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Greetings, SBT Readers:
In a recent conversation with a friend, the topic of the Synod on Synodality came up, and my friend commented on how few people know much about it precisely because few parishes are highlighting the multi-year process (2021-2024) of listening and dialogue. Though the purpose of the Synod is to renew the global church at every level by welcoming the voices of every stakeholder, from the "churched" to the "unchurched," from the faithful to the alienated, from those on the "inside" to those who have experienced discrimination, even rejection, the reality is that many Catholics have no idea what a synod is, let alone that one is happening right now. "It seems," commented my friend, "that parishes are focusing on the National Eucharistic Revival instead."
According to the Pew Research Center,"only 31% of Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist," a shocking statistic when one considers that the Eucharist is the "source and summit of Christian life" -- and, for some of the faithful, the only reason they have stayed Catholic and not migrated to other traditions. The loss of belief in the Eucharist, then, threatens the very culture of what it means to be Catholic and even the spiritual heritage to be passed on to future generations.
"But does it have to be either/or?" continued my friend. "I feel that the two movements are splitting the church and causing divisions instead of creating unity."
Shortly after our conversation, I discovered that this very concern was addressed at a meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) last November. Papal Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre stated unequivocally that “Eucharistic revival and synodality go together. Or to put it another way, I believe that we will have true Eucharistic revival when we experience the Eucharist as the sacrament of Christ’s incarnation: as the Lord walking with us together on the way.”
Perhaps what is needed is for this message to filter down to the parishes!
Lenten Blessings!
Elizabeth
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SUNDAY REFLECTION
Link to Scrutiny Readings, YEAR A
Link to Sunday Readings, YEAR B
Jesus said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drink the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in them
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jn 4:5-42
Who among us has not experienced thirst and who among us has not said, at some point or another, "I'm dying for something to drink!" For most of us, being thirsty is not typically a matter of life or death but merely an inconvenience, a form of discomfort. For millions of people, however, true thirst is lethal. Take, for example, the situation in Gaza where clean drinking water is mostly unavailable, not only because Israeli bombardments have targeted water infrastructure, but because water supplies from Israel-- along with food, fuel and electricity-- have been halted. From all accounts, the situation is dire, with contaminated wells being the only source of water for much of the population. Agriculture has been disrupted and humanitarian organizations fear that outbreaks of cholera and typhoid will be next on the list of horrors. Or take the endless caravans of migrants heading for America's southern borders, often with insufficient water for the journey. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) describes the US-Mexico border as "the deadliest land route for migrants worldwide on record." There in the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts, countless thirsty migrants have lost their lives in their desperation to make it to the "Promised Land." Or consider the thousands of "boat people" heading to Europe from North Africa in overcrowded boats that are far from seaworthy. Surrounded by the Mediterranean, they can see water but there is none to drink...
As terrrible as physical thirst can be, it also has its spiritual counterpart. In Ps. 63, the psalmist laments, "God, my God, you I crave;/ my soul thirsts for you,/ my body aches for you/ like a dry and weary land"; and in Ps 42, we read, "As a deer craves running water,/ I thirst for you, my God;/ I thirst for God, / the living God. / When will I see your face?" Even in those psalms which make no explicit mention of water, the psalmist's longing for God finds passionate expression, as in Ps. 27 v.4: "One thing I ask the Lord,/ one thing I seek:/ to live in the house of God/ every day of my life,/
caught up in God's beauty,/ at prayer in God's temple." While thirsting for God is related to the thirst for love, for justice, for meaning, for purpose, and for a sense of belonging, it goes beyond these thirsts: Only God can satisfy this thirst because what we desire is nothing less than the very Presence of God.
Like the Samaritan woman, we may be oblivious as to what we are really thirsting for. Given her marital history, it would seem that the Samaritan woman thirsts for intimate relationships; at the same time, she is most likely an outcast within her own community on account of her many marriages and current relationship. In fact, it is quite possible that she heads to the village well at the hottest time of day precisely to avoid the stares and gossip of the other women. As a result, she may thirst for respectability and friendships, in addition to wanting an easier life that doesn't involve trudging to the well each day.
But beneath every thirst, there is a deeper thirst, one that the secular world fails to recognize. At first, the Samaritan woman is drawn to the idea of an endless spring of water; interpreting Jesus' words literally, she sees the many ways such a spring will improve her circumstances. In the course of a few minutes, she moves from skepticism to curiosity. Then she gets it: Jesus is not speaking about water at all but about the life of the Spirit within, about his life, God's life. That's when she puts down her water jar -- the symbol of material thirst-- and, forgetting her fears, runs to announce the Good News to her neighbors.
Even when we fool ourselves by imagining that some material "thing," relationship or "goal" will satisfy us, we will never stop thirsting for God in this lifetime. At times, we experience a taste of God's Presence, but then, when it fades, we are left feeling thirstier than ever. The more we know God, in fact, the more intolerable God's seeming absence becomes. Perhaps that is why Jesus cries out from the Cross, "I thirst!" (Jn 19:28) -- not because he wants a literal drink, but because he longs for the Father's embrace...
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