Homily on the 3rd Sunday of Lent, 12 March 2023
When we were hit by Typhoon Odette in 2021 the mighty winds brought along so much rain water that caused flooding in the city and landslides in the mountain barangays. The result was not only great damage to structures and properties but also casualties among human lives. We in the Provincial House were not spared. While we heard mango trees swaying and finally falling down, our windows shattering into pieces, and our roof trying to resist the winds we also had so much rain water penetrating through the sliding glass windows of the second floor corridor causing flooding outside our private rooms. At a certain point there was just too much water everywhere. Then power went off and we had a brownout for several weeks. With no power came the scarcity of water. But thank God! We had our own power generator that could make our water pump work and provide us with the water we needed. People eventually came to know about it and so they came asking for water which we gladly shared. And amazingly very soon Don Bosco became a well-spring of life-giving water for the community.
We have entered the third week of our Lenten preparation for Easter. And the theme of our liturgy points to Christ as the living water that quenches our deepest thirst. While man can survive several weeks without food he, however, cannot last several days without water. And that is why in the first reading we see the Israelites complaining against Moses for having brought them out of Egypt only to die of thirst in a place where there was not water. Surprisingly God heard Moses’ prayer reporting to him how the people had been grumbling against him. And so God, with so much patience and moved by his compassion provided his chosen people with water coming from the rock which turned into a wellspring after it was struck by Moses’ staff.
In the Gospel passage we have heard today Jesus is presented as one who feels tired and thirsty like any other man. But instead of complaining about his condition, he came to a well and courteously asked an approaching Samaritan woman for a drink. Like Jesus the woman was also thirsty but her thirst was a human thirst for genuine love, having had five husbands in a row. Jesus’ real thirst however was a divine thirst for deep faith among the people. “Mas maganda itong pakinggan sa Tagalog: Ang babae uhaw sa tubig ng tunay na pag-ibig. Si Hesus naman uhaw sa tubig ng malalim na mananalig.” (This sounds better in my mother tongue: The woman was thirsting for true love, while Jesus was thirsting for true faith.) The conversation between Jesus and the woman turned out to be very satisfyingly well. There is in fact one detail of that dialogue which I like very much. It is this, when the woman told Jesus that she does not have a husband, Jesus did not say to her face “Bakakon ka” (You are a liar). On the contrary he affirmed her statement by saying “You are right… for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.” I believe this was Jesus’ gentle way of letting her know where she was wrong and that he knew her much better than she knew herself.
Therefore, when Jesus presented himself to her as the One and only One who can provide her with living water, the woman believed and even run back to town to become a “Marites” of good news to everyone so that they too can find in Jesus the full satisfaction of their deepest thirst in life.
We too have our own personal longings in life. We crave not only for particular food but also for other worldly pleasures, and at times also for power and popularity. We thirst not only for satisfying drinks but also for other people’s attention, for recognition and affirmation in what we do. But on this third Sunday of Lent Jesus is here present among us telling us that he is the One and Only One who can ever satisfy the deepest thirst and cravings in our life, esp. in our moments of prayer, in our meditation on God’s Word, and in the celebration of the Sacraments. And once we realize that he has filled our hearts completely, he is challenging us to become wellsprings of living water for other people still thirsting for the living God.
May this Eucharist we celebrate be a real encounter with Jesus, who alone can fill a heart completely. GiGsss!
P.S. Today is my Dad’s 106th birth anniversary. May the good Lord bless his soul, reward him for a life well-lived and grant him to be eternally one with Jesus, the living water, in our Father’s home in heaven.
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