When God asks for Water

Reflection for March 8, 2026 – Third Sunday of Lent

In today’s Gospel reading, we hear the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, where he asks her for a drink of water. Find today’s reading here.  

One of my earliest memories is of my mother weeping.

The last few months of her pregnancy with my little brother were tremendously painful for her, and more than once the pain brought her to tears. I have a hazy image of her in my mind, belly swollen with a 12-pound baby lying transverse in the womb, sitting on the edge of her bed, dabbing at her face with toilet paper.

I had brought her the toilet paper. I would do that when I saw her crying, to wipe away her tears. I have a hazy memory of that, too — of the way my heart was wrenched by the sight of her suffering, of my desperation to do something to help, and of my immense satisfaction when she would take the toilet paper, smile and say, “Oh, thank you, sweetheart!” as if I had just airlifted her out of a war zone.

What a powerful gift to give to a child still learning the meaning of compassion and selflessness — the gift of being able to feel that she has, even in some small way, “rescued” a person she worships. Her smile of gratitude lives, immortal, in my mind, along with the swell of satisfaction it produced in the deepest corner of my heart. This was when I learned that it feels good to help people, and this memory is a perpetually replenished well of living water for me. I draw from it daily, three decades later.

This is a gift that Christ gives, over and over again, in the Gospels. He allows us to encounter him tired, afraid, sad and hungry. Omnipotent power subjected to the utter vulnerability of human form.

Before the Incarnation, God looked down from Heaven and said, “You are thirsty. Here is something to drink.”

After the Incarnation, God sits down beside us and says, “I’m thirsty. Give me something to drink.”

©LPi