Summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily from February 27, 2005
"In their thirst for water the people
grumbled against Moses, saying, 'Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?'..and
'Is the Lord in our midst or not?' " Exodus 17: 3-7
"A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.'
" John 4:7
WHEN MOSES WAS TOLD to "strike the rock and water will flow from it," I was reminded of an experience in the Dominican Republic. I had spent long hours in 100 degree heat climbing a mountain to a distant mission community. I was offered water by an old woman who declared, "Padre, agua pura de la roca," (clear water from the rock). I chose the water over dehydration, and spent two weeks in bed with parasites and other water borne maladies!
Today's Gospel recounting Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well usually gives rise to homilies on sexism, racism, the role of women in the church, and reconciliation. While the story carries all of these dimensions, I would like to concentrate on a basic aspect, thirst. It was the noon hour and Jesus was thirsty.
We easily forget the essential need we have for water. If we lived on the banks of the Colorado we would know how communities compete for the precious commodity. Were we in Las Vegas we would know that the lake that supplies the town is down by 30%. The first reading is set in the desert by the Red Sea. What is the country to the West of the Red Sea? Today it is called Eritrea. The Rice Bowl program offers information about its plight. 2.2 million Eritreans carry the cross of hunger. 61% of the population suffers from malnutrition. After many years of war and drought 90% of their land has been stripped of its natural vegetation.
Yet there is hope. Abrhaly depends on farming to provide for her mother and two children while her husband serves in the military. "The last three planting seasons were difficult for me," she says "Because severe droughts caused my crops to fail. Because I had no harvest, I had no money to buy seeds for the next planting season." She received $30 from Catholic Relief Services Seed Fair program, supported by Rice Bowl, enough for one planting season.
"I was able," she continued "to make my own decision about what seeds to buy based on which ones will grow best on my land." She chose millet and sorghum. She concludes, "Working with CRS through the Seed Fair has given me hope. I am hopeful for a good harvest, and am hopeful that i will be able to provide for my family with a more secure future."
Lent has always been associated with hunger, which we simulate through fast and abstinence. We come to recognize Jesus as the bread of life. Bread is essential to life, yet we know that we can live longer without food than without water. It is even more basic. Jesus presents himself to the woman at the well as the fountain of living water. In sharing the water of Jacob's well the Samaritan enters into the deeper waters of eternal life.
Liturgically the church is focused on bread and water. Lent is the season when sinners were prepared in the early church for the reconciliation that would occur when they were readmitted to the Eucharist, the great sign of reconciliation on Holy Thursday. Catechumens preparing to enter the Christian community looked forward to initiation at the Easter Vigil through the renewing waters of Baptism.
May our Rice Bowl fast as well as the other disciplines of Lent prepare us for a fresh encounter with Christ, the bread of life and the fountain of salvation. Along the way may we make of our lives bread shared for the life of the world, and water poured out to slake the thirst of the needy.