DAY 19: Third Sunday of Lent - SPIRITUAL JOURNEY FROM LENT TOWARDS EASTER

This third Sunday of Lent, Fr. Budge Orara takes us to the Book of Exodus (Ex 17:3-7) when the Jews grumbled against Moses as they demand for "water" to drink. Moses gets irked with his people complaints that he cried out to the Lord. The Lord instructs him to strike with his staff the rock in Massah and Meribah. A spring gushes forth from the rock where people began to drink to their hearts' content. On the second reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (Rom 5: 1-2, 5-8), Apostle Paul declares that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us when Jesus Christ offered His life to redeem us. In a reading from the holy Gospel according to John, the Lord Jesus again make use of water and/or spring as a symbol or representation of eternal life. Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman on the well brings anew this revelation that Jesus is the source of "living water." It is in Samaria that a promise of salvation to non-Jews is proclaimed and pre-figured by the Lord. Deo gratias!