Discussion Questions
First Reading
Exodus 17:3-7
F1. In the desert, filled with thirsty panic, the Israelites grumbled that God was not with them. With the war in Ukraine, the earthquake in Turkey, the climate crisis, and racial discrimination, can you relate to this situation in some way? Moses was afraid for his life: what did he do? What helps you?
F2. Think of all the ways water is important to your life. The name of the mountain where Moses struck the rock was Horeb, which means “dry” or “desolate.” What is the significance of this and of the water imagery in salvation history?
Second Reading
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
S1. Everything has been done for us. Christ died for all of us, made us deserving and gave us his Spirit to pour God’s love into our hearts. What is our part?
S2. Paul says, “The Holy Spirit has been given to us.” What do these words mean to you? Do you rely on the Holy Spirit to come to your aid when you need help? How often do you call on this Spirit?
Gospel
John 4:5-42
G1. Does the fact that Jews considered Samaritans heretics, or that she was a woman, keep Jesus from breaking through these barriers to talk with the Samaritan woman? What barriers can you ignore when you try to take God’s gift of the “living water” to people in need?
G2. According to Pope Francis every encounter with Jesus leads to a change in a person’s life. How did it change the Samaritan woman? Who was really the thirsty one here? For what do you thirst?
The Gospel passage from today, the Third Sunday of Lent, tells us of Jesus’ meeting with a Samaritan woman (cf. 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). …
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 savior 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 Savior, in the living water, that he offers us.
Pope Francis Angelus 3rd Sun of Lent
March 15, 2020
Anne Osdieck