Daily Reflection, Jesus and
The Samaritan woman ( 1 ), ( 2 ), ( 3 ), Coffee with Sr.Vassa Larina, May the
27th, 2016
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Objet :
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Tr : Daily
Reflection
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De :
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Olivia Marcov (...@yahoo.fr)
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À :
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Date
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Vendredi 27 mai 2016 16h19
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olivia
Le Vendredi 27 mai 2016 10h07, Coffee
with Sister Vassa <coffeewithsistervassa@gmail.com> a écrit :
(Friday, May 27)
“So he came to a city of Samaria Samaria Samaria
Indeed, at first the Samaritan woman does not see “who it
is” that is speaking with her. She merely sees the externals and politics of
status. She sees not Christ, but “a Jew,” and herself, “a Samaritan” and “a
woman,” drawing an immediate, accepted line of demarcation between herself and
the Stranger. But our Lord crosses this line, speaking to her not as to “a
woman” or “a Samaritan,” or some other category, but as to a distinct person.
Differently from her, He recognizes “the gift of God” and exactly “who
it is” with whom He speaks, – a concrete human being – and He calls her to do
the same.
Today let me recognize His voice, however and whenever He
might strike up a conversation with me. Let me recognize “the gift of God”
in His messengers, be they women, men, Jews, Samarians, Greeks, Russians,
Americans, Georgians, Romanians, Serbs, or
others. And let me pray, as the Holy and Great Council nears, in a divided and
divisive world: O Lord, Founder and Spirit of our unity, may You speak and be
heard among us, regardless of our human lines of demarcation and politics of
status, that we may have living water. Glory be to You.
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Objet :
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Daily Reflection
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De :
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Coffee with Sister Vassa
(coffeewithsistervassa@gmail.com)
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À :
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...@yahoo.fr;
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Date :
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Samedi 28 mai 2016 10h58
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(Saturday,
May 28)
“Jesus
said to her (the Samaritan
woman), ‘Every one who drinks
of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall
give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir,
give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’ Jesus said
to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have
no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;
for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband;
this you said truly.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a
prophet…” (Jn 4: 13-19)
Our Lord is
drawing the woman out of herself, letting her tell Him things He already knows,
- first, about her “thirst“ for His kind of “water,“ and second, ...about that
other thing. It is that thing in her life, that repeating, troublesome pattern,
which needs to be said aloud and addressed, so that a real conversation with
Christ can begin. And so that she can receive “living water“ that will become
in her "a spring of water welling up to eternal life." She
can’t quite say it herself, so He helps her out, and says it for her, like an
experienced, skillful father-confessor: You have had five husbands... You’ve
been trying to quench that “thirst“ in the wrong place. After this, we see her
eyes and heart begin to open, and she starts asking Him the right questions.
Today let
me not fear a conversation like this one; a confession that liberates me from
“that thing“ in my life that may be blocking me from truly quenching my
“thirst.“ My Lord can and will give me more than I can give myself, or that any
human being can give me. He gives me water that becomes in me “a spring of
water welling up to eternal life.“ So let me open up to Him today. “Give
me this water,“ I say to Him this morning, “that I may not thirst,“
nor come to draw in the wrong places.
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Objet :
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Daily
Reflection
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De :
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Coffee
with Sr. Vassa (coffeewithsistervassa@gmail.com)
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À :
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...@yahoo.fr;
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Date :
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Dimanche
29 mai 2016 10h13
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(Sunday,
May 29)
“Many
Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He
told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked
him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed
because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of your
words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this
is indeed the Savior of the world.’” (Jn 4: 39-42)
Two
surprising moments here: First, “many” Samaritans believe because of the
testimony of a woman. And not just any woman, but one who had already had five
husbands and was now with a sixth guy, who wasn’t even her husband.
Nonetheless, she was evidently a figure of considerable authority, whose
testimony is trusted within her community. So our Lord knew what He was doing,
choosing her as His messenger. Second, Jesus chooses to stay with the heretical
Samaritans, with whom Jews were to have no contact at all, for two whole days.
Our Lord cuts through important, yet secondary, issues of tradition and
propriety, in order to bring His light to more people, that they might know “that
this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
How
different are His choices from ours today, in matters of evangelization and
church-building. On the eve of the Holy and Great Council, we stumble over
these very same, secondary issues. We hotly debate the “traditionality” of
women’s participation, the status of heretics and the use of the word “church,”
while allowing church-unity to fall by the wayside. We are willing to hinder
the unified voice of the Church, the unified testimony to Him, to be heard in
this world, as we quibble about our traditions. Today I pray that my Lord help
me cut through the secondary issues, and focus on the primary, as He did on
those two sunny days in Samaria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaeSm4G1xs&list=PLWWXm7dDLNTOMXMZ4JTq2JwTemIR5tG4p&index=7
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