Daily Meditation - Sunday 24th. February 2008 -

[BarbaraTherese]

DAILY MASS READINGS
usccb.org/nab/022408.shtml

Meditation
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=02&day=24&year=2008&x=12&y=7

“Whoever drinks the water I shall give
will never thirst.” (John 4:14)

Fetching water was a wearying chore for this Samaritan woman. Every day, she had to haul many gallons up from the well and lug them to her house. So when she met Jesus, it’s no wonder she begged him for his special water! (John 4:14-15). She didn’t quite know what he was talking about, but she knew she was always tired and thirsty—and somehow, she knew he was telling the truth.

Jesus wasn’t talking about physical water, of course, but about the Holy Spirit, and the*** life, joy, and power***

that he gives to everyone who welcomes him in their hearts. He brings life to satisfy our emptiness; joy to wash away our sorrows and disappointments; and power to give us the energy, wisdom, and desire to do what God asks. This is the “water welling up to eternal life” that Jesus promises to all of us (John 4:14).

O Jesus, sometimes we are so thirsty! We thirst for your love, but seek to quench that thirst through human relationships that never completely satisfy us

. We thirst for good things, so we buy and acquire, but they all perish. We thirst for excitement, so we go to the movies, or travel, or seek whatever thrills our culture and finances allow—only to thirst for more and more. Jesus, we’re tired, too. All this seeking to fulfill ourselves takes time and energy. It parches our spirits and wearies our bodies. But you have promised to give us rest. You have said that if we ask, we will receive. So we’re asking. Lord, quench our thirst. Give us rest. Fill our emptiness with the grace of your presence and power.

“Pour out your Holy Spirit on us today,

Lord! We want to receive him and be filled with new life.

Please give us more of your love to satisfy our hungry hearts, and more of your strength so that we can serve you wholeheartedly.
We give you praise and glory in all that we do!”

 

[BarbaraTherese]

“Pour out your Holy Spirit on us today,
Lord! We want to receive him and be filled with new life.

Please give us more of your love to satisfy our hungry hearts, and more of your strength so that we can serve you wholeheartedly.
We give you praise and glory in all that we do!”

The prayer at the end of these daily meditations can be taken to heart and repeated during the day, perhaps not verbatum but the spirit of the prayer which recalls to mind The Gospel of the day, which could be said to be our “brief/to do” for the day from which we can draw some daily resolution too. Perhaps today to resolve to try to pray for even a moment before we undertake some new duty or task of today.
None of this should be a scrupulous observance, rather to trust The Holy Spirit to bring to mind what needs to come to mind during the day and to rest confidently in that trust. The more we actively trust The Lord, the more the gentle inspiration of the Holy Spirit will motivate…not overnight probably, but with perseverance - trustful perseverance.
“Journey” is a very important word in our spiritual vocabulary I am convinced…and many journeys within the overall journey of life.

Blessings - Barb

 

[BarbaraTherese]

There is an absolute treasure of background information on today’s Gospel in the Lectio for today. You will need to scroll down to to the appropriate sections if you do not want to make the full Lectio…
ocarm.org/lectio/anno_a/qua03eng.htm

Interesting for me was that in this Gospel, the apostles cannot come down from the superficial level of everyday life…whereas Jesus is able to draw the Samarian woman onto this deeper level of understanding in everyday life. Grasping this deeper understanding, she goes off to her town and evangelizes proclaiming Jesus as messiah…Jesus spends two days in this Samarian town and many come to believe in Him as the messiah.
The Samarians were an absolutely despised people by the Jews who regarded them as heretics…probably how some view protestant faith professions . Yet it is not this that astounds the disciples, rather that they find Jesus talking to a female. It is very interesting just how central females are to the Gospel story as it unfolds and the announcing of the Kingdom of God in Jesus.
How females seem to quickly grasp deeper meanings and infact proclaim this to others - evangelizing. This is what I call a ‘backlflip’ on the creation story, where it is a woman who leads a man to sin. In the New Testament it is women most often who grasp real meanings and are messengers of this level of understanding of Good News, leading others to Christ. The Lectio does go into this.

But do have a read of the Lectio Divina (link above) for today, it has much, much food for thought…Blessings - Barb

PS I am certainly no feminist and reallyappreciate the male of the species and would be desperately lost without them - nor do I subscribe to a female priesthood which The Church has clearly spoken about firmly…but it is always given me a smile that it takes the most intelligent of angels to move Eve…whereas all it takes to move dear Adam is a mere female …perhaps reasoning if I can get her, then I got him too……apologies to all males…http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/18/18_12_9.gif…