The Third Week of Lent
The Samaritan Woman - Encounter with the divinity of Jesus
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” She was amazed that a Jew would ask her for a drink. She saw him only as a Jew.
She was thirsty for water to drink. He was thirsty to give her water.
For her, water would quench her thirst. For him, water would awaken in her a deeper thirst.
Jesus spoke further.
“Go call your husband.” “I do not have a husband.”
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband…the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
Now she began to see him as a prophet – a man of God, for he could see through her heart and know everything.
Penetrating sun rays dissolves the mist. The presence of God unveils the soul’s secrets. Everything lies naked and exposed. Divine gaze scrutinizes not;
it quiets.
Their conversation continued.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”
“I am who am.” The Being, the Life, and the Creator. I am life, and I give life.
Her response was silence. She was transformed. She believed.
She went to her fellow Samaritans and testified, “He told me everything I have done.” Their skepticism soon turned to certainty: “We have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
First, she saw him as a Jew. Then, she perceived him as a prophet. Finally, she embraced him as the Messiah. What began as an encounter with a human deepened into the sight of a saint, finally reaching its zenith in the belief of the Messiah.
“You Are That man/woman” is our Lenten theme. A soul’s meeting with God, in the stillness of solitude, brings about true conversion. Just as the Samaritan woman’s encounter with the Son of God brought salvation to her and her entire village, we too are called to that personal meeting.
Seek, and miss not these opportunities for your soul to meet the Divine. A prayer before the Tabernacle, meditating on the Word of God, the reception of Holy Communion, a visit to the sick, a kind word to the lonely, or sharing with the needy – all these are moments to encounter God's grace. May this Lent bring about our conversion and draw us ever closer to Him.