5-Mar-2012 Dear Friend, There are many things that we yearn for in life and we set our hearts on acquiring these things in the belief that once we get them we will be happy and satisfied. But our day-to-day experience shows us that we are only momentarily satisfied. We keep yearning for more and more and never really are fulfilled. Material things can never satisfy the human heart, only God can! Have a discerning weekend, asking that you may desire God above all things! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: Third Sunday of Lent "Yearning for what truly satisfies!" 14-Mar-2012 Readings: Exodus 17: 2-7 Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8 John 4: 5-15; 19-26; 39-42 In the first reading from the Book of Exodus we read of the Israelites grumbling and complaining against Moses. "Why did you bring us out of Egypt so that we should die of thirst?" They had left Egypt for the journey to the Promised Land. Now as they journey, their faith is put to the test as they experience thirst. This is not the first time they complain against God yet God does not punish his people but grants them their desire. He provides water from the rock. The people of Israel felt their life depended on water and not God himself. There are times when we confuse our apparent hungers for our real need and we seek to satisfy these apparent needs with things that don't really satisfy and we wonder why we are restless and still empty. St. Augustine reminds us: "Our hearts are made for thee O God, and are restless until they rest in thee." In Search of Fulfillment Hermann Hesse's book 'Siddhartha' narrates the wanderings of a man in search of inner peace and self- realization. As a Brahmin boy Siddhartha had everything -intelligence, handsome features, wealth -but he was restless. So he renounced his family and set off to seek happiness. In succession he tried the asceticism of the Eastern monks, the way of enlightenment under the Buddha, the pleasures of sensual indulgence, and the luxuries of wealth, but all these only left him disappointed and disillusioned. Disgusted to the point of despair, Siddhartha considered committing suicide in a river, when he suddenly heard from the depths of his subconscious the holy word "Om" that begins and ends all prayers. The remembrance of that word awakened Siddhartha's slumbering spirit to realize anew that all is divine and that loving devotion to the universe is the key to happiness. The water of the river helped him die a symbolic death to his old life of futility and emptiness and be born again to a new life of fulfillment and happiness. Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds' The Gospel has the encounter between Jesus and the woman looking for water at the well at Sychar, in Samaria. Jesus is sitting by the well, tired by the journey; it is noon when the Samaritan woman comes all by herself to draw water from the well. She comes because she is thirsty and needs water, but there is a deeper need, a need of acceptance and love that is not satisfied by her many irregular love-relationships. At the well there is Jesus who is also thirsty, not so much for water as for slaking this woman's real thirst. He asks the Samaritan woman "Give me a drink." "If you knew who it is who is saying to you: Give me a drink, you would be the one to ask and he would give you living water." Now that the curiosity and desire of this woman is aroused she quickly asks for this water so that she may not have to come to this well again. But before Jesus gives her this water he makes her see that she has to put her life and her relationships in order. "Go and get your husband first." The woman stunned by this remark quickly parries the probe and tries to side track the issue with a discussion on liturgical matters. But Jesus is not to be put off. Gently he reminds her that true worship is a matter of the heart and one can only worship if one is living in the truth. Finally Jesus reveal himself to her as the Messiah, the one who can satisfy the deep hunger within her and when she believes she discovers that she does not need the water of that well any more, her thirst is slaked and she leaves her bucket behind and runs off to the village to tell everyone that she has found the Messiah. The Deeper Thirst The setting is straightforward. Jesus is thirsty. The well is deep. He has no bucket but a stranger woman has. She is from a people ostracized by his own people and she is living publicly in an irregular relationship. Like all law-abiding Jews of the time would do, will he shun the woman or will he ask for and accept a drink from her? He does the unexpected and in requesting a drink, he accepts her as a child of God He then moves to offer her a share in the life of God which he describes as living water. She glimpses the wonder of the moment and dashes off to share it with the neighbours. Drawing water was a humdrum part of the Samaritan woman's life. But it was there she met the Saviour of the world. Her first reaction was sceptical but her generous kindness opened the way for Jesus to touch her and change her life and that of her townspeople. The lessons for our own lives are many. Tom Clancy in 'Living the Word' Water Bearers and Gospel Sharers Centuries ago, a waterman used to carry water from the river to the king's palace in two earthen pots - one perfect, another cracked - and was paid according to the amount of water he brought. Unfortunately, the waterman was poorly paid since much water leaked through his cracked pot. Dejected, the cracked-pot cried, "Master, I'm cracked and bring you less money. Discard me!" The waterman replied, "No! Watch carefully!" Then, he took the two pots back to the river, filled them, and told the cracked-pot to look at the pathway on its side. The cracked-pot was surprised to see beautiful flowers beneath it. "See that?" explained the waterman, "I knew you're a cracked-pot, so I sowed seeds along the way. You've sprayed water on them and made the king's pathway beautiful!" Like the king's waterman, today's readings describe water-bearers, two of them - Moses and the Samaritan woman - bring water to the thirsty. Today's first reading is about murmuring against Moses at Massah and Meribah. After their escape from Egypt, the Israelites begin their murmuring. Today, they complain about drink and get water: Moses strikes the rock and out flows water! Francis Gonsalves in 'Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds' A Spring of Living Water Within A very devout parish priest having served in a big-town parish was transferred to the parish of a small rural congregation. On his first day he was invited to a meal at the house of one of his parishioners. Talking about that meal he says: "All through that sumptuous meal, I could hear the sound of running water, and it really bothered me. Back in the city that sound was bad news. For two hours I listened to, and heard little else but the sound of running water. Finally, I could no longer contain my inner frustration, so I mentioned it, and asked about it. With a smile, my host explained the situation to me. It seemed that forty years before, when the people had built the farmhouse, they discovered a spring of water right in the middle of the property. They built a spring room around it and then planned and built the rest of the house around that inner spring room. For forty years, the people who lived in that house had come to be conscious of that spring of water right at the very core of their home, and its significance for them grew over the years. I thought to myself "That is what Jesus is constantly trying to tell us: that it is possible to build the rooms of our lives around the life-giving spirit." Jack McArdle in 'And Thats the Gospel Truth'. Finding Our Own Well Within Once there was a woman who had to make a daily trip of a mile to draw water from a public well. Over the years she grew weary of the journey. No matter how much water she brought home, she always ended up with an empty container. Then one day she was doing some work in her own garden when in a remote corner she came upon a large flagstone lying on the ground. The flagstone was completely covered with moss. Her curiosity flared up. She cleared away the moss then removed the flagstone to discover a lovely well. She was thrilled. Never again would she have to make that tiresome journey to the public well. She now had an unfailing source of water of her own. Have we discovered an inner source of fulfillment within? Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies' Filling the Void Within In his book Me and Other Advertising Geniuses, Charlie Brower talks about the foolishness of trying to satisfy a spiritual thirst with material things. He describes a business friend in words like this: "My friend Bill is one of those guys who's still searching for success, even though he's already found it. He's one of those guys who's still scoring touchdowns, even though the game's over and won. "My friend Bill has done everything they've told him to do. But he's still thirsty and unhappy. "He's come to the end of the rainbow, but there's no pot of gold there. He's found the buried treasure, but it's empty. He climbed the mountain, but there's another mountain on the other side." The point is, material success, alone, leaves us empty. There's something inside us that material things, alone, can't satisfy. St. Augustine called it spiritual "restlessness." Frank Sheed called it an "absence of meaning." Charlie Brower described it as an inner 'void'. But it all comes down to the same thing. In every human heart there's a thirst no water can quench. There's a restlessness no success can satisfy. There's a void no material object can fill. Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies' May God alone fill all the yearnings of our empty hearts!
Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site www.netforlife.net Thank you. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
