TERCER DOMINGO DE CUARESMA 2026

La Palabra de Dios de hoy nos habla de sed, de agua y de un Dios que no abandona a su pueblo en el desierto. En la primera lectura, tomada del Libro del Éxodo, el pueblo de Israel sufre sed en el desierto. Y no solo sed física: comienzan a dudar, a quejarse y a desconfiar. Se preguntan: «¿Está o no está Dios en medio de nosotros?».

Podríamos decir que el desierto representa nuestros momentos de crisis:

• Cuando parece que Dios guarda silencio y no nos escucha.

• Cuando las cosas no salen como esperamos y nos sentimos desalentados.

•  Cuando sentimos sequedad espiritual y nuestra oración parece no tener sentido.

A diferencia de la actitud de duda de los judíos en el desierto, san Pablo, en la segunda lectura, invita a los romanos a confiar plenamente en Dios, reconociendo que «la esperanza no defrauda», porque Dios ha infundido su amor en nuestros corazones por medio del Espíritu Santo.

En el Evangelio según san Juan, Jesús se encuentra con una mujer samaritana y entabla un diálogo con ella en el que, poco a poco, le muestra su vida y la guía por el camino de la evangelización, hasta que ella termina convencida de que él es el Mesías, el enviado de Dios. Al principio, la mujer parece estar a la defensiva y no comprende el nivel espiritual al que Jesús quiere llevarla. En este diálogo, Jesús se muestra cansado y necesitado. Su sed se convierte en el instrumento a través del cual evangeliza a esta mujer y le muestra el manantial de vida que tiene delante. Jesús le dice: «Si supieras quién es el que te pide de beber, le pedirías tú a él y él te daría agua viva». Al negarse la samaritana a ayudarle a sacar agua del pozo, Jesús le ofrece la fuente de agua viva.

La samaritana se encuentra hoy con dos pozos: uno es el pozo de Jacob, donde ella iba a buscar agua constantemente, y el otro es Jesús, el Mesías, que es el pozo del agua viva y de la vida eterna, y que sacia su sed de manera completa y definitiva. La mujer fue en busca de agua material y encontró el agua espiritual que colmó todas sus necesidades.

Todos tenemos necesidades que tratamos de saciar de alguna manera; todos tenemos pozos a los que acudimos para calmar nuestra sed. Jesús le propone a la samaritana beber de otro pozo, el único que puede saciar su necesidad. Esa misma propuesta nos la hace el Señor a nosotros: él es el único que puede calmar nuestra sed existencial y todas nuestras necesidades de vida eterna. Él nos invita a vaciarnos de todo, porque quiere llenarnos y ser nuestro todo. A la samaritana le ofreció un agua mejor, capaz de saciar su vida; a cada uno de nosotros nos ofrece lo mismo: él nos ayuda a entender que estamos equivocados cuando pensamos que las cosas del mundo, el dinero, el placer o los ídolos pueden llenar nuestras vidas. El único que puede hacerlo de manera definitiva es Jesucristo, Nuestro Señor. Él es el verdadero pozo que nos sacia para la vida eterna.

Terminemos con estas preguntas: ¿Has tenido sed alguna vez? ¿Cómo te sientes cuando la calmas? ¿Algún día has sentido que te faltaba algo en la vida? ¿Con qué llenas tus vacíos? ¿Crees que las cosas del mundo pueden llenarte? ¿Le has pedido a Jesús que llene tu vida? ¿Te has sentado algun a vez a su lado para hablar sinceramente con él?

P. Luis Segura M.S.C.

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THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT 2026

Today's Word of God speaks to us of thirst, of water, and of a God who does not abandon his people in the desert. In the first reading, taken from the Book of Exodus, the people of Israel suffer thirst in the desert. And not only physical thirst: they begin to doubt, to complain, and to distrust. They ask themselves: "Is God among us or not?"

We could say that the desert represents our moments of crisis:

• When it seems that God is silent and doesn't hear us.

•  When things don't go as we expect and we feel discouraged.

•  When we feel spiritual dryness and our prayer seems pointless.

In contrast to the doubtful attitude of the Jews in the desert, St. Paul, in the second reading, invites the Romans to trust fully in God, recognizing that "hope does not disappoint," because God has poured his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman and engages her in a dialogue in which he gradually reveals his life to her and guides her along the path of evangelization, until she is convinced that he is the Messiah, the one sent by God. At first, the woman seems defensive and does not grasp the spiritual level to which Jesus wants to lead her. In this dialogue, Jesus appears tired and needy. His thirst becomes the instrument through which he evangelizes this woman and shows her the spring of life before her. Jesus tells her, “If you knew who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” When the Samaritan woman refuses to help him draw water from the well, Jesus offers her the source of living water.

The Samaritan woman today encounters two wells: one is Jacob's well, where she constantly went to draw water, and the other is Jesus, the Messiah, who is the well of living water and eternal life, and who completely and definitively quenches her thirst. The woman went in search of physical water and found the spiritual water that satisfied all her needs.

We all have needs that we try to satisfy in some way; we all have wells we go to in order to quench our thirst. Jesus suggests to the Samaritan woman that she drink from another well, the only one that can satisfy her need. The Lord makes this same offer to us: He is the only one who can quench our existential thirst and all our needs for eternal life. He invites us to empty ourselves of everything, because He wants to fill us and be our all. To the Samaritan woman He offered better water, capable of satisfying her life; to each of us He offers the same: He helps us understand that we are mistaken when we think that worldly things, money, pleasure, or idols can fill our lives. The only one who can do so definitively is Jesus Christ, Our Lord. He is the true well that satisfies us for eternal life.

Let's conclude with these questions: Have you ever been thirsty? How do you feel when you quench your thirst? Have you ever felt that something was missing in your life? What do you use to fill your emptiness? Do you believe that worldly things can fill you? Have you asked Jesus to fill your life? Have you ever sat down with him to speak honestly with him?

Fr. Luis Segura, M.S.C.

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The Gospel passage from today, the Third Sunday of Lent, tells us of Jesus’ meeting with a Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:5-42). He is on a journey with his disciples and takes a break near a well in Samaria. The Samaritans were considered heretics by the Jews, and were very much despised as second-class citizens. Jesus is tired, thirsty. The Gospel passage from today, the Third Sunday of Lent, tells us of Jesus’ meeting with a Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:5-42). He is on a journey with his disciples and takes a break near a well in Samaria. The Samaritans were considered heretics by the Jews, and were very much despised as second-class citizens. Jesus is tired, thirsty. A woman arrives to draw water and he says to her: “Give me a drink” (v. 7). Breaking every barrier, he begins a dialogue in which he reveals to the woman the mystery of living water, that is, of the Holy Spirit, God’s gift. Indeed, in response to the woman’s surprised reaction, Jesus says: “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (v. 10).

Water is the focus of this dialogue. On the one hand, water is an essential element that slakes the body’s thirst and sustains life. On the other, water is a symbol of divine grace that gives eternal life. In the biblical tradition God is the source of living water: as it says in Psalms and in the Prophets: distancing oneself from God, the source of living water, and from his Law, leads to the worst drought. This is the experience of the People of Israel in the desert. During their long journey to freedom, as they were dying of thirst, they cried out against Moses and against God because there was no water. Thus, God willed Moses to make water flow from a rock, as a sign of the Providence of God, accompanying his people and giving them life (cf. Ex 17:1-7).

The Apostle Paul, too, interprets that rock as a symbol of Christ. He says: “And that rock was Christ” (cf. 1 Cor 10:4). It is the mysterious figure of his presence in the midst of the People of God on their journey. Christ, in fact, is the Temple from which, according to the prophets, flows the Holy Spirit, the living water which purifies and gives life. Whoever thirsts for salvation can draw freely from Jesus, and the Spirit will become a wellspring of full and eternal life in him/her. The promise of living water that Jesus made to the Samaritan woman becomes a reality in his Passion: from his pierced side flowed “blood and water” (Jn 19:34). Christ, the Lamb, immolated and risen, is the wellspring from which flows the Holy Spirit who remits sins and regenerates new life.

This gift is also the source of witness. Like the Samaritan woman, whoever personally encounters the living Jesus feels the need to talk about him to others, so that everyone might reach the point of proclaiming that Jesus “is truly the savior of the world” (Jn 4:42), as the woman’s fellow townspeople later said. Generated to new life through Baptism, we too are called to witness the life and hope that are within us. If our quest and our thirst are thoroughly quenched in Christ, we will manifest that salvation is not found in the “things” of this world, which ultimately produce drought, but in he who has loved us and will always love us: Jesus, our Savior, in the living water, that he offers us.

May Mary, Most Holy, help us nourish a desire for Christ, font of living water, the only one who can satisfy the thirst for life and love that we bear in our hearts.

Rev. Rajesh Peter M.S.C.

3rd Sunday of Lent 2026 – Cycle A

My friends, some things of note as we celebrate this Third Sunday of Lent: 

If a parish has people preparing to become new Catholics at the Easter Vigil, the Church uses Readings from Cycle A during Lent, even if the Liturgical Calendar Year calls for Cycle B or C.  We just happen to be in Cycle A this year.

The program to prepare these new Catholics is called OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation).  The previous name for the program was RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation).  The wording change began in Lent of 2025.  I don’t know why the Church changes wording.  Perhaps those in charge think people will better understand…

Anyway, if a parish has an OCIA program, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays in Lent are always from Cycle A because these Readings are fundamental to the Lenten preparation for those who will be baptized and welcomed into our Church at our Easter Vigil.

For those of us already baptized, Lent is a perfect time to be reminded of the life-giving waters we received at our Baptism.  Especially significant today is the Gospel about the Samaritan woman and Jesus at Jacob’s well.  Our Gospel today is poignant in that things aren’t much different now as they were in Jesus' day:  People not getting along because of a different country of origin, nationality, ethnicity, religion, etc.

The Samaritan woman was surprised that Jesus spoke to her because she was a woman and a Samaritan.  In addition to the usual prejudice against women, Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans and vice versa.  The break and hatred began about 700 years earlier.  Ever since, the Jews and Samaritans carried on the tradition of hating each other. 

And so it is with humanity.  We are all children of Adam and Eve.  Brothers and sisters.  But then there's the break, the disagreement, the argument, the incident – and then comes the separation…  

In one of his General Audiences, Pope Francis said:  "’Brother’ and ‘Sister’ are words that Christianity loves very much. And thanks to the family experience they are words that all cultures and all times understand.  But when the bond is broken, it opens the way to painful experiences of conflict, betrayal, hatred... The biblical account of Cain and Abel is an example of this negative outcome. After the killing of Abel, God asks Cain: ‘Where is your brother ?’  It is a question the Lord continues to repeat in every generation. And sadly, every generation repeats Cain's tragic answer: ‘I do not know.  Am I my brother’s keeper ?’” 

My friends, it is so remarkable and sad that people are taught at an early age to hate an entire group of people or nation of people.  And that’s the situation in today’s gospel:  The barrier between the Samaritans and the Jews, each hating the other.

Jesus, however, broke through the barriers of hostility between Jews and Samaritans and he crushed the prejudice against women with a simple request:  “Give me a drink.” 

This simple request began a dialogue with the woman and before long, Jesus was in an intimate conversation with a person whom, according to society, he should not even be talking to.  But Jesus was never concerned with what other people thought.  His only concern is for the good of a person in need.  His unconditional love is the wellspring of Living Water which He constantly offers to everyone and that certainly includes us.

The Samaritan woman who originally resisted Jesus was moved by this conversation.  As we heard in the Gospel, the dialog continued and she eventually came to believe that Jesus is the Messiah.  She was so excited that she left her water jar and ran into town to tell everyone about Jesus.  This Samaritan woman was actually one of the first evangelists, spreading the Good News about Jesus.

Years ago, at a Confirmation Mass, Bishop Barnes said that his primary job as Bishop is to tell the world about Jesus.  He went on to say:  “That’s your job too.  That’s every Catholic’s job, to tell the world about Jesus.” 

My friends, last week we were urged by God our Father to listen to the words and teaching of Jesus.  We have heard the Good News and we too are called to share His Good News with our brothers and sisters by what we say and by what we do.

Also, just as the Samaritan woman had this life-changing conversation with Jesus, we also are invited to have a conversation with Christ Jesus.  Lent is the perfect time to dialog with Jesus.  A perfect time to ask Him for guidance and to thank Him for His unconditional love which comes from His well-spring of Living Water.