Third Sunday of Lent, March 19, 2017

"And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts . . ."
2nd Reading, Paul to Romans

In the first reading Moses struck the rock and water poured forth.

In the Gospel, Jesus confronts the Samaritan woman at the well.
This woman was between a rock and a hard place.

She was ostracized by the town women because of her frequent liaisons with various men.
So while they came to the well in the cool of the morning,
she had to come at noon and the heat of the day.

And yet Jesus dialogs with her, reveals her checkered past,
and to her amazement, offers her living water.

And then he commissions her to spread the good news to the town people.

His male disciples are amazed.

Certainly for her "hope did not disappoint!" Nor should it for us.

And so we pray:

O God, we thirst for living water.
As we observe the catechumens dismissed at Mass,
We might well ask: Who are we to stay?
And yet we do because we thirst too.
And we know that "hope will not disappoint us."
Amen