As we hear the story this Third Sunday of Lent of the thirst of the People of Israel as Moses leads them into the desert, and of Jesus and the Samaritan Women at the well, we are challenged to ask ourselves: what is it that we thirst for and how do we satisfy that thirst?

The thirst that Jesus offers to quench for the women at the well does not refer simply to a biological or physical need. In fact, it is Jesus’ request to her for water that leads Him to engage her in a deeper discussion about the human person’s more profound thirst for the satisfaction of spiritual and emotional needs. As she tells her story, we learn that her desire to be loved and accepted has caused her to seek this love from five different partners; and despite all of these partners she continues to thirst for a love and acceptance that will ultimately satisfy the longing of her soul. It is only as Jesus listens to her story and voices His acceptance of her, and His desire to satisfy her longing for love, that she is satisfied and recognizes Him as the Messiah who is capable of satisfying her longing.

In the course of His conversation with the women at the well, Jesus also broaches with her the topic of where people were to go to have their spiritual longing satisfied. This woman is a Samaritan. The Jews and the Samaritans had been engaged in a lengthy disagreement about where God was to be worshiped. For the Jews, God was to be worshipped in the Temple in Jerusalem. For the Samaritans, the place where God was to be worshipped was on Mount Gerizim. Foreshadowing the New Covenant, Jesus tells the Samaritan Women that He will give her a water that will cause her to never thirst and lead to the worship of God in Spirit and in truth; so that God may be worshipped wherever believers are able to open their hearts to His presence. The water that Jesus is speaking of is the water of Baptism that causes the Holy Spirit to be poured out into the hearts of believers and makes each person a Temple of the Holy Spirit. It is this water of Baptism that is to remake each person who receives it into a Temple of the Holy Spirit who will offer worship in spirit and truth. This worship is often referred to by the great writers of the Church as the Eucharist, which you and I celebrate from Sunday to Sunday, wherever we happen to be.

The purpose of this reading being placed on the Third Sunday of Lent, is to focus the attention of the Christian community, and those preparing for Baptism at Easter, on the encounter with Christ that they are invited to experience in Baptism and the celebration of the Church’s worship in the Eucharist. For that reason, I thought this Sunday, it would be important to focus a little on the way in which Christ intends to satisfy our spiritual thirst in Baptism and each time that we come to Mass. After all, it is possible that if we are not aware of what has been given us, we, like the Women at the Well, may be in Christ’s presence and not know how to drink of what we are given us.

 I will start first with the Sacrament of Baptism. In Baptism, we are given a gift that if we truly understand it is intended to satisfy all of our spiritual longing. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, the Lord forgives all of our sins—including original sin—and restores us to Communion with the Holy Trinity. God makes us members of Christ’s body on earth and sends His Holy Spirit into our hearts. Each of us is made a Temple of the Holy Spirit, and God comes to dwell within us, through the celebration of this Sacrament. Knowing that Christ is dwelling in us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, ought to allow each one of us to know how radically we are loved and the tremendous dignity that God has bestowed upon us. It also should prompt us to see in our brothers and sisters others made in the image and likeness of God. If we really understood how amazing Baptism is, it would change our lives. I have had some people who were baptized as adults tell me how they really felt changed by the Sacrament and that it really changed their lives—for a few months.

However, as we humans have short memories, and are often captured by the immediacy of our needs, we need more in order to be able to offer worship in truth and spirit on an ongoing basis. This more, which Christ gives us to satisfy our thirst and hunger until we are with Him for all eternity in Heaven, is the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the worship of the New Covenant that we are called to offer in Spirit and Truth in order to satisfy our emotional and spiritual needs for God’s love. For this reason, it is imperative that we understand what we are doing when we celebrate the Eucharist so that it may nourish us in the manner in which it is intended to do so. The very first and most important thing that we must understand about the Eucharist in order that it might satisfy our spiritual hunger is that it is THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. In it we receive Christ Himself, who has loved each one of us so much that He gave His life for us and comes to dwell in our hearts. The God who created the entire universe, loves each of us so much, that He gave His Son so that we might know of His love. This Son, Jesus Christ, wishes to come to us, as He did the women at the well, and enter into our lives and accept us as we are with our own sin history and broken realities. His coming to us is a radical expression of God’s love and acceptance of us. In the Eucharist, Jesus comes to dwell in us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in a way that is similar to the way He came to dwell in Mary.

For that reason, it is so important that we understand the nature of the worship that we are offering in spirit and truth each time that we come to Mass. I thought of this last week as I was watching a video with the RCIA which spoke about the Mass. One of the presenters in the video said that people often say that “I do not get anything out of the Mass.” The presenter said many people do not get anything out of the Mass because they do not put anything into it or understand what it is. For that reason, I thought I would like to spend just a few minutes speaking about the Mass and explaining some very simple realities about it. In order to do that, I thought it might be easiest to speak of the Mass in terms of the four parts into which it can be divided. These are: 1) The Entrance Rites; 2) The Liturgy of the Word; 3) The Liturgy of the Eucharist; and 4) The Dismissal.

The Entrance Rites are intended to help us make that transition from the world to become a worshipping community of the Body of Christ. They consist of 1) the entrance hymn; 2) the greeting; 3) the penitential rite; 4) the Kyrie; 5) the Gloria; and 6) the opening prayer (Collect). The hymn allows us to transition from the world outside and to join in one voice that forms us as a worshipping community of the Body of Christ, the Church. In the greeting, we are reminded that it is Christ and the Holy Spirit that form us as one; we are not a social gathering. The penitential rite reminds us of the call that was given to us in Baptism to be Christ’s people and of the acceptance that we find in Christ even when we fail. Like the women at the well, Christ loves us and welcomes us as we come to him. In the Kyrie and the Gloria we have different ways of praising this loving and gracious God of mercy. Finally, in the opening prayer, the celebrating priest presents all of our prayers to God the Father.

In the Liturgy of the Word, God desires to speak to us today. We are reminded that God’s love and plan to save us is not some last-minute plan. God has loved us from the moment that He created the universe and has been at work since the dawn of time to announce it to us. This is why on a Sunday, the Liturgy of the Word begins with a reading from the Old Testament. As is the case this Sunday, the Old Testament reading, which we hear as the first reading, sheds light on the Gospel. The thirst of the people of Israel in the desert speaks to us of the reality that the human person is always longing for more, even when following God’s will. As the Israelites in the desert longed to return to the slavery they had known in Egypt, we can long to return to the different addictions and slaveries that have brought us comfort, instead of following Jesus. The Psalm follows the first reading because when God’s word is announced we must respond. The Psalm is our response in song. Sadly today, the response that most of us give to God’s Word is to ignore it. But ignoring someone is a much more profound response than we might care to admit. The second reading is always from a New Testament letter and we respond to it by singing the seasonal Gospel antiphon. The Gospel is the high point of the Liturgy of the Word and as it is Christ’s word, those of us who are able are to stand as it is proclaimed in our midst. In the Gospel, we believe that Christ is speaking to us today. The homily is intended to be an explanation of how God is speaking to us today. For example, in this homily, I am attempting to explain how the Eucharist and the celebration of Mass is the way in which God intends to nourish our spiritual longings today and be with us in our trials and tribulations. After the homily, we respond to God’s Word by professing our faith and in the creed and presenting our prayers and petitions.

The Liturgy of the Word prepares our hearts for the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, the God who speaks to us of His love in the Liturgy of the Word, puts flesh to His words and shows us concretely how much He really does love us. This highpoint of the Mass begins with the preparation of the altar and the presentation of the gifts. We are asked to support our community with our offerings so that the church can be maintained as a place of worship for ourselves and others. The gifts that we present are to express our gratitude to God. We might ask ourselves if five dollars is really an expression of our gratitude. If we give more to Tim Horton’s each week than we do to our church, we might want to ask why that is. At the presentation of the gifts, we also present the cares and concerns of our week so that Christ may know of them and be present to our needs. In the preface we give thanks to the God who has created everything and redeemed us through His Son. We then remember Christ’s sacrifice and the words that He spoke at the Last Supper in the Eucharistic Prayer. Asking for the gift of the Holy Spirit to come down on the bread and wine, as the words He spoke when He gave us His Body and Blood are repeated, the bread and wine become His Body and Blood for us to receive today. Throughout the rest of the Eucharistic Prayer, we ask that by receiving His Body and Blood, we might be built up into His Body, the Church in the world today. We ask to live in communion with rest of the Church united through our bishop and the Pope. We also offer the sacrifice for our deceased loved ones and the other members of the human family who might need our prayers and God’s help. The Eucharistic Prayer ends with a great doxology of praise and we pray the Our Father, together and as Christ is present in our midst in the Eucharist, we ask for His peace and extend it to our brothers and sisters. Each one of us is then invited to receive the Eucharist.

The fact that we are invited to receive the Eucharist ought to inspire great awe in all of us. It is important that this amazing gift be treated with the highest reverence. Catholics may receive the Eucharist on the tongue or hand. As we approach to do so, we are asked to make a profound bow. As the Body of Christ is held up, and the minister declares, “The Body of Christ,” we are to respond by saying “Amen,” which means “I believe.” If we receive the Host on the hand, it must be consumed right away. On occasions, sadly, Hosts have been found on the ground. This means that someone did not understand what a profound gift they had received. If you drop a host, please pick it up and bring it back to the minister if you do not wish to eat it. You will not get in trouble. Accidents happen, but when accidents happen to the Sacred Host, it must be treated as a Sacred Host. When we return to the pew, we should offer and act of thanksgiving that Christ has come to dwell in our hearts. It is a moment of beautiful intimacy with the Lord. It should really be an awesome and intimate time to speak with the God who loves you very much.

The final part of the Mass is the dismissal. As Christ now dwells in us, we are sent out into the world to make him known to others. As the Samaritan women went to tell everyone else in her town whom she had encountered, we ae sent to tell of God’s love for us.

When I was a seminarian, I did my field placement at the Old Don Jail. There one day, I was speaking about some of our Catholic beliefs to a man who was awaiting trial for some very serious charges. When he asked me about the Eucharist, he told me that if he could really believe that about the Host, that Christ came to live in him, his life would have been much different. Because she recognized who Christ was, the Samaritan Women was changed. Today, Christ invites us to consider what He offers us in Baptism and the Eucharist and to allow that love to change our lives.

May we have all of our thirsts satisfied by recognizing who it is that comes to us in the worship offer in spirit and truth every time we come to the Eucharist.

Fr. Michael McGourty
Pastor—St. Peter’s Parish—Toronto.

This reflection based on the readings from the Third Sunday of Lent, Year A: Exodus 17: 3-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; and John 5: 5-42.