Every third year, the third Sunday of Lent, the Gospel reading is the story of the Samaritan Woman, the woman at the well, from the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John. It is one of my favorite Gospel passages. I like reading it after extracting all of the interjections by the disciples, who appear to be determined to distract Jesus from speaking with the woman.
A lot has been said about this story. Today I want to focus our attention on two things.
First, as I have quoted many times in this blog so far, Fr. Karl Rahner, S.J., once said, "When we love the other ... God is where we are and is looking at us through the other person." When I can, I use this quote to remind me that, whenever any person is in front of me, Jesus is in them, looking back at back me.
Second, my favorite part of the story of the Samaritan Woman is how, after meeting Jesus, the woman runs back to her village and invites everyone to go meet Jesus, saying "Come, meet someone, who knows everything I have ever done."
Come, meet someone.
When we serve others in love, we can see Jesus looking back at us through their eyes. Can we be like the Samaritan Woman, and invite our neighbors, or anyone who will listen for that matter, to "Come, meet someone" - and meet Jesus - by serving our neighbors with us in love?
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