· 3rd Sunday of Lent (B), March 19, 2006
· Readings from cycle (A) for use with the RCIA
· Theme: Jesus – the Living Water that Cleanses us and Sustains Us
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· For the Next three Sundays we will celebrate the Ancient Rites of Scrutinies for those who will be received into the Church at the Easter Vigil
· Scrutinies – to scrutinize – to examine oneself
· Rites for self-searching and repentance
The scrutinies are meant to uncover, and then heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful in the hearts of the elect as they complete this period of their conversion.
But Conversion is not just for new Catholics; it is a Process in which each of us is engaged all our lives.
Lent is a period of self-searching and healing for all of us as we renew our profession of faith in the Lord.
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· This week’s scripture readings brings out the theme of Living Water:
· The first reading from Exodus 17 recounts the story of the Chosen People in the desert and their thirst for water
· Most of us when we try to imagine the desert here in the Southwest, the only image we have is Las Vegas
· We forget that much of California and Arizona and Nevada has been recovered from the Mojave Desert through irrigation
· The Chosen People had none of these advantages
· Their very existence deepened on finding wells and sources of water that could preserve their very lives
· Water then, becomes an important Symbol for LIFE itself
· The Waters of Baptism then for us becomes the central symbol for our NEW LIFE in Christ
· Jesus is the LIVING WATER which sustains us.

· In the Gospel Story (John 4): Jesus encounters the Samaritan Woman
· In this chance encounter, the woman’s life is changed forever
· Jesus is thirsty after a long journey
· He is alone, the apostles have gone to town to buy food
· He happens to see this woman, and he asks her for a drink
· Nothing sounds unusual, until we read on.
· Jesus is speaking to a person who is doubly outcast:
· She is a woman, and religious Jewish men would not speak to a woman in public
· Also, no religious Jew would have anything to do with a Samaritan
· This woman’s ancestors built a temple that rivaled the one in Jerusalem - this one on Mount Gerizim
· To the Jews, the Samaritans were heretics
· This is a scandalous moment for Jesus,
· And the woman notes it
· “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
· Jesus breaks through the social conventions and breaks down the barriers between people
· He presents the woman with the possibility of tasting living water
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· Where do we find this living water in our lives?
· How do we encounter the Living Lord?
· Often the waters don’t come in gentle streams but rather is disruptive torrents.
· Torrents through which we have to pass in order to come to some sense of ourselves and some sense of who God is for us.
· For example
· For some it is falling in love and making a life changing commitment to marry
· For some it is admitting a vocation to religious life
· For some it is coming to grips with sexual identity and orientation
· For some it is hitting bottom and recognizing an addiction
· For some it is facing the pain of a broken marriage
· We all have several significant points of passage in life
· Do we take the time to Scrutinize these moments?
· To examine the good in our lives and the evil?
· To recognize the presence of God leading us and guiding us?
· The waters of Baptism are living waters that sustain us
· The waters of Baptism are also mighty waters that can wash away our sins and heal our souls.

· The Samaritan woman was changed in this chance encounter with Jesus, because she let Jesus touch her heart
· She, an outcast, became a disciple and a witness
· She proclaimed the Gospel to her fellow townspeople
· She brought Jesus to them so that they too could be changed.

· All disciples must do what the woman did:
· Draw on our personal experience of Jesus
· Identify how Jesus has touched our lives
· Share that experience with others - back in town:
· Were we live
· Where we work

· Let our prayer during our 40 day Lenten retreat be that of the Samaritan Woman:
· Lord, give us the Living Water so that we will no longer thirst”;
· So that our hearts can be healed of the wounds that life inflicts;
· So that we can proclaim our discipleship by the way we live our lives;
· So that the barriers that exist between people of different religions, different races, different languages, different sexual orientation may be torn down;
· So that we might all experience the joy of the Resurrection together

· Amen

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