Frederick,
Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Sunday, 23 March
2014 - Catholic Meditations
Meditations:
John 4:5 So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of
ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus
therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the
sixth hour.[a] 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.” 8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 The
Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask
for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with
Samaritans.)
10
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to
you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you
living water.”
11 The
woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.
So where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father,
Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and
his livestock?”
13
Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, 14
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again;
but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing
up to eternal life.”
15 The
woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty,
neither come all the way here to draw.”
16
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The
woman answered, “I have no husband.”
Jesus
said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five
husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said
truly.”
19 The
woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers
worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place
where people ought to worship.”
21
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this
mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. 22 You worship that
which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the
Jews. 23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The
woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he
has come, he will declare to us all things.”
26
Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.” 27 At this, his
disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one
said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?” 28 So the
woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”
30 They
went out of the city, and were coming to him. 31 In the meanwhile, the
disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But
he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The
disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to
eat?”
34
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to
accomplish his work. 35 Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the
harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that
they are white for harvest already. 36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers
fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice
together. 37 For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ 38
I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and
you have entered into their labor.”
39 From
that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the
woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.” 40 So when the
Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two
days. 41 Many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman,
“Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves,
and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Footnotes:
a. John
4:6 noon
3rd
Sunday of Lent
If you
knew the gift of God … (John 4:10)
It is a
constant challenge to see spiritual reality in the midst of our everyday lives.
One of the gifts of Lent is the opportunity to sharpen our spiritual focus so
that we can pay closer attention to our environment and find God in all things
around us.
Today’s
Gospel reading shows Jesus helping people see spiritual truths that they might
otherwise miss. The Samaritan woman came to the well looking for a jar of
water, and that’s where Jesus began the conversation. But within a few minutes,
they had discussed living water, worship, and the promised Messiah. Then the
disciples returned with lunch, and Jesus used the food as a way to explain both
his mission and the work of evangelization that lay before them.
Jesus
wasn’t just being “super spiritual.” A man like us in all things but sin, he
probably was thirsty and hungry. He knew how refreshing a cup of cool water can
feel on a hot day. He knew how energizing a good meal is after a long day’s
work. So he used these realities to teach us about the Spirit’s power to
refresh our lives and the grace of the Eucharist to strengthen us for our
journey.
This is
how God works. He uses every part of our ordinary, everyday lives to teach us
about the extraordinary, heavenly life that he is offering us. So as you seek a
clearer spiritual focus during this season, remember that you don’t have to
leave the physical world behind. God will speak to you through it! He didn’t
enter this world to take us out of it. He came to redeem it and fill it with
his divine power and grace. He took on our flesh in order to redeem our bodies
and teach us to find his presence everywhere we look.
Let
Jesus talk to you today. Listen for his voice as you take a drink of water,
fold the laundry, drive to work, or cook a meal. He wants to tell you something
good!
“Here I
am, Lord, ready to hear your voice.” Amen.
Exodus
17: 3 The people
were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said,
“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our
livestock with thirst?”
4 Moses
cried to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost
ready to stone me.”
5
Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel
with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike
the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did
so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place
Massah,[a] and Meribah,[b] because the children of Israel quarreled, and
because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”
Footnotes:
a. Exodus 17:7 Massah means testing.
b. Exodus
17:7 Meribah means quarreling.
Psalm 95:1
Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh.
Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our
salvation!
2 Let’s
come before his presence with thanksgiving.
Let’s extol him with songs!
6 Oh
come, let’s worship and bow down.
Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
7 for
he is our God.
We are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep in his care.
Today,
oh that you would hear his voice!
8 Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when
your fathers tempted me,
tested me, and saw my work.
Romans 5:1
Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ; 2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace
in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
5 and
hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were yet
weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die
for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare
to die. 8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
-------
Questions
for Reflection or Group Discussion:
Third
Sunday of Lent
(Exodus
17: 3 The people
were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said,
“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our
livestock with thirst?”
4 Moses
cried to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost
ready to stone me.”
5
Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel
with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike
the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did
so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place
Massah,[a] and Meribah,[b] because the children of Israel quarreled, and
because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”
Footnotes:
a. Exodus 17:7 Massah means testing.
b. Exodus
17:7 Meribah means quarreling.
Psalm 95:1
Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh.
Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our
salvation!
2 Let’s
come before his presence with thanksgiving.
Let’s extol him with songs!
6 Oh
come, let’s worship and bow down.
Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
7 for
he is our God.
We are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep in his care.
Today,
oh that you would hear his voice!
8 Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when
your fathers tempted me,
tested me, and saw my work.
Romans 5:1
Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ; 2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace
in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
5 and
hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were yet
weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die
for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare
to die. 8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
John 4:5
So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that
Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being
tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.[a] 7
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8
For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 The
Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask
for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with
Samaritans.)
10
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to
you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you
living water.”
11 The
woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.
So where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father,
Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and
his livestock?”
13
Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, 14
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again;
but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing
up to eternal life.”
15 The
woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty,
neither come all the way here to draw.”
16
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The
woman answered, “I have no husband.”
Jesus
said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five
husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said
truly.”
19 The
woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers
worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place
where people ought to worship.”
21
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this
mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. 22 You worship that
which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the
Jews. 23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The
woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he
has come, he will declare to us all things.”
26
Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.” 27 At this, his
disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one
said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?” 28 So the
woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”
30 They
went out of the city, and were coming to him. 31 In the meanwhile, the
disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But
he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The
disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to
eat?”
34
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to
accomplish his work. 35 Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the
harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that
they are white for harvest already. 36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers
fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice
together. 37 For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ 38
I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and
you have entered into their labor.”
39 From
that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the
woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.” 40 So when the
Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two
days. 41 Many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman,
“Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves,
and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Footnotes:
a. John
4:6 noon)
1. In
the first reading, the people’s response to thirst was grumbling against God
and Moses. What is your heart like when faced with difficulties? Do you have a
complaining and blaming spirit? How do you think God wants you to respond when
facing trials? What steps can you take to cause this to happen?
2. In
the responsorial psalm, we are instructed not to harden our hearts and not to
put God to the test, as the Israelites did in the first reading. How would you
describe the hardened hearts of the grumbling Israelites? What are some of the
circumstances that can cause you to go from grumbling to hardening your heart
and not turning to the Lord in expectant faith? What practical steps can you
take that will allow you to thaw such a hardened heart?
3. In
the second reading, St. Paul tells us the love of God has been “poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us”. Specifically, at Mass
you have an opportunity, through the Eucharist and prayer, to have the very
life and love of God “poured” into your hearts through the Holy Spirit. How can
you better prepare yourself to receive such a gift?
4. In
the second reading, we are also given the example of Christ’s love for us who
died and forgave us while we were still sinners. We received this gift of
forgiveness even though we didn’t deserve it. Is there someone or some
relationship you are holding hostage until the other person takes the first
step? What actions can you take to be the first to reach out with the gift of
forgiveness? It is a gift none of us deserves, but it needs to be freely given.
5. In
the Gospel, we return to the metaphor of water. Jesus promised living water to
the woman, and she ran to the townspeople so that they too could share in the
life of God. What can you do this week to bring others to Jesus, the fountain
of life? Can you identify one person in your family, neighborhood, or at work
that you can reach out to this week with the love of Christ? Are you willing to
do it?
6. The
meditation tells us that Jesus “took on our flesh in order to redeem our bodies
and teach us to find his presence everywhere we look.” How well are you doing
at finding and sensing Jesus’ presence in your everyday life. What steps can
you take to strengthen your experience of his presence?
7. Take
some time now to pray and ask the Lord for the grace to be more open and
sensitive to his presence and his voice. Use the prayer at the end of the
meditation as the starting point.
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