I know I've been blogging like a feen lately. I think the coming of Spring is certainly stirring in me. Though you wouldn't have been able to tell for most of yesterday. I was a little ill and sat around looking like death warmed over for 3/4 of the day...doing my taxes of all things. Yup, death and taxes indeed.
I finally got off my butt to go to Mass around 6pm. The Mass I went to chose to use the Year A Cycle readings (the RCIA candidate option) instead of the normal Cycle C for this year. AND I'M SO GLAD THEY DID.
Saturday (as you know) I was feeling good and positive about my state in life. Feeling all lovey dovey about the Father's love, even! So much hope and trust!
Amazing how quick a little stomach bug (and the devil) can get you to mope about as if the messages of hope and love never happened.
So, I was needing a message of hope- AGAIN. And blammo! There it was in the readings!
First reading: "In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?...Is the Lord in our midst or not?”
Oh, man am I good at grumbling!: "Why did You, Lord, do this that or the other?? Why did you ever make me leave/go to this that and the other place? Are you just going to leave me here to thirst??"
I love how Moses is like, "what do I DO with these people?" And God works pretty quickly in this case (clearly, not always how he likes to work, but again- He knows what we need ;). Maybe to cut Moses a break (not Moses' fault the people are finicky and fickle! Humph!) But maybe to prove to us that He won't let us go thirsty.
In fact, in he second reading from Romans St. Paul says: "...God proves his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Christ's life, death, and resurrection is the Father's gift to us in times of doubt, in times of thirst.
And I also loved this: "..we boast in the hope of the glory of God. And hope does not disappoint."
Oh, St. Paul. Always boasting. But if you are going to boast, the hope of the glory of God is the thing ;)
I totally appreciate the Church's ability to tie all the readings together. Where the Israelites are thirsty and grumbling for water in the first reading, Jesus presents Himself in the Gospel as living water, able to quench our deepest thirst. This certainly demonstrates the Salvation History we honor particularly at this Lenten time.
He meets a Samaritan woman at a well and- not only is he starting up a conversation with a woman (gasp!)- but a woman of a different culture than His. Mindblowing! ;)
And then he starts telling her this:
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but 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.”
I like this image of a spring of water welling upwards. God's just storing up all kinds of good things for us in our own respective wells. It's bound to overflow, surprise, and bound to be exactly what we need to be satisfied.
This message of hope, and trust, and fulfillment of thirst is certainly one I needed to hear this weekend. We all have our thirsting and longings. And Jesus knows this! He knew what that woman and his apostles should hear at that moment in the Gospel. He knew that I needed to hear those particular readings as opposed to the normal cycle readings last night at Mass. This gives me hope and ability to trust again. And above all, the knowledge that HE is the gift and only thing that can keep us from thirsting again.
Right now, I'm sure most of us are longing for a different kind of Spring and the warmth and positivity that comes with it. I believe that we will be satisfied very soon! The weather is promising! But it's also important to remember Lent actually means "springtime". So we aren't waiting for springtime- it's already here!
Peace,
Julia
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