Pastor’s Pen
Dear Church family,
My special family, my spiritual family, of which you and I during this Lenten season, try to grow in deeper and deeper love of the Lord and in the Lord. The long gospel story today of the Samaritan woman has Jesus proclaiming that He is the living water. That believing in Him, being in union with Him is where it’s at. As we go through life we need to just concentrate once we purify ourselves from sin and trouble to a union with the Lord. That’s what we are all about. In the story of the Samaritan woman, which incidentally, she might be one of the first special preachers so give honor and respect to women who have such deep faith. Right here at St. Augustine, we praise God for all the women who really know how to praise the Lord!
So, the Samaritan woman starts off doubtful and she calls Jesus, ‘Sir’ and has a dialogue with Him. Jesus says, “I am going to give you the water that lasts for eternity.” It is the living water which is Himself. Then the dialogue between them progresses from her calling Jesus ‘Sir’, to acknowledging him as a ‘Prophet’ because she notices that Jesus not only sees justice, but he totally knows her background. He notices this and this is the first time they have met. In their culture, a Jewish person should never talk to a Samaritan, much less a woman in those days. But here this woman really takes preference and after the dialogue she thinks of Jesus as a prophet. Then as they go on talking about various things like the message of salvation with Jesus being the living water, she goes from calling Jesus a prophet to really recognizing Him as the Christ. Then she goes away and tells everybody the good news.
When she comes back, she doesn’t need her water jar anymore because she has the life-giving water within her, and the people of Samaria have a deep faith. It is our journey also. Maybe we start off with very little understanding and we just think of Jesus as a proclaimer of good news. But then after we dialogue with Jesus and pray, we see him more as a prophet as the Samaritan woman saw that Jesus was able to tell her all about her personal life. Then from the dialogue about husbands, this prophet goes from there to being the life-giving water as the Samaritan woman spreads the good news. and many of the Samaritans come and recognize Jesus as the Christ. And so, we too continue our Lenten journey. Strike the rock of salvation and living water will flow from it. Praise God! Thank you, Lord. Amen!!
Love,
Fr. Bob
No comments yet.