Dear brothers, peace and good.

We continue our pilgrimage along the path of Lent. In the prayer collected on the first Sunday of Lent we asked God to grant us to advance in the understanding of the mystery of Christ and to live it in its fullness. The liturgy of the Word that Sunday of Lent presented to us that mystery of Christ: we saw him exposed to temptations and we also saw him emerge victorious; Last Sunday it was the scene of the Transfiguration of Jesus that invited us to see him in his ordinary appearance (in his everyday work clothes) and in an anticipation of his glory (the Easter party dress: his face shining like the sun and his resplendent clothes). Today we look again into that bottomless well of his mystery: we see him as one of us, a being of needs and desires: he feels the fatigue of the road and is thirsty; and we see him as the one who offers us all living water, and thus brings response and fulfillment (accomplished answer) to our ultimate needs and desires.

That doesn’t mean that answer is easy to accept or understand. The experience of Israel (which leaves the garlic and onions of Egypt and longs for them) is repeated in the life of every Christian. Every conversion is an abandonment of the “land of slavery” and signals the beginning of an exodus. The first moments of the new life can pass peacefully, especially if good will and enthusiasm help us and we receive help from our brothers in the faith. Then inevitably begins the longing, nostalgia and, at times, the disillusionment that we experience in contact with the life of the Christian community.

Doubts, hesitations and the temptation to question the choice made appear. The need for some sign is felt; We demand that God give concrete proof of his faithfulness. It is not surprising that these difficult moments arise: they are the sign that we have arrived, like Israel, at Massa-Meribah. The Lord will also be patient with us. It will also offer a sign to our weak and faltering faith: the wonderful water that flows from Christ, his Spirit, his Word and his Bread.

The drought experienced by many areas of the world has made us realize how precious and essential water is, especially this water so well sifted from drizzle. The water sister: useful, chaste, humble. We have learned to miss her and be more careful with her. There is even speculation that future wars may take place because of water.

If we have ever suffered from thirst, we know how bad it was. When an excursion ends, when it is cut short due to construction or a breakdown, we miss that liquid element. In this way we learn to know and appreciate the gift of God. Because, without water, the earth can endure. Without that water that is God himself, without the Spirit of God, without the knowledge of God and without the love for God manifested in Jesus and poured out by the Spirit in our hearts, we too endure: we lose human sensitivity, our relationships become more strained, we become less porous and receptive, our openness and our capacity to receive are narrowed. On the contrary, the presence of God’s gift makes us softer, more receptive, with a greater capacity to welcome and listen.

Without that water that is God himself, cities are filled with pollution and the atmosphere becomes unbreathable. On the contrary, when God makes an appearance, community is created.

Without that water that is God himself, many look for substitutes that cannot quench our thirst, as happened to the Samaritan woman, a woman of restless sexuality, who was already on her fifth or sixth husband. It is that the love of God – as demonstrated by the stories of many believers – can fill in such a way that physical needs are mitigated (ascesis) and one can renounce one’s wife or husband (consecrated chastity of celibates and virgins).

The problem spoken of in the readings is not simply one of headquarters, but one of faith, of the meaning of life. Jesus, after asking the Samaritan woman for a drink, stirs up a deeper feeling in her heart. A seed that can only be satisfied with living water. That which is not sold bottled in any store, but rather offers what is Life. Only the living water of the Inexhaustible can fill the insatiable heart of man. The wound that God has opened in us can only be healed by God himself: «You made us, Lord, for yourself and our hearts will be restless until they rest in you.» (Saint Augustine).

Today Jesus continues asking you for a drink. He comes out to meet you again, feeling needy for you. He makes himself weak so that you can have access to his infinite love. He asks us to drink, who live restlessly, full of unsatisfied desires. Victims of a society that has specialized in creating needs for us. Advertising surrounding growing consumption surrounds us. We are far from satisfied with what we are, do and possess…, we are always spurred to desire more.

That is why God, who sees our insatiable heart and knows our concerns, comes out to meet us again. The God who knows how to get into your life, tells you again: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink…” “I am”, the one that perhaps, without knowing it, you are looking for. I am the Expected One. The encounter with Him, apparently fortuitous, awakens the desire for infinite, nostalgia: “Whoever is thirsty, let him come and drink and from his bowels a fountain will spring up that leaps to eternal life.” He is the water from the rock, the water from the side that flowed from the spear on the dead body of the Crucified, the water that He Himself offers to the Samaritan woman.

Lent is a favorable time to relive the grace of baptism and live the new Life that one day, by the Spirit, was poured into our hearts. Lent is lived by returning to that source from which life springs. A special invitation that we could receive for next week is this: live the spirit of prayer; Practice prayer in spirit and truth.

What does this woman do after having found Christ? Abandon the pitcher (it is of no use to him because he has found the “living water”) and run to announce to others his discovery and his happiness. It is the invitation to be missionaries, apostles, catechists, to proclaim to all people the joy and peace that fills those who find the Lord and drink his water.

Your brother in faith,
Alejandro CMF