wonderful moment when someone learns that they’re going to become a new parent. Yet first-time moms and dads can be apprehensive too. They may worry: “Am I up to the job? How will I juggle work and family? Will my baby be okay? How is my life going to change? Can we afford this?” Expectant parents can feel overwhelmed by their new responsibilities. Some even suffer depression.
Given this, we can appreciate how Mary may have felt at the Annunciation. It was an angel of light- not a nurse- who told her that she’d be a mom. What’s more, she wouldn’t be an ordinary mom- she was going to be a queen mother, as her son was to be a king who would rule forever! To top it off, she wasn’t even married yet, and somehow her child was to be conceived by a “Holy Spirit.”
Scripture describes Mary as frightened and confused- and who could blame her? Thankfully, Gabriel understood. He told Mary to put away her fears, and assured her that nothing is impossible for God.
But – aren’t Gabriel’s words meant for us too? Like Mary, we may face situations that seem daunting- things that fill us with fear, appear impossible, or make no logical sense, and we wonder how it all fits into God’s plan. We may find ourselves asking Mary’s question: “How can this be?”
When we do, Mary invites us to imitate her surrender, entrusting ourselves into the hands of a trustworthy God by saying, “Thy will be done.” Even though we may be afraid; even though we may not understand; even though the way ahead looks dark.
To know “The Lord is with thee” was enough for Mary. And praise God, the Lord will be with us too.
The Thursday after the Second Sunday of Lent brings us to Santa Maria in Trastevere. Trastevere (“across the Tiber”) is a beautiful and ancient section of Rome. Its narrow streets and well preserved architecture give it a unique character, setting it apart from the rest of Rome. One of the oldest Churches in the city, Santa Maria dates back to 220 when Pope St. Callistus founded it as a house church. The mosaic on the church’s façade, depicting the parable of the wise and unwise virgins, is from the 14th century. The central part of the apse is a glorious mosaic of Christ offering his mother a jeweled crown. In the homily today God calls us to do ordinary tasks with extraordinary love.
Sanctifying our work
Sanctifying our work and doing it well is a simple way to heaven, it is a method that is not beyond any of us, but present to us on a daily basis. This means that we must fulfill all of the duties of our particular state in life well. For a parent, this means providing for one’s family, spending time with one’s children, passing on to them the faith of our Church, and raising them to be followers of Christ. For a child, it means obeying your parents, doing your best in school, trying your hardest in extracurricular activities- and doing all of these things cheerfully and to the best of our ability since we offer everything to God.
To really achieve this we must undergo a revolution in the way we view the ordinary. If we do this we will begin to live with a supernatural outlook where we see God present in the important and unimportant events of daily life. Where we really meet Christ is in the mundane events of our daily life. By sanctifying our work and daily obligations, we make our work place the horizon where we meet God.
If you found on your doorstep this morning a filthy, starving, homeless man surrounded by stray dogs, how you your react? What would you do? What would you see?
Would you see an opportunity to love, an opportunity to heal, an opportunity to serve? Would you see a hurting and needy brother? Would you see the face of Christ himself? Or would you be disgusted, scared, annoyed, and worried about the impact on your property value? Would you try to ignore him and hope that he’d go away?
This seems to be what the rich man in today’s gospel did. It’s not that he couldn’t see Lazarus, because he even knew his name! He simply was too hard of heart, too indifferent, to do anything to help him. The rich man chose to separate himself from the plight of Lazarus his neighbor- a separation that continued after they both had died, except with a dramatic reversal of fortune.
Jesus told this parable to challenge our way of thinking about the needy, so that we can change our way of acting toward the needy. Jesus challenges us to see the Lazarus on our doorstep as a brother, not a burden; as an opportunity, not an inconvenience; as a person, not a problem.
He’s not asking us to do the impossible. What he is asking is that we change our attitude, and then to do what we can. Which may be more than we think! If you’ll recall, Lazarus would have been satisfied with table scraps- a reminder that even the small things we do can seem so great to those who have so little. Or as St. Anselm once said: “The fasts of the rich are the feasts of the poor.”
This morning pilgrims starting from the North American College were blessed with clear skies for a relatively short trek to San Cecilia. The church, found in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood, literally “across the Tiber” from the ancient city of Rome, is located just at the bottom of the Janiculum Hill. Excavations under the church suggest that it is built over the baths of St. Cecilia’s home, where Roman authorities first tried to execute her by drowning. Failing to do so, executioners attempted to decapitate the saintly woman, but failed again, ultimately leaving St. Cecilia to die of her fatal wounds. Tradition holds that prior to dying she entrusted all her goods to the church and asked Pope Urban to turn her home into a place of worship.
St. Cecilia gives great witness to Christ’s question in the Gospel, “Can you drink of the chalice I am going to drink?” As today’ celebrant noted in his homily, the sons of Zebedee enthusiastically replied “yes” to Christ’s question out of sheer love and devotion for Our Lord, but perhaps without a full understanding of the questions implications. In the case of St. Cecilia, who likewise replied yes, it might be said that she did so with greater awareness of the implications to her response. She was seeking to live the Christian life at a time when it was an illegal religion and fully aware that it could be punishable by death.
Saying “YES”
Throughout the centuries various men and women, lay, religious and cleric, have responded yes to Christ’s question and have aided in passing on the faith from generation to generation. As such, the faith has come down to each one of us. Having received that faith, Our Lord now poses the question to each of us, Can you drink of the chalice I am going to drink?
This season of Lent offers us an opportunity to reflect on our readiness to drink from Christ’s chalice in witness to the faith. The season gives us a chance to strengthen ourselves by turning to God and seeking to keep a proper relationship with the world and those around us through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These practices deepen and fortify us interiorly so we can give public witness to our faith in ordinary and extraordinary ways; to live our faith in such a way that others will take notice. Doing so, we will express our desire to drink from Christ’s chalice.
For one candidate, his journey to the Catholic faith began with a conversation with a Buddhist monk. For a couple expecting their first child, it was the result of hours of conversation about what was missing in their lives and what they wanted to be able to give their child. I knew these two stories and I wondered at the amazing number of ways our Lord calls people to a deeper relationship with him and with the church as I watched Cardinal Wuerl greet more than 1,000 men, women and children who will enter our church at Easter.
A church of many faces
In five different languages the names of the elect were called and they started to move forward. One young boy’s sneakers lighted up as he climbed the steps into the sanctuary at the Basilica. Cardinal Wuerl bent down on one knee to greet him eye to eye! Young girls in flip-flops and tattooed young men followed. There were people dressed in the suits they wear as the walk the halls of Congress and people dressed to head to work at hospitals, restaurants and construction sites following the ceremony. There were whole families coming into the church and there were college students who have made the decision on their own. Some walked the length of the Shrine with the hand of their sponsors on their shoulders. Some had huge smiles and some looked a bit overwhelmed by the size of the sanctuary, the presence of the Cardinal and bishops and unsure of what would happen next. I couldn’t help but wonder at what exactly was the event or turning point in their lives that led them to this moment today.
An Evangelizing Church
Though the event or turning point is as unique as each individual, in chatting with the newest members of our church, what is repeated over and over is the importance of feeling welcomed and the witness and testimony of the Catholics they have met in their RCIA classes, at the parish and in their workplaces. In the Catholics they met, they encountered Christ!
Agents of the New Evangelization
I also wondered how many more people might we welcome if all of us were more faithful to our mission as evangelizers. As Cardinal Wuerl reminds us in his pastoral letter, Disciples of the Lord: Sharing the Vision, all of us share in the mission of evangelization. “To be true disciples of the Lord, believers must bear witness to their faith, and ‘witnesses testify not only with words, but also with their lives.'” affirms Pope John Paul II. It is not too early to start thinking about who in your life you can invite to come to know Our Lord and whom we can welcome next year at the Rite of Election.
Do you remember Norm from the TV series Cheers? He once said, “It’s a dog eat dog world, and I’m wearing Milk Bone underwear.” That’s funny, but also a tragic reflection on the nature of human relationships, especially in the world of work.. As leadership gurus like to say, we need to learn to swim with the sharks.
When our hearts are set on gaining power and influence, it doesn’t matter who gets trampled upon or left behind. Perhaps this may make us a bit uneasy, but we can always rationalize it by saying things like “It’s not personal, it’s business,” or “Nice guys finish last.”
But is that really true? Not according to Jesus in today’s gospel. He had just told his disciples about his impending torture and execution. But what happens next? The “Sons of thunder,” along with their mother, make a power grab. They thought: Jesus’ time is short, so we’d better make our move to be on top in his kingdom. Carpe diem; you snooze, you lose.
They didn’t express any concern about Jesus’ fate, and they didn’t seem to care what their friends might think. Evidently, their selfish ambition had blinded them to compassion or concern about anyone else.
Jesus turned this situation into a teachable moment. He conceded that the world may seem to belong to those who can swim with the sharks. But as for his disciples, we are to swim against the tide. He invites us to follow in his footsteps- by living a life of service; by being focused on others’ needs; by being humble; by cherishing sacrifice, not selfishness.
The world may indeed delude us into thinking that “nice guys finish last.” Except, Jesus reminds us, in the race that really counts.
Like so many of us, English poet Francis Thompson spent much of his life running away from God. At one time he had trained for the priesthood, but was rejected as unsuitable. He later studied medicine, but never managed to pass his final examinations. Hopeless and angry, he turned away from God and became a destitute opium addict on the streets of London.
dinner confirmed this. “We want you to come see the house,” they said, “but only after we get it all cleaned up!”
