MY SOUL IS LONGING FOR THE LORD

V SUNDAY OF LENT - John 11:1-45

This Sunday, we are presented with the third of the three great themes of Lent taken from the Gospel of John. With the Samaritan woman, we were invited to accept Jesus as the fountain of living water. With the blind man, we were taken to Jesus as our Light and the Light of the world. On this last Sunday of Lent, with Martha and in the company of Mary of Bethany, we proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God and that in Him we find true life because He is the resurrection and the life. Step by step, in the company of Jesus and of all his disciples, we are taken up until we reach the summit, proclaiming our faith – that is, the faith of the Church: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who came into this world.

Through the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:12-14), God promised to take us out of our graves, putting his spirit in us so that we may live. Most of us are walking dead, dwelling in tombs richly adorned, covered with flowers that deceive us with their soothing odour. In reality, we are rotten, soul and body, and the perfume exhaling from the flowers can’t hide the stinking rottenness of our lives. The society we live in is rotten to the core. Like Lazarus, we must hear the Lord’s word calling us: “Come out.” Come to the Light and live. By the power of Jesus, the Lord of Life, may the promise made through Ezekiel be fulfilled so that we receive his Spirit, who will lead us to Christ to be his true disciples. Indeed, as Paul told the Romans, we must possess the Spirit of Christ to belong to him. And his Spirit will guide us to put our interests in spiritual things. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, has the power to recreate us anew so that we live for God as his beloved children.

My soul is waiting for the Lord.

  I count on his word.

My soul is longing for the Lord

  more than watchman for daybreak.

(Let the watchman count on daybreak

  and Israel on the Lord.)

Psalm 130

LORD, I BELIEVE

IV SUNDAY OF LENT - John 9:1-41

In the year A of the liturgical cycle, the last three Sundays of Lent present three themes profoundly linked to the catechumens who prepare themselves to be baptised: Jesus is the fountain of the living water; he is the light that overcomes our darkness, and in him we find resurrection and life. Each theme is centred on a person and the journey of faith of that person: the Samaritan woman, the blind man and Martha of Bethany.

This Sunday, we are invited to look at the blind man’s journey from darkness to light and from unbelief to belief. As in the case of the Samaritan woman, Jesus takes the initiative; he was the one who saw the blind man and decided to heal him. At first sight, the encounter seems to have happened by chance, but all encounters with Jesus are purposeful. Jesus wanted to reveal himself as the light of the world. In this case, the physical handicap was a sign of a much deeper handicap that affects the soul. In order to be healed and become whole, one must recognise one's blindness and be ready to accept the gift of light. The fortuitous encounter led to a gift so great that it changed the blind man’s life forever. He allowed his heart to be touched, and that led him to a journey of faith that ended in an act of worship. 

Once healed of his blindness, the man was able to recognise and be thankful for the great gift received. He did not know Jesus, but he was going to be questioned and confronted because of Jesus. And those who hated Jesus turned against him, being ready to punish him, even though he had done nothing wrong. The unbelievers who rejected Jesus rejected him as well, refusing to accept his truthful statements. This rejection led him to a deeper understanding of the true Jesus. Immediately after his healing, he answered those who asked him about the healer: “The man called Jesus” did this to me. When asked his opinion about Jesus, he said, "He is a prophet.” Afraid of being expelled from the synagogue, his parents avoided any kind of involvement. Subjected to further questioning, the man unmasked those who confronted him, denying that Jesus could be a sinner and affirming him to come from God: if “this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing.” Seeing his determination to give witness to Jesus Christ, they expelled him from the synagogue. This expulsion led Jesus to make a full revelation to the healed man. 

“Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him, he said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You are looking at him; he is speaking to you.’ The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.”

JESUS IS THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD

III SUNDAY OF LENT - John 4:5-42

Today, we are invited to reflect upon human thirst and the water of life that quenches it. The physical thirst is just a symbol of the thirst of the heart: thirst for justice, peace and love. That is thirst for God, and our hearts do not rest until they find the spring of life.

In the first reading, by the order of God, Moses gets water for the people from a rock, and that rock stands for Christ (Exodus 17:3-7). He is the one who gives us the living water. He is the fountain of life. And, in the gospel, Jesus reveals himself to the Samaritan woman as the giver of life and salvation.

In the dialogue of Jesus with the Samaritan woman, the Gospel of John presents the journey of faith of that woman as a model for all those who search for meaning and accept Jesus’ invitation for a dialogue in which He guides us to the full truth.

Thirsty and tired, Jesus was resting by the well. It was about midday when a Samaritan woman came to draw water. It was as if Jesus waited for her. And he requested from her something very common and very easy to give – a cup of water. Jesus took the initiative and started the conversation. She was surprised and puzzled, feeling uncomfortable. She simply saw a man, a Jewish man in that case. And she made it clear, as if telling him that he was not welcome. However, the conversation had begun, and Jesus surprised the woman even more by offering her living water. How could he? Was he greater than Jacob, who had dug that well? Realising that Jesus was much more than a Jewish man, she dared to ask, "Give me some of that water.” Like the Samaritan, we must ask for the living water, even if we don’t understand its meaning well and what it implies.

Then, without any kind of accusation, Jesus leads her to have a good look at her life. Her life was a mess. With six men in her life, she could not be at peace with herself. She had been searching for love and dignity, but nothing could quench her thirst. Then, she takes one step more towards Christ, recognising him as a prophet. Being the case, she asks for clarification: What is the true worship? And Jesus shows her the truth. Those who worship God “must worship in spirit and truth.” Then, the woman goes one step further, putting herself among those who are waiting for the coming of the Messiah. And Jesus reveals himself to the woman as the Messiah, declaring, "I am he.” Hearing this, she forgot about the water and rushed to the village, telling everybody about the good news of the Messiah.

To the disciples, surprised to see him talking to a woman, Jesus says that his food is to do the will of the Father. Meanwhile, with her witness, the woman led many people to faith in Jesus Christ. They decided to invite Jesus to their village. They had a deep desire to have the same experience of encounter with Christ. 

The passage ends with the profession of faith of those Samaritans: “Now we no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves, and we know that he really is the saviour of the world.”

May the journey of our life lead us to encounter Jesus and be guided by him to the recognition and the proclamation that He is the Saviour of the world.