Liturgy Alive

The liturgical calendar of the year

Third Sunday of Lent (A)

Description

Third Sunday of Lent (A)

 

  1. A Deep Personal Encounter
  3. Living Water

 

Greeting (See Second Reading)

The love of God has been poured out into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit
who has been given to us.
May that love of God be always with you. R/ And also with you.

 

Introduction by the Celebrant

  1. A Deep Personal Encounter

Often we are not willing to listen to people who judge us or who look down on us. The people we can easily listen to and whom we can encounter from person to person are those who do not criticize us but respect us. Even though we have not always been the persons and Christians we should have been, we know that Jesus always treats us with respect and sees the potentials for good in us. Let us ask our Lord in this Eucharist that we may treat one another with the same esteem as he shows us.

 

  1. Living Water

The liturgy of today reminds us strongly of our baptism. It is the water that began to quench our thirst for all that is good and worthwhile, above all for God himself. It is the water that never dries up; for baptism is not just a ritual but life, a new way of living, a lasting attachment to the person of Christ and union with the community of the Church. It is the life of Christ that keeps growing in us. Jesus himself nourishes this life here in the Eucharist. Let us ask him to keep giving us this living water and to make us share it with others.

 

Penitential Act

We let the spring of God’s love
dry up in us when we sin.
Let us ask the Lord to forgive us.
                  (pause)
Lord Jesus, spring of living water,
give us always that water that purifies our heart:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, spring of living water,
give us the water that makes our faith grow:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, spring of living water,
give us the water that quenches our thirst
for the fullness of your life and love:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord.
and give us the living water
of your gentle forgiveness.
Water your life in us
and let it well up to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

 

Opening Prayer

  1. A Deep Personal Encounter

Let us pray to God our Father
that Jesus may be the source of life to all
                  (pause)
Creative and forgiving Father
you let people experience your mercy
when they encounter your Son, Jesus Christ.
Attune us to his voice speaking to us,
your word of forgiveness and love.
Dispose us to meet him from person to person,
that he may quench our thirst for life
and that we may live in joy and courage
and become more like him day after day.
May all drink from the living water of his love.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

  1. Living Water

Let us pray to God
that the life of Christ in us
may be rich and full
                  (pause)
Father of life
and giver of all that is good,
we want to drink your life to the full.
Let Jesus, your living Word,
speak to us from heart to heart.
Give us an unquenchable thirst
for the things that matter:
for faith and for meaning in our lives,
for hope in a better world
filled with your justice and peace,
for a spirit of committed love
that knows how to share itself.
Generously give us all these
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

First Reading (Ex 17:3-7): Water Flowing from the Rock

Thirst is the most painful trial of travelers in the desert. God is to his people on the march the rock on whom they can rely on and the source of life-giving water.

Reading I: Ex 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: 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.

 

Second Reading (Rom 5:1-2,5-8): The Love of God Has Been Poured Out Into Our Hearts

Through Christ, who died for us, God has poured out into our hearts everything that we thirst for: faith, hope in God’s future, the Spirit of love.

Reading II: 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.

 

Verse Before the Gospel: Cf. Jn 4:42, 15

Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world;
give me living water, that I may never thirst again.

 

Gospel (Jn 4:5-42 or Jn 4:5-15,19b-26,39a-42):

Give Me Your Living Water

Jesus enters into a personal dialogue with the Samaritan woman. He reveals himself to her as the giver of living, ever-running water, that is, the giver of new life to us.

Gospel: Jn 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:

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.”

 

Intercessions

Let us pray in spirit and in truth to God our Father, the source of all life, and let us say: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

–   When we are in trouble, that someone may come along and talk to us, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

–   When we meet someone in trouble, that we may sit down by his or her side and listen with understanding and patience, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

–   When we gather around the Lord’s table, that his Word may be living water to us, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

–   When we search to renew our lives this Lent, that we may learn to live in the spirit of Jesus, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

–   When we try to pray in spirit and in truth, that we may not forget others, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

–   When we live in unjust situations, that we may speak out and stand up for the weak and downtrodden, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

–   When we are surrounded by the poor, that we may generously share with them, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

–   If we are a real Church community, that we may become to all who are thirsty a fresh source of living water, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, hear our prayer.

Father, all good things come from your hand. Show us new ways to you and to one another and let us encounter one another, as you encounter us in Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
in these signs of bread and wine
Jesus your Son comes among us.
May he still our hunger
and quench our thirst
for a deeper faith and hope.
May we in our turn,
as a living Christian community,
become a stream of living water
to everyone and all,
to satisfy their thirst for truth,
for freedom and justice
and for everlasting joy,
on account of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

God our Father has satisfied our hunger and thirst for all that is true and good by giving us Jesus. Let us thank him with all our hearts.

 

Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

Let us pray to our Father
in the words of Jesus, his Son,
and ask him to give us all we need
on our way to eternal life. R/ Our Father...

 

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus our Lord, who tells us:
Whoever drinks the water
that I shall give
will have a spring inside him or her,
welling up for eternal life.
Happy are we to be invited
to drink of this water of life
and never get thirsty again. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord, God of life,
when the Samaritan woman learned who Jesus was,
she believed in him
and her life was changed.
Your Son has spoken to us here
and revived our strength.
May we also learn who is speaking to us
in the people who cry out for help.
May we recognize your Son in them
and walk by their side on the way to you,
our Father for ever and ever. R/ Amen.

 

Blessing

In this Eucharist
God has again quenched our thirst
by giving us his Son Jesus.
Now we are strong enough again
to go our difficult way in the desert,
a way of renewal and conversion
to God and to others.
Let our thirst never be satisfied
unless we become to one another
a drink of refreshing water.
May God give you strength and bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

May the Lord go with you
to love him in all you meet. R/ Thanks be to God.

 

 

Reflection:

12 March 2023

John 4: 5-42

God the groom comes to meet his bride.

In the Gospel according to John, the events that took place in the life of Jesus are re-read are used to compose dense pages of theology. Although John narrates certain events, giving details of where it happened, who were the people involved and how the story developed and what was the outcome, the purpose of such narrations were to explain a far deeper theology. The case of the Samaritan woman is an example, which is rich in symbolism. The meeting between Jesus and a Samaritan woman is explained with language, images, and biblical references to convey a theological message.

In ancient times, the well was the place where people came together - the shepherds met to water their flocks; traders stopped there for customers and even lovers went to the well to look for their companions.

Jesus is in a Samaritan Town on his way to Galilee. He sits by the well of Jacob. And a woman comes to draw water from the well. The evangelist presents her with no name, and nothing more is said about her except that she is a “Samaritan.” The well in the Bible is often the meeting place between lovers who then end up getting married. The Old Testament often speaks of the people of Israel as the bride to whom the Lord is tied with an unfailing affection.

But Israel failed to be faithful to the Lord. She betrayed her Husband and often went after pagan gods of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and even Romans. Would God, the Husband divorcehis bride, Israel? Will he punish her? Not at all. His only goal is to reclaim her. From a geographical point of view, Jesus did not have to pass through Samaria to go to Galilee from Jordan. But the groom — God — takes this longer route because wants to meet his beloved. 

The Samaritan woman is the image of the bride Israel. Samaritans had abandoned their faith and the Jews regarded them as pagans. That is why Jesus tells her that she had many gods- “husbands”, and the present one is not her husband either. Because, her true husband is now talking to her at the well.

The last part of the gospel (vv. 28-41) presents the spiritual journey of the Samaritan woman and every disciple. After meeting

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