Homily

The house I grew up in back in Ohio was rather small. There were seven of us and there were four very small bedrooms, 3 of them holding 2 people at any given time. My sister was the princess. She had her own room. The rest of us had cell mates. The kitchen was small; too small for 7 chairs at the table, so there was a bench. The Master Bathroom contained the one bathtub that we all shared. That bathroom was so small that if you sat on the toilet and leaned a little bit, you could run the water in the sink in front of you. But it didn’t seem small to us. It was just home. When my mother died, the house looked almost exactly the way it had for my whole life. Probably many of you, especially the older parishioners, had a similar experience growing up. A few of you have that experience even now.

Sometimes I used to watch a show on HGTV. It was about young couples trying to buy their first house and giving real estate agents an idea of the type of house they would like to buy. The agent would then show them 3 houses, and at the end of the program they were to choose which house they liked best. (Obviously there was some kind of bonus given for them being on the show.) In each episode the real estate agent would show the young couple around each of the three houses. I found it fascinating. They all wanted the same things, like lots and lots of open space, every appliance to be stainless steel, every floor had to be hardwood, and it was unthinkable that they would share a bathroom with their children. Several couples explicitly mentioned that. I can’t tell you how many times I heard a wife, or even husband, saying, “These cabinets are dated. They’ll have to be redone.” My mother would laugh. I did too.

I am not saying there is something wrong with wanting these things in a house. Most people today want homes like this. But what I wish to point out is the different perspective, the different attitudes towards house-living between many people today and people 60 years ago. It’s a different set of values and desires. Different perspectives.

I also remember reading an article about a well in Africa that Catholic Relief Services had just dug for a small village. No more travelling a half mile to the river to get water in buckets. One woman quoted was so happy that there was a water tap, not in her house, just in her village. She was so happy she could hardly talk. "And, oh, I can't believe how good this water tastes," she said. She didn’t even have a bathroom in her house. Now that's a different perspective from my parents' generation, where safe, running water was absolutely taken for granted if you lived in the city. Different perspective.

The well in Africa made me think of the Samaritan woman, who also had to come to a well to get water. We don't know anything about her house except that she kept stocking it with different men, most likely because she thought they would fill the holes in her life, smooth over the rough spots of her dissatisfaction, provide a support for her life and maybe even be a source of loving care.

I think Jesus had a great compassion for her, sensing her great need as she came to the well. She wasn't thirsting after updated kitchen cabinets, and, although she is intrigued by the idea of never having to carry water again in buckets from a well, that is not her real problem.

In his conversation, Jesus pulls her out of her regular, everyday perspective, away from her relationships, away from the guy back home, away from the everyday work of hauling water, away even from her own identity as a Samaritan and even as a woman. He is able to get her to put all that aside for this moment, so that she can truly and really see Him for Who He is. And when He tells here that He is the messiah, she believes. She now has a whole new perspective on her life. She's found living water! She's so excited about her new understanding, her new perspective on life that she wants to share it with everybody and tells all the people in town to come and see Jesus for themselves. She's converted, she has changed. She has, in a true sense, come back to life!

At the present time our lives have been disrupted. Some of our regular routines have be radically changed. Our society has “gone viral” but that phrase no longer means popular and loved by many people. Our perspective has been changed one way or another. And what do we see? What do we want now? How shall we live today?

Are we addicted to bad news? Do we want to hoard food and material goods? Are we hoping to update our kitchen cabinets? Are we grateful for the water that comes from our taps? Are we more eager to hear the words of politicians and scientific experts than we are to hear the Word of God? Are we simply hoping this will all just go away and things will return to normal? What is our perspective now? How do we see our lives now?

My friends, as always, this is the time to sit down with Jesus at the well and really listen to what He has to say. Now is the time to ask Him for living water. This is the day to believe that He is truly the Messiah, Who came to save the world, Who came to save me. As we sang earlier, today is the day to quench our thirsty souls with the waters of devotion. Let’s sit down with Jesus at the well and ask Him for our needs, and listen to what He tells us. Let us have a heart to heart with Jesus. Let us live in Him, so that we may truly live, not just because we are breathing, but because we need not thirst again.