Issue 38 March 2026

Lent

The Lent challenge

This week's Lent challenge hears from one of our families, four children, about how they prepare themselves and their family for the Liturgy and get the most out of it.

• They get their clothes ready the night before, to make sure they are dressed in time for church the next morning.
• Dressing appropriately is important to their family too: they make sure to cover their shoulders and wear respectful clothing to church.
• They arrive early to make sure they are in time for the readings at the Kids Liturgy.
• And one of them makes sure to go to the toilet before the Liturgy, to avoid distractions!

May we all continue to grow as a family.

From the pulpit

Love at the well

Fr Mark · The Samaritan woman, John 4

Today's Gospel introduces us to a woman. This woman has no name. She's just referred to as a woman of Samaria. It's strange not to give her a name, as she has a significant encounter with Jesus. St John doesn't tell us her name, though. Usually, when one of the Gospel writers leaves out a person's name (because usually they do include names) it's because there is a deep conviction that this person represents all of us. It acts as an invitation for us to place ourselves in their position. Gospel writers leave out names so the audience can place themselves in that story. It is especially important that we see ourselves in this Gospel.

A broken woman

This woman was a very broken woman. She had been divorced. We all know someone who has been through the break-up of a marriage. We all know how painful that is. Imagine how much worse that would be for someone who had two broken marriages. This woman had five. Five men married her and left her. Then she found a sixth man, and he decided to use her but not marry her. You can appreciate the level of brokenness. What is the one thing this woman wants out of all of these relationships? She is just yearning for love. Every time she comes close to it, it vanishes. In this brokenness, it is easy to deduce that she is depressed, so when she goes to get water from the well, she chooses an ungodly hour. She chose the sixth hour. It is a time when it is uncomfortable and hot. Traditionally, people would go in groups early in the morning, before the burning heat.

In the Old Testament, whenever a well is mentioned, often love is found. Isaac found his wife Rebekah at the well. Jacob found Rachel at the well. Moses found Zipporah at the well. If you were a bachelor, the well was the place to be to find a spouse. The well was somewhere where love abounded.

It's remarkable that we have this situation where this broken woman goes to the well, and her deepest pain was that she could not find love. She sat at the well, all alone, when nobody was there, and a man approached. You can imagine the despondence this woman was feeling, and love arrived.

He was searching for her

She was searching for love, but she didn't realise that Jesus was also searching for her. He was in Galilee but rerouted and decided that He must go through Samaria. As a Jew, this wasn't a common choice, as Samaria was dangerous territory. At great personal cost, He arrived at the well. The Gospel tells us He grew weary and rested at the well. He arrived tired from the journey. We know He was thirsty because He said to the lady, "Give Me a drink." We know He was hungry because the disciples ran off to find food. We know He was hot because it was the sixth hour. He left thousands to find this one woman, and He weathered discomfort to find her in her brokenness at the well and to offer His love. Her life changed forever after it.

She left her water pot

She met the One who loves her. She met her groom. In the Gospel, St John says she left her water pot. Gospel "real estate" is very expensive. If you're going to put information in the Gospel, it needs to be essential. If it's not extremely necessary, it doesn't make it in. When he says she left her water pot, this is not an accident. This is the pot she used every day to replenish water and to quench her thirst. She used this water pot every day, but after meeting Christ, after feeling His love, after having her thirst quenched, she no longer needed her water pot.

As I said earlier, this Gospel is an invitation to see ourselves in this story: to realise that there is a water pot in our hands, and it's something we always use to try to fill our hunger and thirst. But day after day, it doesn't work. We still thirst. We still hunger. Think of the greatest pleasures in our lives: how long do they last? Think of the nicest meal, the best tomahawk steak you can think of, perfectly seasoned. The next day, you're hungry again. How long does that satiety last? Twenty seconds? Nothing lasts.

Think of anything you have worked hard for. Think of a huge financial breakthrough you have dreamed of. How long does that joy last? Think of that designer bag you've coveted. The next morning, that joy dissipates. Every pleasure, every desire on this earth doesn't last, in my opinion, for more than 24 hours.

We seek water pots of joy and fulfilment in different aspects of our lives, but the only thing that fills us and quenches our thirst and hunger is the love of Jesus Christ.

I remember a youth who came to confession at my office one week. He sat down and threw his iPad on my desk. He said to me, "This iPad is the source of my sin. I don't want it anymore." I prayed the absolution prayer for him, and he left. I looked at the iPad, and I saw the image of this water pot: the thing we use to gain something that doesn't truly quench or satisfy. We need something much greater: the love of Jesus.

This broken woman of Samaria could not find love in this world, but she found the greatest love at the well. We are all invited to do the same: to leave behind our water pots and to be filled by something much greater.

Notices

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