Georgia Micoli reflects on Cycle A readings for the third Sunday of Lent for parishes with candidates and or catechumens preparing to celebrate the Easter Sacraments of Initiation. We will return to Cycle B readings next week)
Readings: Exodus 17: 3-7; Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8; John 4: 5-42
Click here to download a PDF of this homily.

In the Gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus addresses exclusion, centered around the issue of ethnicity, religion and gender. Marginalizing a person or group due to a difference in race, color, creed or gender is not an option to be a follower of Christ. Jesus invites everyone into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus and his disciples were traveling from Judea to Galilee, which required that they must travel through Samaria. The Jews considered the Samaritans ethnically impure after having intermarried with the Assyrians who invaded and colonized their country 700 years prior. While the Jews and the Samaritans were both Semitic people from the twelve tribes of Jacob, the Jews also believed that the Samaritans were religiously compromised since they worshipped differently and used a their own version of the Torah. Samaria was a region to pass through and not linger. The story starts with Jesus resting alone at Jacob’s well.......Read More Here