Water of Eternal Life
Lent 2020 – Day 19
Third Sunday
Readings: Ex 17, 3-7; Ps 94, 1-2, 6-9; Rom 5, 1-2, 5-8; Jn 4, 5-42
Water is a refreshing drink, a heartening theme. Life depends on water even while its potential to destroy evokes fear.
Moses’ people thirsting for water almost stoned him to death. So as he led them to the Promised Land, the light of the faith alone was a lamp to his feet. He secured them manna yet, very despicably, they yearned for the onions they'd eaten during their slavery in Egypt.
Murmurings of discontent are not uncommon even in our day and age. We are so absorbed in our daily routine that we disregard the sweet whispers of Nature; we are so blinded by the city lights that the stars twinkling in the night sky fail to move us. Worse still, we become slaves to the world, forgetting our divine Creator and His wonders.
Jesus comes into the world to guide us back to the Father. He knows that the world can never satisfy man’s deepest longings, for man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Hence, He says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me”; and “…whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.”
The water that Jesus gives becomes in us “a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. That’s a promise. Like the woman of Samaria, let’s make known the good news of this refreshing water of eternal life to everyone so that they too may glorify our Father in heaven.
