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Dear Preachers:
 The
generations before us were a traveling folk. Except for Native Americans, we all
came from other places to be here. (It is believed that even Native Americans
arrived here during the Ice Age, 20-30,000 years ago.) The number of vowels in
my last name gives evidence to my ancestral origins. The “old folks,” so they
seemed through my boyhood eyes, left the poverty of southern Italy for America –
the “Land of Promise.” And, despite the poverty and prejudice my grandparents’
generation endured, their sacrifices bore fruit for their children. Here we are,
a couple generations later, educated, employed, well fed (perhaps too well fed!)
and settled in “our country.”
The
Israelites were also a traveling people and we can tell from today’s first
reading that they had a harder trip to make. They had left slavery behind, but
their arrival to the next place, the Promise Land, was long delayed and the trip
to get there was arduous and tempted their faith. They were forty years in the
desert. They didn’t like what they left but, as the reading from Exodus shows,
at this point of their travels they were very discouraged. Each day was a
struggle and the present moment looked impossible. They were thirsty and they
were beginning to doubt Moses and their God. Where was God in this hard place?
The name of the place summarized this moment of their journey: Massah means
“Proof”; Meribah means “Contention.” That’s how hard the place was! The trip was
too long, with too many camping grounds and too many frustrations and failures.
Was God with them? Judging from their condition, it didn’t seem so to the
Israelites.
We can identify with the people wandering in the desert, for we too have known
similar moments on our journeys. There have times when we have lamented, “How
long must I endure this?” “When will it end?” “Can I/we make it?” We know what
we have left behind and we are not sure what lies ahead. Will it be worth the
struggle? We have known the hard places; we have known the rock at Horeb.
We can understand the temptation the Israelites had to return to the old places
and the old ways. We have dreams we want to see come to fruition for ourselves
and or family, yet at the rock, the hard place, those dreams feel flimsy. So,
for example: We would rather go back to silence and getting along, than to more
open communication and the pain that may cause. We would rather stay in a
relationship that is not working, than risk a break and go forward to new,
uncharted territory. We would rather stay with an abusive spouse, than choose
the scary terrain of independence. We would rather continue old habits and
dependencies, than go through the sacrifice change requires.
Lent urges us to shift to a traveling mode. Lent invites us to set out; to say
to ourselves, “I have got to change, I have got to make this journey.” We are
being invited to leave behind what is not working and not good for us and go to
a place up ahead. Like the Israelites, we start out making the changes we must,
but the road is long, uncertain and sometimes very hard to stick to, so our
resolution dissolves and we look back to where we used to be and turn around.
The experience of the Israelites in the desert reminds us how much we need God –
day by day. Today’s Exodus story reveals that at the very hard place, at the
rock of Horeb, God will provide the refreshment we need. God tells Moses to
strike the rock with his staff. From the rock water flows to quench the people’s
thirst. Is the same possible for us: that from the very hard places of struggle
and temptation God can draw water for us and refresh us? How? By the steady hand
of a friend; the presence of one with us by the bedside of a loved one; in the
support group that encourages and challenges us to stay with the program so we
can break an addiction or destructive habit; the voice of confrontation from a
loved one, who encourages us to be better than we have been. The initial
experience has the sound and feel of the rock; but then, through God and God’s
instruments, we discover that we are at the rock at Horeb and God has made
living water flow to quench the thirst only God can quench. The Israelites, we
are told, quarreled and tested God at the hard place and asked, “Is the Lord in
our midst or not?” To their sunrise, they found that God was.
The story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman is a familiar one –
perhaps too familiar. It is an important story for John and he spends a lot of
time narrating the exchange between the two. (There’s a shorter option in the
Lectionary, but why violate the storyteller’s intent by reading a chopped up
version? For the sake of brevity will we sacrifice the dramatic development in
the account? I plan on inviting the congregation to sit down and listen to a
good tale.) Because the story is so familiar I find myself leaning heavily on
John P. Pilch’s input for new insights (Cf. Below).
Pilch notes some “irregularities” in the story. He says the Mediterranean world
is divided according to gender: women have their places in the home and kitchen;
men have theirs in the fields, market place and the gate. The well is common to
both, but women and men go there at different times of the day. Women go in the
morning and evening. The Samaritan woman is there at noon – something is wrong.
Is she avoiding the other women of the town? Does she have a “reputation” and is
shunned by them? She is at a well, at noon and she is alone, speaking to a
strange man in a public place.
The conversation between Jesus and the woman raises even the suspicions of
Jesus’ disciples. When it is over she goes to another public place to tell those
gathered there (men at the market?) about her conversation with Jesus. Pilch
notes the subversions that are occurring in the story. John is giving new roles
to women in his community. He fashions the conversation between Jesus and the
woman in a seven part dialogue; each speaks seven times. Is a new creation story
being told in this seeming unimportant moment and place? Just as God created
light on the first day, so Jesus leads the woman out of her darkness into light,
to a deeper understanding of his identity. Did you notice the growth in the
woman’s awareness of Jesus, revealed in the names she gives him? She begins by
calling him “a Jew,” then moves to “prophet,” then, she tells the town people,
“Could he possible be the Christ?” Later they call him “the savior of the
world.”
The woman gets more time in this story than anyone else in John’s gospel. She
grows rapidly in her insight about Jesus and he commissions her to go call her
husband and return. She announces Jesus’ presence to the people of the town and
is, therefore, the first disciple in John’s gospel.
In our first reading the people grumble against Moses in the desert. They are
thirsty and demand water. Under God’s direction Moses strikes the rock and water
flows. In the gospel Jesus, the new Israel, is thirsty and stops at a well in
Samaria. There he receives a good reception, first from the woman, then from the
townspeople. Jesus finds rejection among his own; among Samaritans, he is
welcomed. He reflects God’s thirst for people, willingness to go outside the
usual religious and social boundaries, and God’s desire to give life giving
water to anyone thirsty enough to seek it. The woman in today’s story has no
name. Perhaps she represents all of us, regardless of race, gender or
nationality, who acknowledge our thirst for more than we can provide for
ourselves.
The entire exchange between the woman and Jesus is characterized by respect,
openness, even mutual challenge. But there is an under laying current throughout
the story – Jesus’ compassion. He accepts the woman as she is. She, on her part,
reveals an honest probing into Jesus’ identity; more than we find among Jesus’
disciples. Two strangers meet at an unusual place and their honest dialogue
brings one to a deeper knowledge of herself and the offer of a new and deeper
life.
Is it possible then that, when we meet a stranger and are willing to put aside
all the political, social, ethnic and religious barriers that normally separate
people, and enter into open dialogue, that we too might come to the life-giving
experience the woman had and discover God in the stranger?
Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030324-YearA.cfm
QUOTABLE
A
popular proverb says: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” In the case of Bible
stories, familiarity blunts sensitivity and often blocks proper understanding.
Anyone familiar with Mediterranean culture immediately identifies shocking and
jarring elements in this story.
----John J. Pilch, commenting on today’s gospel story in: THE CULTURAL WORLD OF
JESUS: SUNDAY BY SUNDAY, CYCLE A. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1995. Page
54, paper, $11.95 ISBN 0814622860.
JUSTICE
BULLETIN BOARD
 Is the
Lord in our midst or not?
Exodus 17:7
Lent is
a time of fasting to create a physical hunger and thirst, which should heighten
our spiritual hunger and thirst for the Lord. The one thing that should be noted
is that fasting is a voluntary activity and that, even in our fasts, we are
allowed to drink water. For many in our world, however, hunger and thirst is an
involuntary way of life that can lead to death.
Hunger
in our communities is an issue that far too many families are experiencing. A
lack of nutritious meals can have long lasting effects on the physical, mental,
and social well-being of all members of a family. In response to this need,
Catholic Charities currently operates five food pantries in central and eastern
North Carolina. Here in Wake County, Catholic Parish Outreach (CPO) began in
1977 when Sister Ann Joseph and Sister Louise Hill of the Order of the Daughters
of Charity were sent to Raleigh to start a Catholic charities program. At that
time, Sacred Heart Cathedral was one of five founding parishes, along with St.
Joseph, St. Raphael, Our Lady of Lourdes, and St. Mary, Mother of the Church.
Today CPO functions with 3 full-time and 2 part-time staff members and 1900
parishioners from area churches in a true community response.
Catholic Charities leverages the support of community partners to provide over 3
million pounds of food to families in need each year. Holy Name of Jesus
Cathedral participates by holding semi-annual food drives, such as the one we
are having this weekend. If you forgot your bag, $40 will help feed a family for
a week. Please stop by the CPO truck.
Catholic Charities Food Pantry Services are dedicated to distributing healthy
groceries, increasing access to food, and developing innovative solutions to
address food insecurity in a collaborative way. On each visit, families receive
a week’s worth of groceries, helping to fill the gap that families experience
once their resources have been exhausted and before they receive their next
paycheck. Once their immediate need for food is addressed, Catholic Charities
staff and volunteers may connect families to other critical services that aim to
remove barriers to self-sufficiency, increasing access to opportunities and
creating hope for a better future. With dignity and respect at the forefront of
all interactions, families are offered a hand up during their most challenging
times.
Let there be no question that the Lord is in our midst.
Barbara
Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director
Office
of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries
Holy
Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC
FAITH
BOOK
Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the
run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish
bulletins people take home.
From
today’s Exodus reading:
The
Lord answered Moses:
“Strike the rock and the water will flow from it
for the people to drink.” This Moses did....”
Reflection:
Today’s
Exodus story reveals that at the very hard place, at the rock of Horeb, God will
provide the refreshment we need. God tells Moses to strike the rock with his
staff. From the rock water to quench the people’s thirst flows. Is the same
possible for us: that from the very hard places of struggle and temptation God
can draw water for us and refresh us?
So we
ask ourselves:
-
Where
are the hard places for us these days?
-
What
difficult changes are we being asked to make this Lent?
-
Who are
the instruments God is using to provide refreshing water during this dry period
of our lives? Name them and give thanks.
POSTCARDS TO DEATH ROW INMATES
Many
people say that we need the death penalty in order to have “justice for the
victims.”
But so
many family members of murder victims say over and over that the death penalty
is not what they want. It mirrors the evil. It extends the trauma. It does not
provide closure. It creates new victims… it is revenge, not justice.
Killing is the problem, not the solution.
----Shane Claiborne, Death Penalty Action's Advisory Board Chairman
This is
a particularly vulnerable time for state and federal prisoners. I invite you to
write a postcard to one or more of the inmates listed below to let them know we
have not forgotten them. If the inmate responds you might consider becoming pen
pals.
Please
write to:
-
George
Buckner #0054499 (On death row since 18/8/1993)
-
Martin
Richardson #0343075 (11/22/1993)
-
Randy
Atkins #0012311 (12/8/1993)
----Central
Prison, P.O. 247, Phoenix, MD 21131
Please
note: Central Prison is in Raleigh, NC., but for security purposes, mail to
inmates is processed through a clearing house at the above address in Maryland.
For
more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the
Catholic Mobilizing Network:
http://catholicsmobilizing.org/resources/cacp/
On this
page you can sign “The National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty.” Also,
check the interfaith page for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty:
http://www.pfadp.org/
DONATIONS
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If you
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RESOURCES
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Individual CDs for each Liturgical Year, A, B or
C.
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One combined CD for “Liturgical Years A, B and C.”
If you are a preacher, lead a Lectionary-based
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You can order the CDs by going to our webpage:
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“First Impressions” CD link on the
left.
2. “Homilias Domincales” —These Spanish
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and friars. If you or a friend would like to receive these reflections drop a
note to fr. John Boll, O.P. at
Jboll@opsouth.org.
3. Our webpage:
https://www.PreacherExchange.com/ - Where
you will find “Preachers’ Exchange,” which includes “First Impressions” and
“Homilias Dominicales,” as well as articles, book reviews, daily homilies and
other material pertinent to preaching.
4. “First Impressions” is a service to preachers
and those wishing to prepare for Sunday worship. It is sponsored by the
Dominican Friars. If you would like “First Impressions” sent weekly to a friend,
send a note to fr. John Boll, OP at the above email address.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS Archive
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