{"id":3213,"date":"2020-03-15T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=3213"},"modified":"2020-03-15T12:00:59","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T16:00:59","slug":"3rd-sunday-of-lent-year-a-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/3rd-sunday-of-lent-year-a-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

3rd<\/sup> Sunday of Lent, Year A<\/a>
Exodus 17:3-7
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42
March 15, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After God set\nthem free from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites found themselves in the desert\nthirsting for water.  Water is not just a\nwant, it is a need.  They grumbled to\nMoses, who in turn \u201ccried out to the LORD<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God answered\ntheir need by having water flow from a rock struck by Moses.  God did this not just to provide for his\npeople in their physical needs but also for their spiritual needs, showing that\nHe was in their midst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our gospel\nreading picks up the theme of water as an earthly drink but then Jesus takes it\nto a spiritual level.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus finds\nhimself alone at the well about noon. \nWhile He is there, a Samaritan woman comes to draw water.  \u201cJesus said to her, \u201cGive me a drink.<\/em>\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is\nastounded He would ask for a drink.  She\nrecognizes him as a Jew and knows the \u201cJews use nothing in common with\nSamaritans.<\/em>\u201d  She also knew that in\nthose days, men did not talk with a woman alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\nresponds by beginning to take the conversation to a spiritual level.  He said, \u201cIf you knew the gift of God and\nwho is saying<\/strong><\/em> to you, \u2018Give me a drink,\u2019 you would have\nasked and he would have giving you living water<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In offering\nher \u201cliving water\u201d, He speaks of more than physical water but she hasn\u2019t\nrealized that.  She is still thinking in\nterms of physical water.  So, when Jesus\nsays those who drink the living water \u201cwill never thirst<\/em>\u201d, she thinks\nthis is great because she won\u2019t have to come to the well anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help her\nunderstand who He is, He tells her something that He would not know if He were\njust an ordinary human.  He speaks of how\nmany husbands she has had.  From this she\ncomes to see him as a \u201cprophet.\u201d  She has\ntaken the first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He speaks of\nthe true worship that will come.  She\nspeaks of knowing that a \u201cMessiah is coming<\/em>.\u201d  He tells her, \u201cI am he<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s puzzled\nby this and goes to the town.  At this\npoint, she knows little about Jesus but that doesn\u2019t stop her from telling\nothers about Jesus (we can learn from her example).  When she tells the towns people, many came to\nbelieve in Jesus because of her proclamation. \nThey began to know Jesus because of her words but then come to a fuller\nfaith because they came to hear Jesus for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was a Samaritan, despised by the Jews.  Yet, when she encountered Jesus, she did not harden her heart.  Rather, she was open to his words.  Jesus poured the living waters through the Holy Spirit into her heart.  From this, she grew in faith and led others to faith in Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growth is\nsomething we should always be open to. \nIt can be in our individual relationships with Jesus.  We need to come to Mass.  We need to read the Bible.  We should do spiritual reading, watch good\nCatholic programming, or attend presentations to help us know more about our\nfaith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might also\nthink about growth in relationships with others.  For example, think of the Sacrament of\nMarriage.  A couple can become complacent\nin their marriage.  Here you might\nconsider attending a marriage encounter weekend.  You can find more about that in this week\u2019s\nbulletin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we\nneed to grow?  To always keep our trust\nin God strong!  To help us know that the\nLord is always in our midst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, when we\nface times of difficulty, we can find peace in the Lord.  It doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t face difficulties,\njust that we know Jesus is with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance,\nthe world is in distress concerning the Coronavirus.  We turn to the Lord seeking peace.  This is based on our trust in him.  However, trusting in the Lord does not mean\nwe don\u2019t take precautions.  Remember what\nJesus said when He was tempted by Satan? \n\u201cYou shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.<\/em>\u201d (1st<\/sup>\nSunday of Lent, Matthew 4:7, cf. Deuteronomy 6:16).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are to\ntake proper human precautions but then to trust that the Lord is with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we are\nnot cancelling Masses now but we are taking precautions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, we\nsuspended distributing the Precious Blood in the Cup.  That will continue.  Here, I assure you that our Catholic faith\nteaches that if when we receive just the consecrated host, we receive the whole\nJesus, Body and Blood.  We receive all\nthe grace we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also\nencourage you to be mindful of how you receive the host.  It is permissible to receive on the tongue or\nthe hand but in terms of illness, the hand is preferred to help prevent\nspreading any illness.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, I want\nto remind everyone that receiving on the hand, was not<\/em><\/strong> a\nnew invention from the Second Vatican Council. \nIn the early church, Communion was normally received in the hand.  St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a fourth century saint,\nwrote instructions to the catechumens joining the Church on how to receive\nCommunion.  He said to \u201creceive Communion\nby making a throne, one hand over the other, ready to receive our great king.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, we also said to not shake hands at the Sign of Peace to avoid spreading viruses.  This week, Bishop Matano has directed (you can find his memo online at htt<\/a>ps:\/\/catholiccourier.com\/sites\/default\/files\/DioceseCoronavirusPrecautions.pdf<\/a>) that we suspend the Sign of Peace.  So, I will say the words leading up to the Sign of Peace but not call for the Sign of Peace to be exchanged.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise,\nBishop Matano has said not to hold hands \u201cduring the Lord\u2019s Prayer or at any\nother time during Mass.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop Matano\nalso reminds us that when we are sick, we should stay home to care for\nourselves and to protect others.  When we\nare sick, we are not obligated to attend Mass. \nHe adds, \u201cAnyone with concern for his or her health is not obligated to\nattend Mass.\u201d  You know your health\nhistory.  Please make wise choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, and the\ndiocese, continue to monitor the situation with the Coronavirus.  We will continue to implement human\nprecautions as appropriate.  We do this\nto be wise, but we also do so trusting in the Lord, that knowing we have done\nour part and that the Lord is with us, calming our fears in the midst of\ndistress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year AExodus 17:3-7Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)Romans 5:1-2, 5-8John 4:5-42March 15, 2020 After God set them free from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites found themselves in the desert thirsting for water.  Water is not just a want, it is a need.  They grumbled to Moses, who in turn \u201ccried out to …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,10,260],"tags":[711,713,712],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-PP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3224,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3213\/revisions\/3224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}