Aren't the readings this week about the journey of faith? The Israelites in the desert, with some stubbornness, come to trust in the God who really is with them and saves them. Saint Paul speaks of the power of faith to bring believers to the grace of hope and salvation.

How many of the people in your community remember their baptism? Other than those who entered the church as adults, probably very few have any real memory of the day the waters of baptism were poured on them. Everyone will, however, have awareness of times they thirsted spiritually.

AN INTERESTING CONTRAST presents itself in our two big Bible stories this week. On the one hand we’ve got the grumbling nation behind Moses: reasonably thirsty, yet decidedly unpleasant about it.

Jesus must have been very thirsty; he had been traveling and it was the heat of the day. His encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well, though, hinges on a much deeper yearning: her recognition of the difference between ordinary water and the Living Water Christ offers.

A young manager signed on to run a fundraiser at his parish. He asked for 10 volunteers to help pull all the plans together. Then he set them to work during the day; at night after his regular job, he'd stop by the parish to see how things were going.

A while back, a young deacon came to our parish to help out on weekends. He loved coffee, the stronger the better. And if he wasn't drinking coffee, he had a large bottle of diet cola in his hands. So I was surprised on the night before Ash Wednesday when he announced he had decided to give up caffeine for Lent. 

In today's gospel we see, in one finely crafted scene, the progress from sinfulness to a living faith. In her encounter with Jesus, the woman at the well moves through these steps. Those who actively pursue spiritual growth will recognize these passages, because we are bound to go through them time and time again on our way to deeper unity with God.

In our journey through Lent we seek the living water and true food Jesus offers us to do the will of God.

Jesus came to a town of Samaria . . . . Jacob's well was there. After his meeting with his brother Esau, Jacob set up an altar to "El, the God of Israel" at the site of the well, and Mt. Gerizim in Samaria came to be a place of prayer.

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.  --Mark Twain (1835-1910)