Last summer when Fr. Divia was with us from India, he told me that one of the major fears, at least in his part of India, was that they were literally running out of water. The government was looking into buying water from neighboring countries, but there was little to be had.

And when the priest from Africa came for the annual mission appeal, he too spoke about the scarcity of water in some of his parishes and that people would have to walk miles and miles every day to procure enough to survive. He asked for your financial support to dig a well in one of his towns. And you were extremely generous because we all know what it’s like to be thirsty.

In today’s first reading the Israelite people are also thirsty on their journey through the desert. God instructs Moses to strike the rock with his staff and as he does, abundant water flows out to quench their thirst

In the time of Jesus , water was also a precious commodity living in the desert climate that they did. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is thirsty and sits at a famous well, Jacob’s Well, and asks the woman for a drink of water. As Jesus so often does, he moves from his physical need for a drink to the woman’s spiritual thirst for God. The encounter is so powerful that it not only changes her life but also many of those who lived in that town.

Water and thirst are central themes to the Lenten Season. During these weeks we empty our holy water fonts symbolically heightening our need for the living water of salvation. As we observe Lent we become aware of that thirst we have for God. We know that all life cannot survive without water; and our spiritual lives become parched and withered with the life giving waters of salvation.

On Holy Saturday night we will bless the new Easter Water and throughout the Easter season, as you know, we are sprinkled to remind us that it was through water ….the waters of Baptism …that we entered into the gift of salvation.

May we always savor the precious gift that water is to us, pray for those who go thirsty each day, and long for the waters that will quench our spiritual thirst eternally.