Posted by The WORD in other words (2017) by Father Ferdinand Bajao SVD – Rome, Italy
3rd Sunday of Lent – A
Already this Sunday, we hear the Lord’s thirst: “Give me a drink” (John 4:7). Long before His cry from the cross, “I thirst!” (John 19:28), Jesus reveals a deeper longing. Exhausted, He asks water from someone considered an outcast — a Samaritan and a woman. His thirst was not only physical; it was a thirst for communion, for faith, for love.
The preface of today’s Mass explains that in asking the Samaritan woman for water, Jesus had already kindled faith within her. His thirst was for her soul, for her love. Just as the Father quenched Israel’s thirst in the desert by bringing water from the rock (Exodus 17:7), so Jesus offered living water to this woman despite her sinfulness.
He knew the desert of her heart, and He offered the only water that could revive it: “…whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13–14).
Recognizing her own thirst for God, she replied: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst” (John 4:15). Her request was more than physical relief — it was repentance, worship, and proclamation. She accepted Him, and her life was transformed.
The Lord’s thirst is also for us. In baptism, we die to sin through water, but rise to new life in the Spirit. As St. Paul says: “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). Ezekiel’s promise is fulfilled: “I will pour clean water upon you… and give you a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:25–26).
The Lord thirsts for our faith, our love, our repentance. He longs to lift us up by His mercy. As the Collect of this Sunday prays: “…look graciously on this confession of our lowliness, that we, who are bowed down by our conscience, may always be lifted up by your mercy.”
“Lord Jesus, quench my thirst with Your living water. Teach me to trust Your mercy, to worship You in spirit and truth, and to proclaim Your love to others.”
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