“There is a really deep well inside of us. And in it dwells God. Sometimes, I am there too. But more often, stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath. Then God must be dug out again.”
— Etty Hillesum, A young Dutch Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz
Recently I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy a new pair of running shoes for my Montour Trail jogs. As a life-long runner I always enjoy this time of reflection, meditation and prayer and I thank God for the gift of running. Every so often along the trail there are water fountains that spring up to quench my thirst. Without water, there is no life. Dr. Ralph Herro of the Herro Allergy Clinic in Phoenix, AZ said, “If we each drank twice as much water, doctors would be seeing half as many patients.” Imagine if we applied this principle to our spiritual lives! Time spent in prayer is time well-spent.
On this 3rd Sunday of Lent we read the familiar story in John 4 of Jesus and the woman at the well, two tired travelers coming together at a place of refreshment. It was during the hottest part of the day when the woman did her ritual of retrieving and lugging water home for her family. This ordinary task became an extraordinary transformative life experience. In the culture in which she lived, the woman had multiple strikes against her in encountering Jesus, the Jewish rabbi. First, she was a woman; second, she was a Samaritan (a hated race); third, she had a checkered past (married to 5 men); and fourth, she was a social outcast. Jesus was not blinded by the categories, imperfections or sins. Jesus offered no harsh word or judgmental rebuke but the true revelation of her life with loving acceptance and understanding. Jesus is the perfect pastoral minister whose words watered her dry and despondent soul.
St. Augustine begins his Confessions with the famous declaration: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O Lord.” Thus there is a "God–sized hole" in each of us. At every Mass, Sunday after Sunday, we gather at "Jacob’s Well" to hear God’s Word and be refreshed through the gift of the Eucharist. This priceless gift overflows in a Christ-drenched universe, as there is an eternal slaking of thirst for God in His abundant love. Christ gifts us with His presence, veiled in appearance as bread and wine, and saves us by grace. The Carmelite poet, Jessica Powers (Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, her religious name) wrote, “God fills my being to the brim with floods of His immensity. I drown within a drop of Him whose seed-bed is infinity.” Our lives thirst for meaning, purpose, value, companionship, intimacy, union, truth, wholeness, holiness and ultimately salvation.
Wilford Owen, a British poet, reflected on his experience in World War I when he wrote, “I saw God through mud.” We all struggle with the muddiness of our human condition ... difficulties, weaknesses, disappointments, hurts, in ourselves and others. Many times we are obsessed with what we have, what we do and what people think of us. But these will not offer us fulfillment". Our human nature has many cravings, desires and tastes. They are intended to open us up to "Thee" and not "me."
God has a hope, dream and desire for each one of us. The Samaritan woman teaches that God wishes to recreate us and provide us with: 1) identity — as children of God, 2) intimacy — in getting below the surface, taking the risk, digging down into the heart to the awareness of God’s friendship, 3) generativity — the awareness that others may be enriched and benefit through our creative love, 4) integrity — the point I must reach through my choices and God’s grace in order to be truly free, and 5) blessedness — the state of realizing that God has indeed blessed me and wanting to share those blessings and graces with others.
Theodore Roethke said, “Running from God is the longest race of all.” Are we running from the Lord or are we running to the Lord this Lenten journey in 2011? Because we all wrestle and struggle with sin daily in our lives, we must seek the refreshing presence of Jesus to be faithful. It is by coming to the well of prayer in which our thirst is quenched.
Prayer with the Samaritan Woman
With the Samaritan woman,
we come to the source of living water.
Let water spring forth in our heart, Lord Jesus,
water welling up to eternal life.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.
With the Samaritan woman,
we want to worship your Father in spirit and truth.
Help us to adore him, Lord Jesus,
by accomplishing your blessed will.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.
With the Samaritan woman,
we come to work at the harvest.
Ripen the golden sheaves
for the barns of heaven.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.
With the Samaritan woman, we acclaim you:
"You are truly the Savior of the world!"
May our life reveal your salvation, Lord Jesus,
to all our brothers and sisters.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.
See, Lord Jesus, our broken cisterns
that do not contain living water.
See our cracked jars, our used ropes.
The wells that we have dug
have become filled with the sand of our negligence.
Who will give us fresh water in the high noon of our life,
water that will quench our thirst for life eternal?
Who will heal the torment of our lost loves,
who will teach us true adoration of your Father
except you alone, Lord Jesus,
for you are truly the Savior of the world,
our only hope for eternity. Amen.
- Lucien Deiss, CSSp
— Etty Hillesum, A young Dutch Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz
Recently I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy a new pair of running shoes for my Montour Trail jogs. As a life-long runner I always enjoy this time of reflection, meditation and prayer and I thank God for the gift of running. Every so often along the trail there are water fountains that spring up to quench my thirst. Without water, there is no life. Dr. Ralph Herro of the Herro Allergy Clinic in Phoenix, AZ said, “If we each drank twice as much water, doctors would be seeing half as many patients.” Imagine if we applied this principle to our spiritual lives! Time spent in prayer is time well-spent.
On this 3rd Sunday of Lent we read the familiar story in John 4 of Jesus and the woman at the well, two tired travelers coming together at a place of refreshment. It was during the hottest part of the day when the woman did her ritual of retrieving and lugging water home for her family. This ordinary task became an extraordinary transformative life experience. In the culture in which she lived, the woman had multiple strikes against her in encountering Jesus, the Jewish rabbi. First, she was a woman; second, she was a Samaritan (a hated race); third, she had a checkered past (married to 5 men); and fourth, she was a social outcast. Jesus was not blinded by the categories, imperfections or sins. Jesus offered no harsh word or judgmental rebuke but the true revelation of her life with loving acceptance and understanding. Jesus is the perfect pastoral minister whose words watered her dry and despondent soul.
St. Augustine begins his Confessions with the famous declaration: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O Lord.” Thus there is a "God–sized hole" in each of us. At every Mass, Sunday after Sunday, we gather at "Jacob’s Well" to hear God’s Word and be refreshed through the gift of the Eucharist. This priceless gift overflows in a Christ-drenched universe, as there is an eternal slaking of thirst for God in His abundant love. Christ gifts us with His presence, veiled in appearance as bread and wine, and saves us by grace. The Carmelite poet, Jessica Powers (Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, her religious name) wrote, “God fills my being to the brim with floods of His immensity. I drown within a drop of Him whose seed-bed is infinity.” Our lives thirst for meaning, purpose, value, companionship, intimacy, union, truth, wholeness, holiness and ultimately salvation.
Wilford Owen, a British poet, reflected on his experience in World War I when he wrote, “I saw God through mud.” We all struggle with the muddiness of our human condition ... difficulties, weaknesses, disappointments, hurts, in ourselves and others. Many times we are obsessed with what we have, what we do and what people think of us. But these will not offer us fulfillment". Our human nature has many cravings, desires and tastes. They are intended to open us up to "Thee" and not "me."
God has a hope, dream and desire for each one of us. The Samaritan woman teaches that God wishes to recreate us and provide us with: 1) identity — as children of God, 2) intimacy — in getting below the surface, taking the risk, digging down into the heart to the awareness of God’s friendship, 3) generativity — the awareness that others may be enriched and benefit through our creative love, 4) integrity — the point I must reach through my choices and God’s grace in order to be truly free, and 5) blessedness — the state of realizing that God has indeed blessed me and wanting to share those blessings and graces with others.
Theodore Roethke said, “Running from God is the longest race of all.” Are we running from the Lord or are we running to the Lord this Lenten journey in 2011? Because we all wrestle and struggle with sin daily in our lives, we must seek the refreshing presence of Jesus to be faithful. It is by coming to the well of prayer in which our thirst is quenched.
Prayer with the Samaritan Woman
With the Samaritan woman,
we come to the source of living water.
Let water spring forth in our heart, Lord Jesus,
water welling up to eternal life.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.
With the Samaritan woman,
we want to worship your Father in spirit and truth.
Help us to adore him, Lord Jesus,
by accomplishing your blessed will.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.
With the Samaritan woman,
we come to work at the harvest.
Ripen the golden sheaves
for the barns of heaven.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.
With the Samaritan woman, we acclaim you:
"You are truly the Savior of the world!"
May our life reveal your salvation, Lord Jesus,
to all our brothers and sisters.
Give us, O Lord, your living water,
the source of eternal life.
See, Lord Jesus, our broken cisterns
that do not contain living water.
See our cracked jars, our used ropes.
The wells that we have dug
have become filled with the sand of our negligence.
Who will give us fresh water in the high noon of our life,
water that will quench our thirst for life eternal?
Who will heal the torment of our lost loves,
who will teach us true adoration of your Father
except you alone, Lord Jesus,
for you are truly the Savior of the world,
our only hope for eternity. Amen.
- Lucien Deiss, CSSp
