Dear Parishioners,
“He Told Me Everything I Have Done”
This week’s gospel is one of those gospels that builds upon itself. It is a long account of a Samaritan woman who is doing what she’s probably done for years – she is fetching water from a well. The old saying, “ You never know what’s going to happen to you when you get up in the morning,” really fits this gospel. An ordinary day became a life-changing event for this woman.
Jesus who knows all, starts the metamorphosis by simply asking the woman for a drink. In a sense, this was an invitation, although she didn’t realize it. He opened the door to her life with one small request. The woman, somewhat shocked He was speaking to her, questioned His judgement given that He was a Jew and she a Samaritan. But that gave Jesus the perfect segway to introduce the concept of “living water.” Jesus was trying to get her to see that human thirst will never be quenched by earthly water. True human thirst can only be satisfied by God.
At first the woman does not understand, then Jesus found a way to make it very clear that He was not just an ordinary Jewish man. He began to tell her everything about herself. This really hit home for the woman. She knew she was speaking to a man who had the kind of wisdom she saw in her ancestors, and she assumes He is a prophet.
Her response: she runs home to tell her village what had happened and somewhere along the way, she must have made the connection that this man could be the Messiah — the one they had been waiting for.
Jesus started with a simple request. He followed it with a provocative statement which revealed His divinity, and it changed the life of the woman forever. We should be alert to the possibility that Jesus could be making a simple request of us, at a time when we least expect it.
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Lito