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Our gospel passage today is rich in both descriptive symbolism and
a great reality! The symbolism is of “water welling up” – the reality is that
this water IS the eternal life that God offers to those who believe and love – and the source of this reality is the pierced Sacred Heart of the Crucified
Christ!
God
puts into all hearts – all people, everywhere – an initial drop of this water – just as
a primer to get us to want more and more of it! We all come into the world with
a “spark of the divine life in us!” It is up to us to do all we can to
keep that flame alive: and believe it or
not – it means that we must douse it
with the spiritual water of God’s grace – what a flame that produces! To those without faith, this makes no sense;
to those with faith, it eventually makes perfect sense!
The
woman at the well (in the gospel passage) – being a Samaritan, a
cousin to the people of Israel, who believe in many of the same things – had
the “spark,” but needed a “bucket of spiritual water” thrown on her by Jesus –
which he did, very gently! In the
dialogue that ensued, the woman ended up developing her conception of Jesus’
three-fold in a matter of minutes!
First, she saw him as a Jewish man
sitting at well, tired and thirsty! Then, after Jesus – who initiated the
conversation – started telling her about herself and her personal life: she
promoted him to Prophet! This man is
a true seer! He may have an interesting handle on “truth!” Everyone, even back
then, as is the case today, is searching for TRUTH! real Truth! (And the truth
is none other than that we are invited to be God’s children.)
After
more dialogue now about religious matters – the contrast
between the Samaritan and Jewish take on things – Jesus reveals himself
(promotes himself) as the Messiah who is to come, the one called the Christ who
will tell all truth to everyone! The
tables are turned and the woman says: “Oh
yes, I know that such a one is coming!” Then Jesus promotes her to believer by telling her outright: “I am he, the one
speaking with you!” Her heart must have leapt for joy in her now complete act
of faith in Jesus! I can see her bowing low in adoration!
What
does this have to do with us? It means that first, we must
see if we have completed the stages that the Samaritan woman has; do we need to
open ourselves up more and more to Jesus telling us about ourselves and himself
so to make a very large and generous act
of belief and a promise to love as he
demonstrated?
Then,
we need to imitate the whole encounter, with other people!
Evangelization is bringing Christ the
Truth, and the truth of Christ to
others – others who are at the wells
of our own day and age: the wells of
the water coolers at work, the wells of
the sewing circle, the wells of our
family meals and gatherings, the wells
of pilates classes, the wells of
study groups and parish reads – wherever others need to be doused!
It
ought to be our goal – with Jesus and his Spirit working through us
- for people we encounter to say, as
did the inhabitants of Samaria, who received the woman’s testimony: We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of
the world!
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