(Homily for March 3, 2024, using the ‘A’ readings: Exodus 17:3-7, Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-8 and John 4:5-42.)
So what are you thirsty for?
Yesterday a bunch of us from the parish marched in the St. Patrick’s Day parade down Madison Street in Forest Park. It was a perfect day for it, not what you’d expect in the first weekend of March: Sunny, mild, no snow. Thousands of people reveling and celebrating.
It did not appear that anybody there was thirsty.
We’re all thirsty for something. Being thirsty is the body’s way of telling us we need more water, which is essential to life. Always look for the connection between the gospel passage and the first reading: the people of God sojourning in the desert were given the water they needed to live, even after selfishly thinking that God had abandoned them.
There can be times we think God has abandoned us, when our lives are not going how we want them to, or how God wants them to go either. Times we feel the loss of connection to God and connection to each other.
Jesus says he can take that dryness away. He sees into the life of the woman at the well, her frustrations, her failed relationships, her struggling hopes. He sees all of her, who she really is, he and encounters her lovingly and compassionately and truthfully, and it makes her feel something: “He gets me.” That’s what she feels.
When you fall in love, you get that same feeling, “This person gets me.”
We are all thirsty for a connection with God, for connections with each other, for repair of wounded relationships. Jesus gets that. Jesus gets us.
We used these readings today because of the RCIA and the first of the three scrutinies.
We have three catechumens and five baptized candidates who are preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation this Easter. Two weeks ago, they were at the 11:00 Mass for the rite of sending, and we went to the cathedral for the rite of election and call to continuing conversion.
They are here again this morning, for you to see them where they are in the process of conversion. For them to see within themselves where they are.
After the homily, our Elect will stand in front of us all and look into themselves. We want them to see themselves as Jesus saw the woman at the well, compassionately and truthfully:
The scrutinies are part of the process of conversion. Which means we all should try it.
Maybe it’s because I’m a lawyer, the word scrutiny makes me uncomfortable. It means a close, hard look. It means to look carefully, and examine thoroughly and unrelentingly.
In the law we have this concept called strict scrutiny, and essentially it means, one side doesn’t get any breaks. (It’s almost a euphemism for “You’re gonna lose.”)
The scrutiny we bring to the Elect is also a close, hard look. We look carefully, and we examine thoroughly and unrelentingly. But not cruelly.
The look within of the three scrutinies is a close look made compassionately, lovingly and truthfully. We could all stand to try it. Because you’re not going to lose; you’re going to gain eternal life.
Belonging 