\u201cHow is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?\u201d The woman at the well in today\u2019s gospel has some traits that make her more familiar to us than we realize at the first glance. Face to face with Christ, she recognizes a difference of class which makes her surprised when Jesus is willing to acknowledge her and ask something of her. The woman has had a past which, at first, she is hesitant to bring before Jesus when provoked. We also have histories which can come up as walls before our face when we turn to Jesus in prayer. The sins of our past, if we let them convince us that they tarnish us to be unlovable to God, will make us struggle with a question: \u201chow can I, a sinner, come before God, a perfect lover, and trust that my prayer is genuine \u2013 that I still have something to give?\u201d Jesus\u2019 answer is also directed towards us: \u201cthe water I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.\u201d It is true, in a sense, that we are not worthy to face God, but Jesus has chosen to step through that barrier and reach out His hand to us. The second reading says that \u201cGod shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.\u201d We can only believe that we have no right to face God in prayer if we are, even subconsciously, of the mind that our value lies in the successes of our own struggle for perfection. It is true that virtue is our final goal, but we can only do so hand-in-hand with Christ, who, in His infinite mercy, beckons us with a face beaming with love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we continue our Lenten journey of prayer and repentance, let us remember that all God is asking of us is to face Him and open up who we truly are, not clinging to the messy parts of our life that we think He should not see. May the disciplines we pursue be done for His sake and by His strength, and may we find in Him the waters of life that will unite us to Him forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marc Berube<\/strong> \u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. Jackson David\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 3rd Sunday of Lent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n