The Woman at the Well in Each of Us

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the HERALD
(From the Issue of March 27, 2003)

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on March 23, Third Sunday of Lent, at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington. The readings used were for the First Scrutinies for Catechumens.

Have you ever met the woman at the well, described in great detail in today’s Gospel account? Have you ever seen her? These are strange-sounding questions, I admit. How could we ever have met her or seen her since she lived centuries ago? Although our immediate response would seem to be "no," the real answer is "yes." We have met the woman at the well, we have seen the Samaritan woman. Where? Within each of us! There is a definite similarity between her and every one of us.

Like her, we too are searching for truth. Like her, we too are thirsting for life, which satisfies our deepest desires. Like her, we too are looking for the One Savior of the world! We see in this woman the reflection of ourselves and in seeing that reflection we will benefit in a positive way in our journey of faith. So today, we can be instructed, along with the catechumen and the candidates who are the special focus of our prayer today and in the following two Sundays as our catechumen in particular experiences the scrutinies. "The notion of ‘scrutiny’ is best understood as prayer interceding for the catechumens and communal support for them rather than an examination of preparedness or moral fitness" (Irwin, Lent, p. 110). Today, on this first scrutiny, the person projected before us in the Gospel is the woman at the well. Each of us sees ourselves reflected in her, whether we be catechumens or candidates or already baptized followers of Christ.

She is thirsty, yes, for ordinary water, but at a deeper level, for water that satisfies the thirst within, the thirst of the soul or spirit, the thirst of the inner person. As we journey through Lent, as we travel towards the Father’s House, do we not find ourselves parched and dry, still thirsty? Are we not like the Israelites portrayed in the First Reading, desiring water to satiate their thirst? Are we not thirsting for salvation which St. Paul describes in the Second Reading as won for us by Christ’s death while we were still sinners? In her thirst, the woman at the well meets Jesus. Through the dialogue, she is led step by step to a deeper understanding of who He was and to a growing love for Him.

In our thirst, we meet the same Jesus. He engages us exactly where we are and then, gradually, as we respond honestly to His questions within us, He moves us beyond each level, to a similar deeper understanding of who He is and to a similar growing love for Him. We begin to understand our selfishness and pre-occupation with self and ask for the grace of true generosity. We begin to see our self-deception and our hardness of heart and ask for the grace of honesty and integrity. We begin to realize that in His Word is the source of truth, the solution to our spiritual thirst and we ask the grace to thirst for this Word, to drink in its life-giving strength.

The woman, convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, runs to tell her neighbors and friends about Jesus and to invite them to come to Him. Did we not meet Jesus through the prayer, encouragement and witness of others? Surely, this is true for our catechumen and candidates present with us this morning! This was also true for us already baptized. Was it not our parents, grandparents, relatives, priests and religious, who brought us to Jesus through their prayer, encouragement, teaching and witness? And now, must we not do the same within our families, neighborhoods and the workplace? Is this not the core of the "new evangelization" to which our Holy Father so repeatedly turns our attention in this new century and millennium?

Yes, the woman at the well is each of us: searching for life-giving water which alone will satisfy our inner thirst. Today, and in the Lenten days which follow, and, in fact, throughout all our days, may we cling to the words which Jesus speaks, may we respond to Him honestly and openly, may we allow Him to become for us the source of life, our Savior! May we invite others to come to Him! Together, may we proclaim by our lives more than by our words: "Lord, truly you are the Savior of the world, give me living water that I may never thirst again!"

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