Brothers and Sisters,
What are you thirsting for? Is your heart thirsting for things that leave you spiritually dry? We often look to satisfy our thirst with water that doesn’t satisfy. The human heart has a deep, insatiable thirst for love and meaning. This thirst can only be satisfied by the living water that Jesus gives as the woman at the well in the gospel reading discovered (John 4:5–42).
She went every day to the well to draw water. Yes, this was a physical necessity. But again, there is something deeper here. The woman had many disappointments in her life. Like all of us, she was thirsty for meaning in her life. She was thirsty for love. Jesus pointed out to her that she was looking in all of the wrong places. Her life-thirst was not being satisfied. She was unhappy. She wasn’t finding authentic love. She didn’t find anyone or anything to satisfy the deep longing of her heart until she met Jesus. Our Lord spoke to the Samaritan woman about the living water He would give, the water that would truly quench her thirst and become in her “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This is the water we all thirst for, the living water of the Holy Spirit, the water that satisfies our infinite thirst.
Lent is a time for us to quench our thirst, to rediscover the meaning of our life in Christ. This is a special time to encounter Jesus like the Samaritan woman at the well, and to be transformed by our encounter with Jesus. Jesus is calling us to let Him satisfy our deepest thirst. Are we drinking from the never ending wellspring of life?
God Bless,
Deacon Howard
