This is not a normal weekend.
Suddenly, though maybe not entirely unexpectedly, we have been instructed not to gather to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on His Day. Far too often we have taken it for granted, without thinking too much about it. Maybe, sometimes we have even looked at it as a burden. Now, thanks to a minute, unseen virus, we are being robbed of it. Will it be a case where absence will make the heart grow fonder? Maybe. Surely this should be a moment of great reflection for all of us. Do I thirst for what truly nourishes me?
Thirst is the underlying theme of today’s gospel. Through dialogue, with love, and with great patience, Jesus helps the woman at the well to shift her focus from the natural water taken from that well to the supernatural one which only the Master could give her. It wasn’t an easy shift. At first it is obvious that she was not understanding him. They were at two different levels. There was even a time during their conversation when she was almost making fun of him. Eventually, we believe that somehow she started to understand. Maybe it was still a beginning. “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”, she asked her friends. But she was definitely embarking on a journey which could only lead her to beautiful places.
Every time we celebrate Eucharist, may we truly understand what - or, rather, who - we are celebrating. May we always thirst for that which truly nourishes us, which truly quenches our thirst.
And may the Lenten journey lead us to a rediscovery of the person of the risen Jesus, the only one who can fulfil our deepest desires.
Suddenly, though maybe not entirely unexpectedly, we have been instructed not to gather to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on His Day. Far too often we have taken it for granted, without thinking too much about it. Maybe, sometimes we have even looked at it as a burden. Now, thanks to a minute, unseen virus, we are being robbed of it. Will it be a case where absence will make the heart grow fonder? Maybe. Surely this should be a moment of great reflection for all of us. Do I thirst for what truly nourishes me?
Thirst is the underlying theme of today’s gospel. Through dialogue, with love, and with great patience, Jesus helps the woman at the well to shift her focus from the natural water taken from that well to the supernatural one which only the Master could give her. It wasn’t an easy shift. At first it is obvious that she was not understanding him. They were at two different levels. There was even a time during their conversation when she was almost making fun of him. Eventually, we believe that somehow she started to understand. Maybe it was still a beginning. “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”, she asked her friends. But she was definitely embarking on a journey which could only lead her to beautiful places.
Every time we celebrate Eucharist, may we truly understand what - or, rather, who - we are celebrating. May we always thirst for that which truly nourishes us, which truly quenches our thirst.
And may the Lenten journey lead us to a rediscovery of the person of the risen Jesus, the only one who can fulfil our deepest desires.
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