March 23, 2014

Bulletin 3^rd Sunday of Lent

March 23, 2014

Exodus 17:3-7; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4: 5-42

What can God do for me? So often I don’t even ask myself this question but Jesus is asking me each day, ‘what can I do for you today...I love you...what can I do?’ The initial reaction is ‘well nothing’ or ‘I think I can handle it today’ or ‘there are loads of people all over who really are in need, help them out...I’ll give you some names.’ But each person is asked a point blank question, why am I so reluctant to say, ‘Yes...come...I need you...I really do.’
I think so often it is the temptation or distractions from the devil that make me feel that God is too busy or doesn’t care or that I’m not that important or whatever else distracts me from God who loves me every moment. I remember hearing way back in Catholic grammar school that if God didn’t want me to exist, I wouldn’t be here. Also that if God didn’t think about me for a moment, I wouldn’t exist. The readings today tell not only how close God is but the total care He has for every person.
The first reading from Exodus shows the people again complaining. This seems to be their regular preoccupation, I must look at myself. I would say that I’m not a complainer but how often am I satisfied with what is happening in my life. I look at the times I have to ‘wait in line’ or am ‘sidetracked from what I want to do into doing something for someone else.’ I do not like to be inconvenienced, who does...but somehow some subtle complaining comes out from ‘the deep recesses of me’. Well not long after the Hebrews left Egypt, they turned on Moses. First they grumble that they have no food (Exodus 16:3) and what does God do...He provides manna in the morning and quail in the evening. As I look back in my life, God provides and what does He provide...how I need to be aware of His plan that will lead me to heaven? Today the people are complaining again, this time its thirst. Moses complains himself, “What shall I do with these people? And just as God provided food, through the actions of Moses, God gives drink. Interestingly, this place was called ‘Massah’ which means ‘the place of the test’ and ‘Meribah’ which means ‘the place of quarreling.’ What a reminder this is for me that in spite of me, God never abandons me or anyone and cares and loves. I think of the visits I had to the ‘really poor’ in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in the 70’s and my week in Haiti in 2000. The poverty was huge and in Haiti, it was totally widespread. The people only had the clothes they wore...Haitians feel if they have one change of clothes, they are not poor. The lesson I saw, learned and treasured was that these people were happy, really happy. Missionaries told me ‘they only have today and live for today and they know that God cares for them each day. So why do I complain and grumble?
Paul gives another example of God’s total care in spite of each person’s sinfulness. He says that God died for the “ungodly”—what did I do; nothing; what does God do; everything. Dr. Reginald H. Fuller’s great work, Preaching the Lectionary is one of the most often consulted work in preaching and biblical scholarship. He says this of today’s passage from Paul, “Justification and the gift of the Spirit are the outcome of God’s love. That love is not an abstract idea but something that happened—on the cross. The love of God in Christ on the cross was pure love, love not caused by the attractiveness of its object: while we were yet sinners and while we were yet helpless, Christ died for us. Through the cross God accepts sinners, and His acceptance of them is manifested by sending His Spirit to dwell in them and gradually transform them, so that eventually they will become in reality what they are in theory, namely, righteous.”
This is beautifully seen in the meeting of Jesus with the woman at the well. Why did Jesus talk to her and spend time with her? She was an infidel, a Gentile whom Jewish people refused to associate with. Yet she was ‘thirsty’; she came to the well for water. She came alone, not with the women because of her shame and multiple marriages. She had a yearning for the ‘living water’ that Jesus provides which would bring so much relief to her spiritual longing. Jesus cared for her, Jesus filled her...no person is ever not loved and cared for by God. Again I quote Dr. Fuller, “On the whole, we must take the dialogue as a Christian meditation on the meaning of Jesus for faith: He is the bringer of salvation; He exposed human sin; He inaugurates the true worship of God, which transcends all human approaches to God and is a worship in spirit and truth, a worship based upon the gospel. It is because Jesus is the bringer of the final revelation of God that He draws all to Himself as Savior of the World.”
So I ask where is my faith? Am I looking at the daily happenings in my life as totally separate from a God who loves me? Do I feel that I know the way to God? Do I come in faith to say, ‘Lord, thank you for the gift of faith, and help my unbelief.’ I reflect on:

• “What am I spiritually thirsting for? Acceptance? Wisdom? Forgiveness? Something else?”
  
• Have there been moments when I have felt that the love of God was poured into my heart? Is God’s love poured into us even when we don’t feel it?”
  
• Do I think that Jesus knows everything there is to know about me? Do I sometimes act as if my life is secret from Him? Am I ever afraid that if others knew me as well as I know myself that they might not like me?
  
• What might my life be like if I didn’t believe in God and heaven? Where would my meaning come from?
  

Sacred Space 2014 helps so much:

“Several times, the Samaritan woman seems to resist; perhaps she has developed a defensive, self-protecting habit. I ask God to help me to be open to receive good news from any source though which God may send it to me.

‘If only you knew what God is offering.’ Jesus yearns for me to be aware of God’s generosity towards me. I pray that I may open my heart to express my need and humbly receive the blessings of God.”

Fr. Don Miller OFM transitions this to the Eucharist, “We are here at this Eucharist today as a people of faith who have come together to remember the saving work of Jesus in our lives. Maybe there have been times we cried out in fear to God, forgetting His love. But today we have the opportunity to allow Him to gently lead us to deeper faith and satisfy our every ‘thirst.’ As we prepare ourselves to celebrate the saving events of Holy Week and Easter, let us open our hearts to the living water being freely offered to us.”