Reflections

We welcome all to today’s Mass, especially visitors who are celebrating with us for the first time. Please take this

bulletin home with you for further reflection on this week’s celebration and to follow the activities in the Parish dur-

ing the week.

The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, is a story about thirst—physical thirst, spiritual thirst, and the deep longing of the human heart. Jews and Samaritans avoided each other, yet Jesus opens a discussion with a Samaritan woman on the grace of God mirrored as the “living water”. The Israelites got thirsty in the desert, they doubted and questioned the presence of God, yet God provided for them. How often are we, like the Israelites or like the Samaritan woman. We all have thirsts in our lives: thirst for love, meaning, peace, forgiveness, and hope. Sometimes we try to satisfy these thirsts with things that cannot truly fulfil us—success, possessions, or temporary pleasures. But deep down our hearts remain restless. Jesus meets the Samaritan woman exactly where she is—in her ordinary daily routine of drawing water. He does not condemn her past or reject her. Instead, He gently leads her to discover the truth about herself and about Him. Through this encounter, her life changed. She left her water jar behind and ran to tell the people of her town about Jesus. The jar represents the old ways she used to satisfy her thirst. Once she encountered Christ, she discovered something far greater. At this season of Lent, let us to reflect on own thirst and our own need for God. Jesus meets us at the well of our lives—through prayer, the Scriptures, and the sacraments. He offers us the “living water” of His grace. Like the Samaritan woman, let us open our hearts honestly before Him. When we do, Christ does not reject us. Instead, He heals us, forgives us, and fills the deepest thirst of our souls. The woman became a missionary by telling others about Jesus, and many came to believe because of her testimony. When we truly encounter Christ, we cannot keep Him to ourselves. — Fr. Patrice.

John Smith was the only Protestant to move into a large Catholic neighborhood. On the first Friday of Lent, John was outside grilling a big juicy steak on his grill. Meanwhile, all of his neighbors were eating cold tuna fish for supper. This went on each Friday of Lent. On the last Friday of Lent, the neighborhood men got together and decided that something had to be done about John! He was tempting them to eat meat each Friday of Lent, and they couldn’t take it anymore. They decided to try and convert John to Catholicism. They went over and talked to him and were so happy when he decided to join his neighbours and become a Catholic. After an intensive training in Catholic Catechism they took him to their pastor and got him baptised and announced to him: “You were born a Baptist, you were raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic.” The men were most relieved, that their biggest Lenten temptation had been resolved. The next year’s Lenten season rolled around. The first Friday of Lent came, and just at supper time, when the neighbourhood was setting down to their tuna fish dinner, came the wafting smell of steak cooking on a grill. The

neighbourhood men could not believe their noses! WHAT WAS GOING ON? They called each other up and decided to meet over in John’s yard to see if he had forgotten it was the first Friday of Lent. The group arrived just in time to see John standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water. He was sprinkling some water over his steak on the grill, saying, “You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, but now you are a fish.”