3rd Sunday of Lent

1st Reading: Ex 17:3-7
Responsorial Psalm: 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
2nd Reading: Rom 5:1-2, 5-8
Gospel: Jn 4:5-42

OPENING PRAYER

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

LECTIO

Take some time to intentionally read the readings, specifically the Gospel. Reading it twice, even three times, going slower each time.

MEDITATIO

Meditate on the passage and see if any words or phrases stand out to you. Focus on them and try to see what the Lord is trying to tell you through them. After you spend some time doing this, feel free to supplement your meditation with the following reflection:

Today we hear the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. Tradition tells us that her name was St. Photina.

We know the basic format of the story: Woman comes to well, Jesus asks for drink, woman asks how can Jesus (a Jew) ask her (a Samaritan) for a drink, Jesus tells her about the living water and reveals to her He knows more than she is letting on - eventually revealing Himself to be the Messiah, then she runs off to tell everyone about Jesus.

A few details will help us appreciate this passage a little more: Photina was going to the well around noon. This detail isn't just some weird one-off comment about times. Noon is when the sun was usually at its hottest. No one went to the well at noon. Mostly everyone went early in the morning when it was still nice and cool. However, an outcast or someone in shame would find going at noon comforting since there was no one around. While Photina wanted to avoid the crowds, God decided He had other plans.

When Jesus asks her for water, He is asking for a very basic, human need. All living creatures need water to stay alive. However, Jesus didn't have a jar. Photina did. We'll come back to this point in a bit. Jesus tells Photina that whoever drinks this physcial water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the spiritual waters of life will never be thirsty again and will have eternal life. She tells Him that she wants this water.

Jesus then asks her to call her husband. She responds with something that isn't a lie, but isn't the truth either: she doesn't have one. Jesus sees through her and tells her she has five, and that the one she is with now isn't her husband. Jesus knew her sin, but didn't treat her any differently. He also knows ours, and still wants us to turn to Him and His love.

After a discussion about worshiping in spirit and in truth and revealing Himself as the Messiah, the woman runs off to tell the other people of the town about Jesus - who she now confesses as the Christ. Remember that point earlier about the jar? Photina left her jar. She took nothing with her on her way back into town. Jars were expensive to make, and if you didn't have one, you couldn't get water. No water, no life. However, she leaves it behind trusting fully in Jesus.

Photina first appears as an outcast, hiding from other people out of shame and then becomes a woman full of life - eager to proclaim the Good News. This transformation is so powerful, that Scripture tells us that others began to believe in Jesus too because of her testimony. Tradition tells us she eventually was baptized and was even martyred for the Faith.

St. Photina, pray for us!

ORATIO

What do you want to tell the Lord?
What is it that you desire to bring to Him?
What have these meditations stirred in your heart?

CONTEMPLATIO

What do I feel shame or regret about in my life?
What am I thirsting for?
Do I desire the living water that Jesus is offering?

OPERATIO

How can I satisfy Jesus' thirst?
How can I share my testimony of the Good News of Jesus?
How can I be a better witness in order to bring people to Jesus?

CLOSING PRAYER

O God, author of every mercy and of all goodness,
who in fasting, prayer and almsgiving
have shown us a remedy for sin,
look graciously on this confession of our lowliness,
that we, who are bowed down by our conscience,
may always be lifted up by your mercy.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.