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?”
Second reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans ROM 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.
From the Gospel according to John Jn 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.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER Jesus speaks to us as he does to the Samaritan woman. Of course, we already know him, but perhaps we have not yet encountered him personally. We know who Jesus is, but perhaps we have not countered him personally, spoken with him, and we still have not recognized him as our Saviour. (Angelus, 19 March 2017)
S. FAUSTI - "If you knew the gift of God," Jesus says to the Samaritan woman. He asks to her: "Give me something to drink",so that she would ask him. "Give me this water." It is the living water, the love of the Father and of the Son, Jesus longs to donate to each OF his sister and brother. After the prologue, where John sings the praises of the Word (Jn 1,1-18), the real protagonist of the story of the Gospel is water, the origin of life. But there is water and water, as there is life, and life. In fact there is backwater ,stagnant, and another one moved by the breath of the love welling up into eternal life. In chapter1st there is the water of the baptism of John and that of Jesus' Baptism in the Spirit; in the 2nd the Evangelist speaks about the water of the purifications and of the beautiful wine; in the cap. 3rd there is the birth by the water and by the Spirit; Now, in chapter 4th we see Jesus and the woman which talk about thirst and water; in chapter 5th, to the Bethzatha pool, we have the healing of one of the "dried" crowd, waiting the prodigious water that will come back at the chapter 7th, after the gift of the Bread (c.6). Along with water the Evangelist says also about water and fire, Spirit and light. What is man if not mixed heart mixed with water and enlivened by the breath of God, That wanted him to be like Itself, partaker of Its joy ? What is the thirst of man, if not happiness and fullness of being with Him whose is the other part? The encounter between Jesus and the woman happens in solitude. That Jesus speaks, it rouses surprising to herself, as well to the disciples. They go to the well in the cool hours of dawn and of dusk. Why does this woman come at noon, when she is sure not to meet other women? What kind of water she wants in the hour of heat and of thirst? The question that Jesus addressed seems strange to the Samaritan woman . It sounds like the advances of someone who wants to board her. She has understood it right. It is just the beginning of a courtship. Tired and abandoned on the well, He manifests His weakness. He also is thirsty, as the woman who comes to draw. Besides the well with the material water, there is that of the law, the water of which is the Word of life. But there is also that deep pit that is the woman, and her heart, which, in turn, leads to a even more abysmal mystery, from which every existence flows. The scene is a meeting between man and woman: two wishes stay face to face , each of which is the thirst of the other and the water to the other. The figures and the symbols that come into play are impressive and speak for themselves: the thirst and the water, the man and the woman, the Bridegroom and the various husbands, the temple in Spirit and Truth and the various temples, the food and God's will, the fatigue of sowing and the joy of the harvest. They are fundamental reality that everyone knows and over which they misunderstand themselves. Each one in fact has limited experience and his own, different from that of the other.
-->The story is a love story, a dialogue in which Jesus wants to bring the woman to know His gift. The Bridegroom is traveling, coming from far away, in search of the bride. This, at last, that has abandoned Him at the twilight of the first day, she finds Him at midday,at the sixth hour, the "hour" when everithing is accomplished . The story is a dialogue between the Word and the listener, represented by the woman, this has changed many husbands, but she has not yet met the Groom, whose she is thirsty too. And the Bridegroom, source of living water, encounters her at the well. Jesus begins the dialogue with her: His thirst is quenched when the woman has a thirst for the water that He desires to give. The words of Jesus are a polite mention to her disappointment in love: the intent is not to report but highlight a thirst that anything can satisfy but the gift that Jesus wants give to her. The woman then recognizes Him as a prophet and asks how to meet God, the Bridegroom, where do they worship? Jesus announces to her that the time has come, and it is "now", in which the Messiah is present - it is He Himself who speaks to her! - And it begins with Him the new worship to the Father in Spirit and Truth. The woman, received the revelation of Jesus abandons well and pitcher, to run into town to announce her discovery. Meanwhile the disciples who had absented to buy food, Jesus speaks to them of His food of Son, which is the love of the Father to bring to His brothers. The abundant harvest of Samaritans who come to Him, is the result of His mission. In fact the crowds go out of the city towards the well and they find the gift. They draw from the fountain of living water, and believe in Him, the Savior of the world.
First reading from the Book of Exodus
RispondiEliminaEX 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?”
Second reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans
ROM 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.
From the Gospel according to John
RispondiEliminaJn 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.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Jesus speaks to us as he does to the Samaritan woman. Of course, we already know him, but perhaps we have not yet encountered him personally. We know who Jesus is, but perhaps we have not countered him personally, spoken with him, and we still have not recognized him as our Saviour. (Angelus, 19 March 2017)
S. FAUSTI - "If you knew the gift of God," Jesus says to the Samaritan woman. He asks to her: "Give me something to drink",so that she would ask him. "Give me this water." It is the living water, the love of the Father and of the Son, Jesus longs to donate to each OF his sister and brother.
RispondiEliminaAfter the prologue, where John sings the praises of the Word (Jn 1,1-18), the real protagonist of the story of the Gospel is water, the origin of life.
But there is water and water, as there is life, and life. In fact there is backwater ,stagnant, and another one moved by the breath of the love welling up into eternal life.
In chapter1st there is the water of the baptism of John and that of Jesus' Baptism in the Spirit;
in the 2nd the Evangelist speaks about the water of the purifications and of the beautiful wine;
in the cap. 3rd there is the birth by the water and by the Spirit;
Now, in chapter 4th we see Jesus and the woman which talk about thirst and water;
in chapter 5th, to the Bethzatha pool, we have the healing of one of the "dried" crowd, waiting the prodigious water that will come back at the chapter 7th, after the gift of the Bread (c.6).
Along with water the Evangelist says also about water and fire, Spirit and light.
What is man if not mixed heart mixed with water and enlivened by the breath of God, That wanted him to be like Itself, partaker of Its joy ?
What is the thirst of man, if not happiness and fullness of being with Him whose is the other part?
The encounter between Jesus and the woman happens in solitude. That Jesus speaks, it rouses surprising to herself, as well to the disciples. They go to the well in the cool hours of dawn and of dusk.
Why does this woman come at noon, when she is sure not to meet other women? What kind of water she wants in the hour of heat and of thirst?
The question that Jesus addressed seems strange to the Samaritan woman . It sounds like the advances of someone who wants to board her. She has understood it right. It is just the beginning of a courtship.
Tired and abandoned on the well, He manifests His weakness. He also is thirsty, as the woman who comes to draw.
Besides the well with the material water, there is that of the law, the water of which is the Word of life. But there is also that deep pit that is the woman, and her heart, which, in turn, leads to a even more abysmal mystery, from which every existence flows.
The scene is a meeting between man and woman: two wishes stay face to face , each of which is the thirst of the other and the water to the other. The figures and the symbols that come into play are impressive and speak for themselves: the thirst and the water, the man and the woman, the Bridegroom and the various husbands, the temple in Spirit and Truth and the various temples, the food and God's will, the fatigue of sowing and the joy of the harvest.
They are fundamental reality that everyone knows and over which they misunderstand themselves.
Each one in fact has limited experience and his own, different from that of the other.
-->The story is a love story, a dialogue in which Jesus wants to bring the woman to know His gift.
RispondiEliminaThe Bridegroom is traveling, coming from far away, in search of the bride.
This, at last, that has abandoned Him at the twilight of the first day, she finds Him at midday,at the sixth hour, the "hour" when everithing is accomplished .
The story is a dialogue between the Word and the listener, represented by the woman, this has changed many husbands, but she has not yet met the Groom, whose she is thirsty too. And the Bridegroom, source of living water, encounters her at the well. Jesus begins the dialogue with her: His thirst is quenched when the woman has a thirst for the water that He desires to give.
The words of Jesus are a polite mention to her disappointment in love: the intent is not to report but highlight a thirst that anything can satisfy but the gift that Jesus wants give to her.
The woman then recognizes Him as a prophet and asks how to meet God, the Bridegroom, where do they worship?
Jesus announces to her that the time has come, and it is "now", in which the Messiah is present - it is He Himself who speaks to her! - And it begins with Him the new worship to the Father in Spirit and Truth.
The woman, received the revelation of Jesus abandons well and pitcher, to run into town to announce her discovery. Meanwhile the disciples who had absented to buy food, Jesus speaks to them of His food of Son, which is the love of the Father to bring to His brothers.
The abundant harvest of Samaritans who come to Him, is the result of His mission.
In fact the crowds go out of the city towards the well and they find the gift. They draw from the fountain of living water, and believe in Him, the Savior of the world.