Book of 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?"
Psalms 95(94) 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.
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.
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.”
Letter to the 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 that has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet 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.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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 Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is 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 Messiah? 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 his 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."
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.
BENEDICT XVI ANGELUS 27 March 2011 This third Sunday of Lent is characterized by the Jesus’ famous conversation with the Samaritan woman, recounted by the Evangelist John. The woman went every day to draw water from an ancient well that dated back to the Patriarch Jacob and on that day she found Jesus sitting beside the well, “wearied from his journey” (Jn 4:6). St Augustine comments: “Not for nothing was Jesus tried…. The strength of Christ created you, the weakness of Christ recreated you…. With his strength he created us, with his weakness he came to seek us out” (In Ioh. Ev., 15, 2).
Jesus’ weariness, a sign of his true humanity, can be seen as a prelude to the Passion with which he brought to fulfilment the work of our redemption. In the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, the topic of Christ’s “thirst” stands out in particular. It culminated in his cry on the Cross “I thirst” (Jn 19:28). This thirst, like his weariness, had a physical basis. Yet Jesus, as St Augustine says further, “thirsted for the faith of that woman” (In Ioh. Ev. 15,11), as he thirsted for the faith of us all.
God the Father sent him to quench our thirst for eternal life, giving us his love, but to give us this gift Jesus asks for our faith. The omnipotence of Love always respects human freedom; it knocks at the door of man’s heart and waits patiently for his answer.
In the encounter with the Samaritan woman the symbol of water stands out in the foreground, alluding clearly to the sacrament of Baptism, the source of new life for faith in God’s Grace. This Gospel, in fact — as I recalled in my Catechesis on Ash Wednesday — is part of the ancient journey of the catechumen’s preparation for Christian Initiation, which took place at the great Easter Vigil. “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him”, Jesus said, “will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14).
This water represents the Holy Spirit, the “gift” par excellence that Jesus came to bring on the part of God the Father. Whoever is reborn by water and by the Holy Spirit, that is, in Baptism, enters into a real relationship with God, a filial relationship, and can worship him “in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:23, 24), as Jesus went on to reveal to the Samaritan woman. Thanks to the meeting with Jesus Christ and to the gift of the Holy Spirit, the human being’s faith attains fulfilment, as a response to the fullness of God’s revelation.
Each one of us can identify himself with the Samaritan woman: Jesus is waiting for us, especially in this Season of Lent, to speak to our hearts, to my heart. Let us pause a moment in silence, in our room or in a church or in a separate place. Let us listen to his voice which tells us “If you knew the gift of God…”. May the Virgin Mary help us not to miss this appointment, on which our true happiness depends. I offer a warm greeting to all the English-speaking visitors present for this Angelus prayer. In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the water which wells up to eternal life in those who believe. Through our Lenten observance may all of us be renewed in the grace of our Baptism and prepare with hearts renewed to celebrate the gift of new life at Easter. Upon you and your families I invoke God’s Blessings of joy and peace!
ANGELUS 15 March 2020 The Gospel passage from today, the Third Sunday of Lent, tells us of Jesus’ meeting with a Samaritan woman ( Jn 4:5-42). He is on a journey with his disciples and takes a break near a well in Samaria. The Samaritans were considered heretics by the Jews, and were very much despised as second-class citizens. Jesus is tired, thirsty. A woman arrives to draw water and he says to her: “Give me a drink” (v. 7). Breaking every barrier, he begins a dialogue in which he reveals to the woman the mystery of living water, that is, of the Holy Spirit, God’s gift. Indeed, in response to the woman’s surprised reaction, Jesus says: “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” (v. 10).
Water is the focus of this dialogue. On the one hand, water is an essential element that slakes the body’s thirst and sustains life. On the other, water is a symbol of divine grace that gives eternal life. In the biblical tradition God is the source of living water: as it says in Psalms and in the Prophets: distancing oneself from God, the source of living water, and from his Law, leads to the worst drought. This is the experience of the People of Israel in the desert. During their long journey to freedom, as they were dying of thirst, they cried out against Moses and against God because there was no water. Thus, God willed Moses to make water flow from a rock, as a sign of the Providence of God, accompanying his people and giving them life ( Ex 17:1-7).
The Apostle Paul, too, interprets that rock as a symbol of Christ. He says: “And that rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:4). It is the mysterious figure of his presence in the midst of the People of God on their journey. Christ, in fact, is the Temple from which, according to the prophets, flows the Holy Spirit, the living water which purifies and gives life. Whoever thirsts for salvation can draw freely from Jesus, and the Spirit will become a wellspring of full and eternal life in him/her. The promise of living water that Jesus made to the Samaritan woman becomes a reality in his Passion: from his pierced side flowed “blood and water” (Jn 19:34). Christ, the Lamb, immolated and risen, is the wellspring from which flows the Holy Spirit who remits sins and regenerates new life.
This gift is also the source of witness. Like the Samaritan woman, whoever personally encounters the living Jesus feels the need to talk about him to others, so that everyone might reach the point of proclaiming that Jesus “is truly the saviour of the world” (Jn 4:42), as the woman’s fellow townspeople later said. Generated to new life through Baptism, we too are called to witness the life and hope that are within us. If our quest and our thirst are thoroughly quenched in Christ, we will manifest that salvation is not found in the “things” of this world, which ultimately produce drought, but in he who has loved us and will always love us: Jesus, our Saviour, in the living water, that he offers us. May Mary, Most Holy, help us nourish a desire for Christ, font of living water, the only one who can satisfy the thirst for life and love that we bear in our hearts.
Dear brothers and sisters, Saint Peter’s Square is closed during these days. Therefore, my greetings go directly to you who are connected through the means of communications. In this time of pandemic in which we find ourselves living more or less isolated, we are invited to rediscover and deepen the value of communion that unites all members of the Church. United to Christ we are never alone, but rather, we form one sole Body, with he as the head. It is a union that is nourished by prayer and by spiritual communion in the Eucharist, a practice that is highly recommended when it is not possible to receive the Sacrament. I say this to everyone, especially to those who live alone. ... May the Lord bless you. May Our Lady keep you; and please do not forget to pray for me. Have a nice Sunday. Enjoy your lunch! Thank you.
PAPE FRANÇOIS ANGÉLUS 15 mars 2020 ...Le passage évangélique de ce troisième dimanche de Carême, présente la rencontre de Jésus avec une femme samaritaine (cf. Jn 4,5-42). Il est en route avec ses disciples et ils s’arrêtent près d'un puits, en Samarie. Les Samaritains étaient considérés par les juifs comme des hérétiques et ils étaient très méprisés, comme des citoyens de seconde classe. Jésus est fatigué, il a soif. Une femme arrive, pour prendre de l’eau et il lui demande: « Donne-moi à boire » (v. 7). Ainsi, brisant toute barrière, il commence un dialogue dans lequel il révèle à cette femme le mystère de l’eau vive, c’est-à-dire de l’Esprit Saint, don de Dieu. En effet, à la réaction de surprise de la femme, Jésus répond: «Si tu savais le don de Dieu et qui est celui qui te dit: 'Donne-moi à boire!', tu lui aurais demandé et il t’aurait donné de l’eau vive « (v. 10).
Au centre de ce dialogue il y a l’eau. D’une part, l’eau en tant qu’élément essentiel pour vivre, qui satisfait la soif du corps et soutient la vie. De l’autre, l’eau comme symbole de la grâce divine, qui donne la vie éternelle. Dans la tradition biblique, Dieu est la source d’eau vive — ce que disent les psaumes, les prophètes — : s’éloigner de Dieu, source d'eau vive, et de sa Loi comporte la pire des sécheresses. C’est l’expérience du peuple d’Israël dans le désert. Sur le long chemin vers la liberté, celui-ci, brûlé par la soif, proteste contre Moïse et contre Dieu parce qu’il n’y a pas d’eau. Alors, par la volonté de Dieu, Moïse fait jaillir l’eau d’un rocher, comme signe de la providence de Dieu qui accompagne son peuple et lui donne la vie ( Ex 17, 17-7)
Et l’apôtre Paul interprète ce rocher comme un symbole du Christ. Il dira ainsi: «t ce rocher, c'est le Christ» (cf. 1 Co 10, 4). C'est la figure mystérieuse de sa présence au milieu du peuple de Dieu en marche. En effet, le Christ est le Temple duquel, selon la vision des prophètes, jaillit l’Esprit Saint, c'est-à-dire l'eau vive qui purifie et donne la vie. Celui qui a soif de salut peut puiser gratuitement à Jésus, et l’Esprit Saint deviendra en lui ou en elle une source de vie pleine et éternelle. La promesse de l’eau vive que Jésus a faite à la Samaritaine est devenue réalité dans sa Pâque: «du sang et de l’eau» ont jailli de son côté transpercé (Jn 19, 34). Le Christ, Agneau immolé et ressuscité, est la source d’où jaillit l’Esprit Saint, qui remet les péchés et régénère à une vie nouvelle.
Ce don est également la source du témoignage. Comme la Samaritaine, quiconque rencontre Jésus vivant ressent le besoin de le raconter aux autres, afin que tous en arrivent à confesser que Jésus « est vraiment le sauveur du monde » (Jn 4, 42), comme l’ont dit ensuite les concitoyens de cette femme. Nous aussi, engendrés à une vie nouvelle à travers le baptême, sommes appelés à témoigner de la vie et de l’espérance qui sont en nous. Si notre recherche et notre soif trouvent leur pleine satisfaction dans le Christ, nous montrerons que le salut ne réside pas dans les « choses » de ce monde, qui à la fin produisent de la sécheresse, mais dans Celui qui nous a aimés et qui nous aime toujours: Jésus notre Sauveur, dans l’eau vive qu’Il nous offre.
Que la Très Sainte Vierge Marie nous aide à cultiver le désir du Christ, source d’eau vive, le seul qui puisse étancher la soif de vie et d’amour que nous portons dans nos cœurs.
....Merci beaucoup pour tous les efforts que chacun de vous accomplit pour apporter son aide dans ce moment si dur. Que le Seigneur vous bénisse, que la Vierge vous protège; et s'il vous plaît n'oubliez pas de prier pour moi. Bon dimanche et bon déjeuner! Merci.
Book of Exodus 17,3-7.
RispondiEliminaIn 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?"
Psalms 95(94)
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.
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.
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.”
Letter to the 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 that has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet 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.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
RispondiEliminaaccording to Saint 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 Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything."
Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is 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 Messiah?
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 his 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."
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.
BENEDICT XVI ANGELUS 27 March 2011
RispondiEliminaThis third Sunday of Lent is characterized by the Jesus’ famous conversation with the Samaritan woman, recounted by the Evangelist John. The woman went every day to draw water from an ancient well that dated back to the Patriarch Jacob and on that day she found Jesus sitting beside the well, “wearied from his journey” (Jn 4:6). St Augustine comments: “Not for nothing was Jesus tried…. The strength of Christ created you, the weakness of Christ recreated you…. With his strength he created us, with his weakness he came to seek us out” (In Ioh. Ev., 15, 2).
Jesus’ weariness, a sign of his true humanity, can be seen as a prelude to the Passion with which he brought to fulfilment the work of our redemption. In the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, the topic of Christ’s “thirst” stands out in particular. It culminated in his cry on the Cross “I thirst” (Jn 19:28). This thirst, like his weariness, had a physical basis. Yet Jesus, as St Augustine says further, “thirsted for the faith of that woman” (In Ioh. Ev. 15,11), as he thirsted for the faith of us all.
God the Father sent him to quench our thirst for eternal life, giving us his love, but to give us this gift Jesus asks for our faith. The omnipotence of Love always respects human freedom; it knocks at the door of man’s heart and waits patiently for his answer.
In the encounter with the Samaritan woman the symbol of water stands out in the foreground, alluding clearly to the sacrament of Baptism, the source of new life for faith in God’s Grace. This Gospel, in fact — as I recalled in my Catechesis on Ash Wednesday — is part of the ancient journey of the catechumen’s preparation for Christian Initiation, which took place at the great Easter Vigil. “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him”, Jesus said, “will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14).
This water represents the Holy Spirit, the “gift” par excellence that Jesus came to bring on the part of God the Father. Whoever is reborn by water and by the Holy Spirit, that is, in Baptism, enters into a real relationship with God, a filial relationship, and can worship him “in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:23, 24), as Jesus went on to reveal to the Samaritan woman. Thanks to the meeting with Jesus Christ and to the gift of the Holy Spirit, the human being’s faith attains fulfilment, as a response to the fullness of God’s revelation.
Each one of us can identify himself with the Samaritan woman: Jesus is waiting for us, especially in this Season of Lent, to speak to our hearts, to my heart. Let us pause a moment in silence, in our room or in a church or in a separate place. Let us listen to his voice which tells us “If you knew the gift of God…”. May the Virgin Mary help us not to miss this appointment, on which our true happiness depends.
I offer a warm greeting to all the English-speaking visitors present for this Angelus prayer. In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the water which wells up to eternal life in those who believe. Through our Lenten observance may all of us be renewed in the grace of our Baptism and prepare with hearts renewed to celebrate the gift of new life at Easter. Upon you and your families I invoke God’s Blessings of joy and peace!
POPE FRANCIS
RispondiEliminaANGELUS 15 March 2020
The Gospel passage from today, the Third Sunday of Lent, tells us of Jesus’ meeting with a Samaritan woman
( Jn 4:5-42). He is on a journey with his disciples and takes a break near a well in Samaria. The Samaritans were considered heretics by the Jews, and were very much despised as second-class citizens. Jesus is tired, thirsty. A woman arrives to draw water and he says to her: “Give me a drink” (v. 7). Breaking every barrier, he begins a dialogue in which he reveals to the woman the mystery of living water, that is, of the Holy Spirit, God’s gift. Indeed, in response to the woman’s surprised reaction, Jesus says: “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” (v. 10).
Water is the focus of this dialogue. On the one hand, water is an essential element that slakes the body’s thirst and sustains life. On the other, water is a symbol of divine grace that gives eternal life. In the biblical tradition God is the source of living water: as it says in Psalms and in the Prophets: distancing oneself from God, the source of living water, and from his Law, leads to the worst drought. This is the experience of the People of Israel in the desert. During their long journey to freedom, as they were dying of thirst, they cried out against Moses and against God because there was no water. Thus, God willed Moses to make water flow from a rock, as a sign of the Providence of God, accompanying his people and giving them life ( Ex 17:1-7).
The Apostle Paul, too, interprets that rock as a symbol of Christ. He says: “And that rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:4). It is the mysterious figure of his presence in the midst of the People of God on their journey. Christ, in fact, is the Temple from which, according to the prophets, flows the Holy Spirit, the living water which purifies and gives life. Whoever thirsts for salvation can draw freely from Jesus, and the Spirit will become a wellspring of full and eternal life in him/her. The promise of living water that Jesus made to the Samaritan woman becomes a reality in his Passion: from his pierced side flowed “blood and water” (Jn 19:34). Christ, the Lamb, immolated and risen, is the wellspring from which flows the Holy Spirit who remits sins and regenerates new life.
This gift is also the source of witness. Like the Samaritan woman, whoever personally encounters the living Jesus feels the need to talk about him to others, so that everyone might reach the point of proclaiming that Jesus “is truly the saviour of the world” (Jn 4:42), as the woman’s fellow townspeople later said. Generated to new life through Baptism, we too are called to witness the life and hope that are within us. If our quest and our thirst are thoroughly quenched in Christ, we will manifest that salvation is not found in the “things” of this world, which ultimately produce drought, but in he who has loved us and will always love us: Jesus, our Saviour, in the living water, that he offers us.
May Mary, Most Holy, help us nourish a desire for Christ, font of living water, the only one who can satisfy the thirst for life and love that we bear in our hearts.
Dear brothers and sisters, Saint Peter’s Square is closed during these days. Therefore, my greetings go directly to you who are connected through the means of communications. In this time of pandemic in which we find ourselves living more or less isolated, we are invited to rediscover and deepen the value of communion that unites all members of the Church. United to Christ we are never alone, but rather, we form one sole Body, with he as the head. It is a union that is nourished by prayer and by spiritual communion in the Eucharist, a practice that is highly recommended when it is not possible to receive the Sacrament. I say this to everyone, especially to those who live alone.
... May the Lord bless you. May Our Lady keep you; and please do not forget to pray for me. Have a nice Sunday. Enjoy your lunch! Thank you.
PAPE FRANÇOIS ANGÉLUS 15 mars 2020
RispondiElimina...Le passage évangélique de ce troisième dimanche de Carême, présente la rencontre de Jésus avec une femme samaritaine (cf. Jn 4,5-42). Il est en route avec ses disciples et ils s’arrêtent près d'un puits, en Samarie. Les Samaritains étaient considérés par les juifs comme des hérétiques et ils étaient très méprisés, comme des citoyens de seconde classe. Jésus est fatigué, il a soif. Une femme arrive, pour prendre de l’eau et il lui demande: « Donne-moi à boire » (v. 7). Ainsi, brisant toute barrière, il commence un dialogue dans lequel il révèle à cette femme le mystère de l’eau vive, c’est-à-dire de l’Esprit Saint, don de Dieu. En effet, à la réaction de surprise de la femme, Jésus répond: «Si tu savais le don de Dieu et qui est celui qui te dit: 'Donne-moi à boire!', tu lui aurais demandé et il t’aurait donné de l’eau vive « (v. 10).
Au centre de ce dialogue il y a l’eau. D’une part, l’eau en tant qu’élément essentiel pour vivre, qui satisfait la soif du corps et soutient la vie. De l’autre, l’eau comme symbole de la grâce divine, qui donne la vie éternelle. Dans la tradition biblique, Dieu est la source d’eau vive — ce que disent les psaumes, les prophètes — : s’éloigner de Dieu, source d'eau vive, et de sa Loi comporte la pire des sécheresses. C’est l’expérience du peuple d’Israël dans le désert. Sur le long chemin vers la liberté, celui-ci, brûlé par la soif, proteste contre Moïse et contre Dieu parce qu’il n’y a pas d’eau. Alors, par la volonté de Dieu, Moïse fait jaillir l’eau d’un rocher, comme signe de la providence de Dieu qui accompagne son peuple et lui donne la vie ( Ex 17, 17-7)
Et l’apôtre Paul interprète ce rocher comme un symbole du Christ. Il dira ainsi: «t ce rocher, c'est le Christ» (cf. 1 Co 10, 4). C'est la figure mystérieuse de sa présence au milieu du peuple de Dieu en marche. En effet, le Christ est le Temple duquel, selon la vision des prophètes, jaillit l’Esprit Saint, c'est-à-dire l'eau vive qui purifie et donne la vie. Celui qui a soif de salut peut puiser gratuitement à Jésus, et l’Esprit Saint deviendra en lui ou en elle une source de vie pleine et éternelle. La promesse de l’eau vive que Jésus a faite à la Samaritaine est devenue réalité dans sa Pâque: «du sang et de l’eau» ont jailli de son côté transpercé (Jn 19, 34). Le Christ, Agneau immolé et ressuscité, est la source d’où jaillit l’Esprit Saint, qui remet les péchés et régénère à une vie nouvelle.
Ce don est également la source du témoignage. Comme la Samaritaine, quiconque rencontre Jésus vivant ressent le besoin de le raconter aux autres, afin que tous en arrivent à confesser que Jésus « est vraiment le sauveur du monde » (Jn 4, 42), comme l’ont dit ensuite les concitoyens de cette femme. Nous aussi, engendrés à une vie nouvelle à travers le baptême, sommes appelés à témoigner de la vie et de l’espérance qui sont en nous. Si notre recherche et notre soif trouvent leur pleine satisfaction dans le Christ, nous montrerons que le salut ne réside pas dans les « choses » de ce monde, qui à la fin produisent de la sécheresse, mais dans Celui qui nous a aimés et qui nous aime toujours: Jésus notre Sauveur, dans l’eau vive qu’Il nous offre.
Que la Très Sainte Vierge Marie nous aide à cultiver le désir du Christ, source d’eau vive, le seul qui puisse étancher la soif de vie et d’amour que nous portons dans nos cœurs.
....Merci beaucoup pour tous les efforts que chacun de vous accomplit pour apporter son aide dans ce moment si dur. Que le Seigneur vous bénisse, que la Vierge vous protège; et s'il vous plaît n'oubliez pas de prier pour moi. Bon dimanche et bon déjeuner! Merci.