by Fr. Tommy Lane
Did you ever hear someone say, “There must be something more to life.” Having Jesus in the center of our lives makes our whole life better. Every day is better with Jesus in the center. When we have Jesus where he belongs, it helps our whole life fall into place better.
A father wanted to read a magazine but was being
bothered by his little girl. She wanted to know what the United States looked
like. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his new magazine on which was printed a
map of the country. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to her and said,
“Go into the other room and see if you can put this together. This will show you
our whole country today.” After a few minutes she returned and handed him the
map, correctly fitted, and taped together. The father was surprised and asked how
she had finished so quickly. “Oh,” she said, “on the other side of the paper is
a picture of Jesus. When I got all of Jesus back where He belonged, then our
country just came together.”
(Unfortunately I do not know the source of this story which I have edited.)
Yes, when we allow Jesus where he belongs, our whole life falls into place. This season of Lent is a gift from Jesus to get Jesus back where he belongs in our lives and to allow everything in our lives fall into place.
The Prefaces for Daily Masses during Lent—the prayers after the “Holy, Holy, Holy…”—express beautifully this aim and goal during Lent:
For by your gracious gift each year
your faithful
await the sacred paschal feasts
with the joy of minds made pure. (Preface of Lent 1)
For you have given your children a sacred time
for
the renewing and purifying of their hearts.
(Preface of Lent 2)
For through bodily fasting you restrain our faults,
raise up our minds,
and bestow both virtue and its rewards.
(Preface of Lent 4)
So at the end of Lent we want to have the joy of minds made pure, to have our hearts renewed and purified, and our minds raised up to God and to have grown in virtue. At the end of Lent we want to have the picture of Jesus put back together again properly in our lives because Jesus is the “something more to life” that we are looking for.
This is precisely what happened to the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well. The conversation began with Jesus asking her for a drink (John 4:7). Jesus’ thirst is symbolic; it was for her faith that Jesus thirsted. So during the conversation Jesus gradually helped the gift of faith to grow in her heart. We see the woman’s faith growing by the way she addresses Jesus; the titles she gives to Jesus show more and more respect and faith as their conversation progresses:
Firstly she says, “you, a Jew” (John 4:9).
Then she calls Jesus, “Sir” (John 4:11, 15)
Then she calls Jesus a prophet (John 4:19)
Finally she refers to Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah (John 4:29)
All the Samaritans of that town call Jesus the Savior of the world after the two days he spent with them. (John 4:42)
Jesus awoke faith in her heart. The Preface for today’s Mass says,
For when he asked the Samaritan woman for water to
drink,
he had already created the gift of faith within her
and so ardently
did he thirst for her faith,
that he kindled in her the fire of divine love.
(Preface Third Sunday of Lent)
Jesus thirsted for the woman’s faith and awoke the love of the Father in her heart. Jesus thirsts for your faith and wants to awaken the love of the Father ever more in your heart. Did you ever hear someone say, “There must be something more to life.” Having Jesus in the center of our lives makes our whole life better. Every day is better with Jesus in the center. When we have Jesus where he belongs, our whole life falls into place better. At the end of Lent, we want to have the picture of Jesus put back together again properly in our lives, like the Samaritan woman, because Jesus is the “something more to life” that we seek. When we put the picture of Jesus back into place in our life, then as we heard in our second reading:
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. (Rom 5:1-2)
Copyright © Fr. Tommy Lane 2008
This homily was delivered in a parish in Maryland.
More homilies for the Third Sunday of Lent Year A
The Living Water of Jesus 2020
God has a plan that we find our identity in Christ 2011
Drink the Living Water of Jesus and you will never again thirst
stories about conversion