Lenten Journey 2011 - March 29, 2011 - Presenter: Fr. Antonio O. Moreno - Week 9: Living Water, Gift from God
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Opening Prayer/ Psalm 95
Lenten Journey: Third Sunday of Lent (cycle A)
Living waters-Baptism
CCC 1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes us neophyte “a new creation,” an adopted son (daughter) of God, who has become a “partaker of the divine nature (2 Corinthians 6:15; 2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 4:5-7),” member of Christ and co-heir with him (1 Corinthians 6:15; 12-27: Romans 8:17), and a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).
CCC 1834 The human virtues (moral virtues) are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in accordance with reason and faith. They can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
CCC 1812 The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man’s (women’s) faculties for participation in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4): for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object.
First Reading: Ex 17:3-7 – “You will not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Knights of Columbus Bible
Tuesday 7:00 p.m.
K. C. Hall Hwy 90 - Del Rio, Texas
Opening Prayer/ Psalm 95
Lenten Journey: Third Sunday of Lent (cycle A)
First Reading; Exodus 17:3-7, the Israelites murmured against God in thirst. God directs Moses to strike a rock with his staff, and water issues forth. The Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 95, “if today you hear his voice harden not your hearts.” Second Reading; Romans 5:1-8, Through Jesus we have received the grace of faith. The love of God has been poured upon us. Jesus laid down his life for us while we were still sinners. The Gospel; John 4:5-42, Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well. He searches her soul, and she recognizes him as a prophet. Jesus speaks of the water of eternal life. He also notes the fields are ready for harvest.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Living waters-Baptism
CCC 1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes us neophyte “a new creation,” an adopted son (daughter) of God, who has become a “partaker of the divine nature (2 Corinthians 6:15; 2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 4:5-7),” member of Christ and co-heir with him (1 Corinthians 6:15; 12-27: Romans 8:17), and a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).
CCC1266 The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of justification: - enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues; - giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit; - allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues. Thus the whole organism of the Christian’s supernatural life has its roots in Baptism
Moral virtues
CCC 1834 The human virtues (moral virtues) are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in accordance with reason and faith. They can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
Theological virtues
CCC 1812 The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man’s (women’s) faculties for participation in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4): for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object.
CCC 1813 The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being. There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity (love).
Scripture Meditation
First Reading: Ex 17:3-7 – “You will not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Massah…Meribah: Hebrew words meaning; Massah = the place of the test, Meribah = the place of the quarreling - The Exodus was a particularly important step in the history of salvation – the great journey that in day of old brought the people of God from the servitude of Egypt to the Promise Land.
- This episode has the primary tradition of God’s graciousness to his needy people. This episode also contains the secondary tradition of Israel’s contention with God over the matter of the Exodus.
A. God’s graciousness – the people are quarreling with Moses and they demand that he meet the needs of the people. Moses’ cry to God results in a positive answer from God. Moses is commanded to strike the rock with his staff. The outcome is God once again meets the needs of his people – God gives them water.
B. Rebellion over Exodus – it is not really the thirst that is central to the rebellion. Rather, the thirst serves as a background for impugning the value of the Exodus: “Why did you even make us leave Egypt?” The Exodus is the object of attack because of the lack of water – there is a rejection of the divine plan of God.
Second Reading: Rom 5:1-8 – Justified by faith; Promise to glory
B. Rebellion over Exodus – it is not really the thirst that is central to the rebellion. Rather, the thirst serves as a background for impugning the value of the Exodus: “Why did you even make us leave Egypt?” The Exodus is the object of attack because of the lack of water – there is a rejection of the divine plan of God.
Second Reading: Rom 5:1-8 – Justified by faith; Promise to glory
- The life of the Church and believers is from now on as exodus leading from the world of “this grace in which we stand” to the city where we shall share “the glory of God.”
- This hope cannot disappoint us, because faith, making us just, places us in a new relationship with God and, as a consequence, with others, a relationship of trust and love of which God has taken the initiative, of which the Spirit “poured out into our hearts” is the pledge, of which Christ gave us the proof by dying for us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:1-2, 5-8)
Gospel St. John 4:5-42- Samaritan Woman at the well
The well is a symbol of life. The formula is simple, no
water, no life! Thus, everyone came to the well to sustain their physical life as well as the lives of their animals. But the well symbolizes more than physical well being. The water at the well speaks of spiritual life, reminding us, from our Christian perspective, of baptism. We sense that Jesus is baptizing the Samaritan woman as he loving gazes at her and says, in essence, “You count.”
water, no life! Thus, everyone came to the well to sustain their physical life as well as the lives of their animals. But the well symbolizes more than physical well being. The water at the well speaks of spiritual life, reminding us, from our Christian perspective, of baptism. We sense that Jesus is baptizing the Samaritan woman as he loving gazes at her and says, in essence, “You count.”
The well is the site of conversation, a conversation that leads to conversion. Coming together at the source of life giving water, Jesus and the Samaritan woman enter into dialogue. They are truly present to one another as they converse and banter and ponder about buckets, cisterns, and numerous husbands. The women begins to move in another direction and has taken on a new identity. All this took place between Jesus and the women at the well, the site of dialogue and insight.
The well has yet another dimension, leisure; Jesus has been on a journey and is tired. The woman, too, probably had a busy morning and found life wearisome. Two tired pilgrims come together for a moment of respite. One senses that they truly enjoy each other’s company though the disciples, upon returning from their lunch, thought that this exchange was inappropriate. So much for human judgment, the disciples did not understand the exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.