Third Sunday of Lent

Dear friends in Christ

The Readings over the next three Sundays begin to lead us into the mysteries of our salvation in Christ: The Woman at the Well this weekend, the Healing of the Man Born Blind next Sunday and finally the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead. In each of these Gospel narratives, we are being lead from the darkness of sin and death towards the light of the Resurrection. For this reason, these passages from the Scripture are ideal helps in the preparations for those who are to receive the Easter Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Blessed Eucharist. In a beautiful sermon of Saint Augustine on the Samaritan Woman whom Jesus meets at the Well he concludes: What is this water that he will give if not the water spoken of in Scripture: With you is the fountain of life? How can those feel thirst who will drink deeply from the abundance in your house?  He was promising the Holy Spirit in satisfying abundance. She did not yet understand. In her failure to grasp his meaning, what was her reply? The woman says to him: 'Master, give me this drink, so that I may feel no thirst or come here to draw water.' Her need forced her to this labour, her weakness shrank from it. If only she could hear those words: 'Come to me, all who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you.' Jesus was saying this to her, so that her labours might be at an end; but she was not yet able to understand.

We know, with the hindsight and insights of faith and history, that Jesus has come to give us life abundantly, and by our Baptism, we share on earth the life we look forward to possessing in all its fullness in eternity. As we approach the mid-way point of Lent, we renew our faith and hope in the promise of eternal life and ask for grace to daily persevere in fidelity to our place in the Church.

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale