The Well of Mercy
This past May I marked twenty years as a priest and half of those years were spent at our Cathedral in two different assignments. When I was there the first time around, I was serving as the diocesan Master of Ceremonies and one of the highlights of my time as the mc was being tasked with overseeing the dedication of the Cathedral after its fifteen-month renewal project. This was the first dedication of a church that I oversaw and the fact that it was the Cathedral made it very special and also very nerve-racking. There are wonderful prayers and ritual actions that make up the Rite of Dedication that in turn make for a beautiful celebration. The central prayer of the rite is the actual prayer of dedication. In studying the text of the prayer, I remember being struck by one specific line in it: here, may the waters of Baptism overwhelm the shame of sin.
This Third Sunday of Lent presents us with the story of the Woman at the Well as recorded in St. John’s Gospel. The story is rich in details that should not go unnoticed. The disciples have gone into the town to buy food. Jesus remains, alone, at this well to rest. It is an odd place to rest being that it is noon and the hottest time of the day, but none of this is by accident, just as Jesus’s encountering the Samaritan woman is not a matter of chance.
The woman comes to the well. No one goes to fetch water at noon; water is fetched either early in the morning or in the evening so as to avoid the sun and the heat. Yet, here this woman approached the well and encountered the Lord who was waiting for her. In the course of the conversation we come to understand that the woman is in a relationship that is contrary to God’s law. While some people today might be inclined to brush off the woman’s circumstance, 2000 years ago this woman would have been faced with shame and being ostracized from the community; thus why the woman went to the well at noon when no one is around.
Jesus meets the woman where she is. He engages her in a way that brings her sin into the light without condemning her or seeking to shame her. While He asks her for a drink of water, He is actually thirsting for her faith and an openness to His grace and mercy. He wants the same from us.
As we continue through this holy season of Lent, may we heed the Lord’s call to return to the grace of our baptism, to leave the old life of sin behind, as well as the shame and guilt that it brings. I want to invite you to take advantage of the sacrament of Reconciliation offered here daily or in another parish. I am especially inviting you if you find that you are carrying the burden of shame and don’t seem to know how to lay it down. Reconciliation is the well of mercy where the Lord Jesus is waiting for all of us. Come there and meet the Lord; allow Him to wash you clean and to remind you that you are loved, that you belong to Him, and that no sin can ever change that fact.
We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures, we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son Jesus. -Pope St. John Paul II
Blessings to you and yours for the week ahead!
Father Chris House