March
8, 2026
Third Sunday of Lent
Lectionary: 28
Reading
I
Exodus 17:3-7
In those days, in
their thirst for water,
the people grumbled against Moses,
saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?
Was it just to have us die here of thirst
with our children and our livestock?”
So Moses cried out to the LORD,
“What shall I do with this people?
a little more and they will stone me!”
The LORD answered Moses,
“Go over there in front of the people,
along with some of the elders of Israel,
holding in your hand, as you go,
the staff with which you struck the river.
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb.
Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it
for the people to drink.”
This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.
The place was called Massah and Meribah,
because the Israelites quarreled there
and tested the LORD, saying,
“Is the LORD in our midst or not?”
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) If
today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Reading
II
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
Brothers and
sisters:
Since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
And hope does not
disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
Verse
Before the Gospel
John 4:42, 15
Lord, you are
truly the Savior of the world;
give me living water, that I may never thirst again.
Gospel
John 4:5-42
Jesus came to a
town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria
came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”
At that moment his
disciples returned,
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?”
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said to the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment
and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”
Many of the
Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified,
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him
to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“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.”
OR:
John
4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria
came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep
coming here to draw water.
“I can see that
you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”
Many of the
Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“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.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030826.cfm
Sunday of
Week 3 of Lent (Year A, B or C)
Note: On this, the Third Sunday in Lent, we celebrate the
Mass for the first of the three ‘Scrutinies’. The Scrutinies are special rites
that help prepare the Elect (those participating in the Order of Christian
Initiation of Adults) to enter the Catholic Church. The readings discussed in
this commentary, while ‘proper’ for Year A, may also be used in Years B and C
when there are catechumens present who will be baptised at Easter. Click on the
links below for the commentaries on readings proper for Years B and C:
Year B
Commentary
Year C
Commentary
______________________________________________________
Commentary on Exodus
17:3-7; Romans 5:1-2,5-8; John 4:5-42
The theme of today’s readings centres around water,
and the links to Baptism are clear. Water is the source of life, but also
of destruction. We have the story of the Flood, which brought salvation to Noah
and his family, but death to a sinful world; the crossing of the Red Sea, which
meant life and liberty to the Israelites, but death to the army of the Pharaoh;
and the water from the rock for the Israelites in the dryness of the
desert. We will hear more about these at the Easter Vigil during the
blessing of the baptismal water.
The Gospel is about the Samaritan woman at the well, and it
also centres around the theme of water and life.
Marginalised groups
Generally speaking, the Samaritan woman can be said to represent three
oppressed groups of people:
- women
in general,
- prostitutes
and sexually immoral people and,
- all
kinds of outsiders, including people who are unclean, infidels or
foreigners.
The story begins with Jesus showing himself as a person in
need: tired, hungry and thirsty. We constantly have to remind ourselves
how genuinely human Jesus was. As stated in the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer, he
was:
…like us in all things but sin.
He asks help from a person he was supposed to avoid (a
strange woman on her own), and also to hate—a Samaritan. She is very surprised
at his approach, but her surprise allows Jesus to turn the tables and offer her
“living water”. She, understanding him literally, asks how he can give it
as he has no bucket. But the water that Jesus will give is different. He
says:
Everyone who drinks of this water [i.e. from the
well] will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I
will give them will never be thirsty.
Again and literally, the woman wants this water that lasts
forever, thinking that she will then never have to trudge to the well again.
What is this water that Jesus speaks about? It is
God’s Spirit which comes to us in baptism. The sacrament of baptism is not just
a ritual producing magic effects. It is the outward, symbolic sign of a
deep reality, the coming of God as a force penetrating every aspect of a
person’s life.
And this happens through our exposure to Jesus and the gospel
vision of life, and through our becoming totally converted to that
vision. This can only happen through the agency of a Christian community
into which we are called to enter. As the Second Reading says today:
…God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
It is not just a question of a ritual washing or immersing
and saying magic words, but of a real drinking in of that Spirit. The
Spirit quenches our thirst, not by removing our desire for God’s presence, but
by continually satisfying it.
Five husbands plus
Jesus invites the woman to come back to the well once more with her
husband. Jesus’ mission begins with reaching out to a family. But
she says she has no husband. Indeed, as Jesus reveals her true situation:
she has had five husbands and the man she is with now is not her husband.
She is considered a ‘loose’ woman who must have been deeply despised by people
around her. It is no wonder she came to the well alone!
The water that Jesus promises is closely linked to
conversion and forgiveness of sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. But the sin must first be exposed and
acknowledged. And the focus of Jesus’ attention is not just the woman’s
sin, but that of everyone in the whole town from which she comes. Sinner
that she is, she will become the agent of her neighbors’ salvation and
conversion.
Changing the subject
The woman is staggered at Jesus’ insight into her life. She is
embarrassed, and so there is a sudden change of topic to something theoretical
and ‘safe’. How often do we do that?
The question the woman asks is about Jewish and Samaritan
places of worship: Jerusalem, holy to the Jews, or Mount Gerizim, holy to the
Samaritans, or the well of Jacob where they are. But it gives Jesus the
opportunity to make another important point. The ‘holy’ well where they
are will become irrelevant—so will the Temple of Jerusalem and the mountain of
the Samaritans. True worship will be done “in Spirit and in truth”.
There will be no more temples. It is not places which are holy, but the
people who use them. It is we who are the Temple of God and the dwelling
place of Christ.
The woman goes on to say that she knows when the Messiah
comes, he will tell all about this. At that point, Jesus tells her that
he is the Messiah. How extraordinary! It is a religious outsider,
and a multiple adulterer, who is the first person in John’s Gospel to hear this
revelation! And, this is precisely because it is sinners (like each one
of us!) who need to hear this. People who are healthy do not need the
doctor, only the sick.
Amazement
Just then the disciples return. As men of their time and culture, they
are amazed to see Jesus talking alone to this woman, this despised
outsider. They don’t know what to say. They offer Jesus food, but
he tells them he has food they know nothing about:
One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
(Matt 4:4)
Jesus’ food is his total identification with the will of his
Father and doing his work:
Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and
obey it. (Luke 11:28)
Linked with the idea of bread and feeding, Jesus tells them
that the harvest is great and it is ripe. And the harvest now includes
Samaritans (including this woman) and all outsiders, aliens, unbelievers, and
all sinners. It is a harvest that has been prepared by others.
“Stay with us”
Many Samaritans came to believe in Jesus because of the woman’s
witnessing. They asked him to stay with them, because otherwise he would
have continued on his journey. Jesus often needs to be invited to
stay. Remember the two men walking to Emmaus? He would not have
stopped if they had not invited him to stay the night. He stands at the
door and knocks, but he will not come in unless invited.
As a result, many in that Samaritan village came to believe
in Jesus. And they said:
It is no longer because of what you [the
woman] said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we
know that this is truly the Savior of the world.
For catechumens, and for all of us, the faith that has been
handed on must become our own faith. So that, even if everyone around us
were to abandon Jesus, I would not. Ultimately faith is totally
personal:
…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives
in me.
(Gal 2:20)
Let us pray today that all those preparing to be baptised at
Easter may find that life-enriching faith for their lives.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/labc031/
Third Sunday of Lent
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, send
your Spirit to help us read the Scriptures in the same way that you read them
to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. With the light of the Word in the
Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the distressing
events surrounding your condemnation to death. The cross, which seemed to put
an end to all hope, was revealed to them as the source of life and
resurrection.
Create in us the silence necessary to hear
your voice in creation and in the Scriptures, in the events of daily life and
in people, above all in the poor and the suffering. May your word give us
direction, just as it did to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, so that
we too will experience the power of your resurrection and bear witness to
others that you are alive in our midst as the source of community, of justice
and of peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, you who revealed the
Father to us and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
Gospel Reading - John 4, 5-42
A Key for Unlocking the Text:
The text describes the dialogue between Jesus and the
Samaritan woman. It is a very human conversation, which shows how Jesus related
to people and how he himself learned and became enriched in talking with
others. While reading the text, try to be aware of what surprises you most
about the attitude both of Jesus and the woman.
A Division of the Text to Assist a Careful
Reading:
•
Jn 4,5-6: Sets the scene in which the dialogue
takes place
•
Jn 4,7-26: Describes the dialogue between Jesus
and the woman
•
7-15: about water and thirst
•
16-18: about the husband and family
•
19-25: about religion and the place for
adoration
•
Jn 4,27-30: Describes the effect of the
conversation on the woman
•
Jn 4,31-38: Describes the effect of the
conversation on Jesus • Jn 4,39-42: Describes the
effect on the mission of Jesus in Samaria The
Text:
•
5-6: So he came to a city of Samaria, called
Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was
there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the
well. It was about the sixth hour.
•
7-15: There came a woman of Samaria to draw
water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had
gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How
is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" For Jews
have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the
gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would
have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said
to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where
do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave
us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?"
Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the
water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to
eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that
I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
•
16-18: Jesus said to her, "Go, call your
husband, and come here." The woman answered him, "I have no
husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no
husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your
husband; this you said truly."
•
19-26: The woman said to him, "Sir, I
perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and
you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus
said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do
not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour
is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and
those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to
him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he
comes, he will show us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak
to you am he."
•
27-30: Just then his disciples came. They
marvelled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you
wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" So the woman left her
water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, "Come, see
a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went
out of the city and were coming to him.
•
31-38: Meanwhile the disciples besought him,
saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat
of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Has
any one brought him food?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the
will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are
yet four months, then comes the harvest? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see
how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and
gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to
reap that for which you did not labour; others have laboured, and you have
entered into their labor."
•
39-42: Many Samaritans from that city believed
in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever
did." So, when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with
them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word.
They said to the woman,
"It is no longer because of your words that we
believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the
Savior of the world."
A Moment of Silent Prayer
so that the Word of God can enter into us and light up our
lives.
Some Questions
to help us in our meditation and prayer.
•
What most attracted your attention in Jesus’
attitude to the woman during the dialogue? What method did Jesus use to help
the woman become aware of a deeper dimension to life?
•
•
What most attracted your attention about the
attitude of the Samaritan woman during her conversation with Jesus? How did she
influence Jesus?
•
•
Where in the Old Testament, is water associated
with the gift of life and the gift of the Holy Spirit?
•
How does Jesus’ attitude during the conversation
question me or touch something within me or correct me?
•
The Samaritan woman led the discussion towards
religion. If you could come across Jesus and talk to him, what would you like
to talk about? Why?
•
Do I adore God in spirit and in truth or do I
find my security in rituals and regulations?
A Key to the Reading
for those who wish to go deeper.
The Symbolism of Water:
•
Jesus uses the word water in two senses. The
first sense is the material, normal sense of water that one drinks; the second
is the symbolic sense as the source of life and the gift of the Spirit. Jesus
uses a language that people can understand and, at the same time, awakes in
them, the desire to go deeper and to discover a more profound meaning to life.
•
The symbolic sense of water has its roots in the
Old Testament, where it is frequently a symbol for the action of the Spirit of
God in people. For example, Jeremiah compares running water to water in a
cistern (Jer. 2,13). The more water is taken from a cistern, the less it has;
the more water is taken from a stream of living water, the more it has. Other
texts from the Old Testament: Is.12,3; 49,10; 55,1; Ez. 47, 1-3. Jesus knew the
traditions of his people and he uses these in his conversation with the
Samaritan woman. Suggesting the symbolic meaning of water, he suggests to her
(and to the readers) various episodes and phrases from the Old Testament. The Dialogue between Jesus and the Woman:
•
Jesus meets the woman at the well, a traditional
place for meetings and conversations (Gen 24,10-27;29,1-14). He starts off from
his own very real need because he is thirsty. He does this in such a way that
the woman feels needed and she serves him. Jesus makes himself needy in her
regard. From his question, he makes it possible for the woman to become aware
that he depends on her to give him something to drink. Jesus awakens in her the
desire to help and to serve.
•
The conversation between Jesus and the woman has
two levels.
•
The
superficial level, in the material sense of water that quenches someone’s
thirst, and in the normal sense of husband as the father of a family. At this
level the conversation is tense and difficult and does not flow. The Samaritan
woman has the upper hand. At the beginning, Jesus tries to meet her by talking
about daily chores (fetching water), but he does not succeed. Then he tries by
talking about family (call your husband), and still there is no breakthrough.
Finally the woman speaks about religion (the place of adoration). Jesus then
gets through to her by the door she herself has opened.
•
The
deeper level, in the symbolic sense of water as the image of the new life
brought by Jesus, and of the husband as the symbol of the union of God with the
people. At this level, the conversation flows perfectly. After revealing that
he himself is offering the water of new life, Jesus says, "Go and get your
husband and then return." In the past, the Samaritans had five husbands,
or five idols, attached to the five groups of people who were taken off by the
King of Assyria (2 Kings 17, 30-31). The sixth husband, the one the woman had
at present, was not truly her husband: "the one you have now is not your
husband" (Jn. 4,18). What the people had did not respond to their deepest
desire: union with God, as a husband who unites himself to his spouse (Is.
62,5; 54,5). The true husband, the seventh, is Jesus, as promised by Hosea:
"I will espouse you to me forever; I will espouse you in right and in
justice, in love and in mercy. I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall
know the Lord." (Hos. 2, 21-22). Jesus is the bridegroom who has arrived
(Mk. 2, 19) to bring new life to the woman who has been searching for it her
whole life long, and until now, has never found it. If the people accept Jesus
as "husband", they will have access to God wherever they are, both in
spirit and in truth (vv. 23- 24).
* Jesus declares his thirst to the
Samaritan woman but he does not drink. This is a sign that we are talking about
a symbolic thirst, which had to do with his mission: the thirst to accomplish
the will of his Father (Jn. 4, 34). This thirst is ever present in Jesus and
will be until his death. At the moment of his death, he says, "I am
thirsty" (Jn. 19, 28). He declares his thirst for the last time and so he
can say, "It is accomplished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his
spirit. (Jn. 19,30). His mission had been accomplished.
The Importance of Women in the Gospel of
John:
In John’s Gospel,
women feature prominently seven times, which are decisive for the spreading of
the Good News. To women are given functions and missions, some of which, in the
other Gospels, are attributed to men:
•
At the wedding feast in Cana, the mother of
Jesus recognizes the limits of the Old Testament and affirms the law of the
Gospel, "Do whatever he tells you." (Jn. 2, 1-11).
•
The Samaritan woman is the first person to have
revealed to her by Jesus the great secret, that he is the Messiah. "It is
I who speak to you." (Jn. 4,26). She then becomes the evangelizer of
Samaria (Jn. 4, 28-30. 39-42).
•
The woman, who is called an adulteress, at the
moment of receiving the forgiveness of Jesus, becomes the judge of the
patriarchal society (or of male power) that seeks to condemn her. (Jn. 8,
1-11).
•
In the other Gospels it is Peter who makes the
solemn profession of faith in Jesus (Mt. 16, 16; Mk. 8,29; Lk. 9,20). In the
Gospel of John, it is Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus, who makes the solemn
profession of faith (Jn. 11,27).
•
Mary, the sister of Martha, anoints the feet of
Jesus for the day of his burial (Jn. 12,7). At the time of Jesus, the one who
died on a cross was not buried nor embalmed. Mary anticipated the anointing of
Jesus’ body. This means that she accepted Jesus as the Messiah-Suffering
Servant, who must die on the cross. Peter did not accept this (Jn.13,8) and
sought to dissuade Jesus from this path (Mt. 16,22). In this way, Mary is
presented as a model for the other disciples.
•
At the foot of the cross, Jesus says,
"Woman, behold your son; son, behold your mother" (Jn. 19,25-27). The
Church is born at the foot of the cross. Mary is the model for the Christian
community.
•
Mary Magdalene must announce the Good News to
the brothers (Jn. 20,1118). She receives an order, without which all the other
orders given to the apostles would have no effect or value.
•
The Mother of Jesus appears twice in John’s
Gospel: at the beginning, at the wedding feast in Cana (Jn. 2, 1-5), and at the
end, at the foot of the cross (Jn. 19, 25-27). In both cases, she represents
the Old Testament that waits for the arrival of the New, and, in both cases,
assists its arrival. Mary unites what has gone before with what would come later.
At Cana, it is she, the Mother of Jesus, symbol of the Old Testament, who
perceives its limits and takes steps so that the New will arrive. At the hour
of Jesus’ death, it is the Mother of Jesus, who welcomes the "Beloved
Disciple." In this case the Beloved Disciple is the new community, which
has grown around Jesus. It is the child that has been born from the Old
Testament. In response to Jesus’ request, the son, the New Testament, welcomes
the Mother, the Old Testament, into his home. The two must journey together.
The New Testament cannot be understood without the Old. It would be a building
without a foundation.
The Old without the New would be incomplete. It would be a
tree without fruit.
Psalm 19 (18)
God speaks to us
through nature and through the Bible The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and
night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and
their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the
sun, which comes forth like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong
man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the
heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and there is nothing hid from its
heat.
The law of the
Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making
wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is
clean, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous
altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter
also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is thy servant
warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can discern his errors?
Clear thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous
sins; let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless, and
innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be
acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word, which
has helped us see better the will of the Father. Let your Spirit illumine all
that we do and give us the strength to carry out that which your Word has made
us see. Let us, like Mary, your Mother, not only listen to the Word but also
put it into practice. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of
the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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