An Encounter

Listening to the Spirit

Ever-living God,
we humbly pray that You give us the opportunity
to encounter each other through dialogue,
to reach mutual respect
and reciprocal acceptance of each other,
and to break down the walls of division
that stand at the center of most understanding and conflicts.

Listening to the Word

John 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” —For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.— Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.

“I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You people worship what you do no understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him. When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.

Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

Reflection

Yesterday I went to the post office. On the right sight, there was a big room for Post Office boxes. I could see the numbers in every box. However, the room was dirty and looked abandoned. Twenty years ago, the room was very important because of people communicated through letters. But now, people communicated through the internet: Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, etc. The room is less important now. And in fact, the Internet has turned our lives upside down. The Internet changed the world.

An encounter with Jesus can change our life.

Our Gospel today is about a Samaritan Woman who met Jesus at Jacob’s well. The encounter with Jesus is so powerful and meaningful for her. She found not just “water” but “the living water”. She found the Messiah, Jesus. After this meaningful encounter with Jesus, then she encounters others. She became a missionary: “Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified (39).”

To encounter Jesus always changes life. Peter, John, Matthew, Zacchaeus, Paul, Ignatius, Francis Xavier has personal experience with Jesus. St. Francis Xavier came to India, Malaysia, Japan, even Indonesia because of his faith, because of his “encounter with Jesus.” St. Guido Maria Conforti has a personal encounter with Jesus who was crucified. “The love of Christ impels us” is the motto for his Missionary congregation.

Pope Francis also invite us to have the culture of “encounter’’ (Morning meditation in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Tuesday, September 13, 2016)

This year, in the Philippines, we called it “The year of Interreligious Dialogue”. With this theme, We are invited to meet people of diverse religions, spiritual expressions, and Indigenous traditions.