Given at Our Lady of Providence, Winooski, Vermont. Readings for Today. Listen to our other homilies.
Thirsty for Water
Richard Rohr made the claim that worship was easy. He made the claim we were never told to worship. Richard Rohr must not have read today’s reading of the Samaritan Woman at the well. Because it would show him he is wrong on both counts. “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 desires our worship and we are made thirsty to worship him.
Just like the Samaritan woman in today’s gospel, we are thirsty for living water too. She has searched in many places for meaning, and it is not until she encounters Jesus that she is able to find it. And what is the final discussion about when she finds it? Worship.
But it is also the case that to worship God is not a cheap copout from doing the right thing. Quite the opposite. Worshiping in Spirit and in Truth means allowing Christ to so change our hearts that when we recognize him in the Eucharist, it becomes possible for us to recognize him more clearly in every other person as well. So if you are thirsty, remember that you will be filled when you worship Jesus at Mass, allow him to change your heart, and to recognize his presence in all you meet.