Homily, 2nd Sunday of Lent, Leaving behind our water jar & Living Water

The Samaritan woman encounters Jesus at the well as she seeks to satisfy her thirst.  Jesus is there waiting for her.  She comes to draw water to help satisfy her daily needs, but she discovers the person who satisfies her needs for eternity. 

Jesus breaks down the cultural barriers of the time in being there for the woman. First of all, Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans. They were considered an impure race made up of Jews who intermarried with pagan foreign invaders. They adopted many of the pagan practices of worship which the Jews despised.  Secondly a man would never speak with an unaccompanied woman at the time.   It was also very unusual for a woman to be alone. The Samaritan woman must have been an outcast, since she had to come alone at noon, the hottest time of the day. Women typically joined together to gather water in the morning or evening, at a much cooler time.  Since the Samaritan woman lived in a scandalous relationship she wasn’t welcome to join them.

Jesus doesn’t let her moral situation become a barrier to encounter him.   He knows

she came for water, but she’s thirsting for much more.  She’s thirsting for the satisfaction of true love. Her many husbands only provided temporary love.  Jesus reveals her past and current situation, and she believes him to be a prophet.   The seed of faith planted in her prompts questions to Jesus about the difference in Jewish and Samaritan worship.  Jesus tells her that true worship will be of the Father in Spirit and truth, speaking of himself and the Church, and finally reveals to her that he is the Messiah. 

The woman then goes to the town to tell everyone of this exciting news and leaves something behind: her water jar. I think leaving the water jar is significant. It is a symbol of leaving her past behind.  Her new found faith in the living water of eternal life promised by Jesus was now much more important.  The needs and desires of water and earthly love were secondary to her relationship with Jesus.  They only provided temporary satisfaction.  Everlasting satisfaction came from the spring of water welling up to eternal life that only Jesus could give.  She had found the truth of life through the grace of Jesus being there.  Jesus was there offering this gift freely to her. Her new found gift of eternal life in Christ had transformed her to share the good news with others and leave behind her past behind.

We all have needs and desires that we’re thirsting for and many of us have baggage from the past.   The Samaritan woman thirsted for love trying to satisfy it through her multiple husbands.  The Jews had been freed from slavery in Egypt, but feared death from thirst in the desert. Today we have millions of Middle Eastern refugees thirsting for permanent homes free from persecution.  In our own country thousands of undocumented immigrants thirst to keep their families together.  We may thirst to be healed of illnesses, have relationship restored, or to get a better job to support our family.  We may be thirsting for power, money, or prestige to satisfy our own egos.

Jesus is there to help us discern our deepest desires, some being valid and some not so much.   When our needs are satisfied do they bring about a lasting peace and comfort, or do they leave us thirsting for something else?  What happens when they’re not met?  Sometimes there are no ready answers to difficult situations and it can leave us feeling hopeless.  In baptism we’ve been cleansed with living water to raise to a new life in Christ. This gives us a light in the darkness to assist us with the challenges of this world. When we turn to Jesus our relationship with him helps to reveal what’s most important.   Sometimes the only answer Jesus can give us is in difficult situations is hope for eternal life.  We can go to Jesus in prayer, in the Sacraments, and through members of the Body of Christ to help us.

This Sunday the members of the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults will be going through the first of three Scrutiny’s.  The Scrutiny’s are the rites that these members go through as they prepare to enter the Church. They’ll be receiving Baptism where they will be admitted to the Sacraments of Christian Initiation at the Easter Vigil.  They’re on a faith journey developing a relationship with Christ, and leaving behind their own water jars, so they can receive living water for eternal life. 

We’re on a similar journey as we as we go through Lent.  Our discipline of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving helps us to leave behind the water jar holding everything that keeps us from having faith in Jesus as our Messiah.  As we shed those sinful ways we have the sacrament of reconciliation that will help us restore our relationship with God.  Jesus is waiting for us ready to help without any barriers or concerns about our life’s situation just as he was for the Samaritan woman.

Homily, 6th Sunday, Do we have a strong foundation for God to dwell in

My wife and I went out to breakfast yesterday after 8 am Mass.  We were seated right away, but it’s a good thing we didn’t wait too much longer.  The restaurant quickly filled up with many young families.  When it came time to pay we could barely get through the crowd to pay for the check.  I suspect much of the people there were from all the houses springing up south of Stone Crossings road. 

It appears that the housing industry is doing much better after the economic downturn which started back in 2008.   The collapse of the housing market was a major contributor to the economic decline.   Predatory lending resulted in many people buying houses above their means, and resulted in loss of homes and bank failures.  The housing industry was based on a weak foundation of greed that went unchecked. New regulations put in place helped to build a more solid foundation to return to better times.

Our opening prayer today called for us to become dwellings that are pleasing to God.   We have all seen the impact of what a weak foundation can have on a major industry that affects our economy.     If we are to become a dwelling that pleases God, do we have a strong foundation to build on?    

Our readings today point to ways we can build up and strengthen our own dwelling places.   The first reading from Sirach reminds us that we can choose to keep the commandments. God does not make us follow the commandments nor cause us to break them.  He gives us the freedom to choose.  But in that freedom we can choose life or death, good or evil.  Through God’s wisdom he provides us with the commandments and they are life giving.   We can’t earn our salvation by following the commandments.  Only faith in Jesus can save us.  But we can lose our salvation by choosing to reject the commandments by not loving God and neighbor. 

Jesus seems to raise the bar a bit more.   He tells us that unless your righteousness surpasses the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  The Pharisees were all about keeping commandments, all 613 of them.    We quite often hear in the Gospels about the Pharisees challenging Jesus about following the law and he confronts them about loving God and neighbor.   He does so because the Pharisees are only concerned about the external actions of the law.  They weren’t concerned about the interior change of the hearts.  So while the Pharisees were the keepers of the law, they weren’t so concerned about love of neighbor.  Jesus, who is God’s wisdom, was calling the Pharisees to a conversion of hearts.  So if we live as disciples of Jesus, loving God and neighbor, we can surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees, because we’re doing more than just keeping the commandments. We’re sowing the seeds of love, peace, and unity to bring about the kingdom of God.

This sounds like a tall task to accomplish on our own, but St. Paul tells us how it’s possible to keep the commandments and to live as Jesus’ disciples: through the Spirit.   The Spirit we receive in Baptism and Confirmation provides the grace for us to become dwellings pleasing to God.   The grace of the sacraments reveals God’s wisdom and makes it possible to be grateful and life giving to others. 

How can we become and continue to be a dwelling that is pleasing to God?  By asking ourselves if we are welcoming place for Jesus when we receive him in the Eucharist.   We can do this by making it a habit to examine ourselves to make sure our house is in order.   We can stand outside a house and look at its appearance, but we really know what it’s like when we walk through the door and examine its contents. If you watch House Hunter’s International or read South magazine you can get the overall view of a house, both inside and out.   We need to do the same things for ourselves with the Spirit’s guidance.

The Holy Spirit is our guide to examine the interior of our own dwelling to make sure it’s is ready for Jesus to enter.  The commandments can be the cornerstones of our house’ foundation.  Each commandment can be a room we enter to see if we are just keeping them or living them out as Jesus intends, loving God and neighbor.  We can walk through and say we have not killed someone, but is there a grudge we’ve been holding with a family member we’ve refused to talk to for years?   We may not have committed adultery, but do we always look at others with chaste thoughts?  We can say we haven’t outright lied, but have we been fully honest in our dealings with others?  Are there any habits that are kept hidden in the attic that we need to clean out and get rid of?   If there are any rooms that need cleaned up before we welcome Jesus in, we ask for God’s mercy. The Sacrament of Confession can help make our dwelling pleasing to God. 

As we proceed to receive the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit will come down to change the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood. Let’s invite that same Spirit to come into our dwelling and build a solid foundation by guiding us with God’s wisdom to live out the commandments by loving God and neighbor.