24 March 2019
Third Sunday of Lent
My mother’s people lived in Beloit, Wisconsin. Thus, as children we attended several funerals. Following the farm tradition, the burial was followed by the “afterwards” which entailed lunch at someone’s house where the assembled crowd oozed out into the front lawn, seated on folding chairs around old barn doors set on saw horses. It was at this solemn event that my mother’s cousin would frequently say “I don’t touch the hot dish unless I recognize the casserole it came in.” Farm wisdom had taught her that you could count on good food from a good source. Cousin Elizabeth did not reach her mid-80s by experimentation with the unknown. Today’s Gospel, the story of the Samaritan women at the well, recalls in a more serious way the importance of examining where we seek our nourishment. Jesus tells the Samaratine women that he has living water, a source that will give her eternal life. Our gospel challenges us to reflect on where we get our nourishment, and what sources give us life.