×

HOW TO DONATE

1 Click on DONATE button.
2 Choose your PROGRAM
3 Choose your amount.

If you still have problems, please let us know, by sending an email to support@sjbny.org . Thank you!

CHURCH HOURS

Mon-Fri 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Sat - 9:00AM-5:00PM
CALL US: (212) 288-5082
  • SUPPORT

Eglise St. Jean Baptiste

Eglise St. Jean Baptiste

The Church is the People of God sharing in Jesus’ ministry of preaching, teaching and healing.

T (212) 288-5082
Email: info@sjbny.org

Eglise St. Jean Baptist
Rectory Address: 184 E 76th St, New York, NY 10021

Open in Google Maps
  • ABOUT
    • Our History
    • Congregation of The Blessed Sacrament Fathers
    • Sisters of Congregation of Notre Dame
    • National Shrine of St. Anne
    • St Jean Baptiste High School
    • Parish Staff
    • Photo Gallery
    • Volunteering
    • Contact US
  • LITURGY
    • Baptism
    • First Communion
    • Confirmation
    • Marriage
    • Anointing
    • Funerals
    • Mass intentions
    • Prayer Group
  • EDUCATION
    • Info & Registration
    • Preparation for Sacraments
    • Adults Education
    • Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults
    • Calendar
  • MUSIC
    • The organ
  • COMMUNITY
    • Community Center
    • The Theatre at St. Jeans
    • What’s next at the Theatre?
    • Community Theatre Group
    • Applause
  • TODDLER PROGRAM
  • WATCH MASS
DONATE
  • Home
  • BLOG & STORIES
  • Church Reflections
  • THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, March 12, 2023
March 26, 2023

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, March 12, 2023

Eglise Saint Jean Baptiste
Sunday, 12 March 2023 / Published in Church Reflections

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, March 12, 2023

EXODUS 17:3-7 | ROMANS 5:1-2,5-8 | JOHN 4:5-42

It started with a drink of water. It was the hottest time of the day. The area around the well was abandoned except for Jesus who was sitting near the well, and a Samaritan woman who had just arrived to fill her water jugs. She was the town pariah. She suffered under a strict patriarchal system. She was married five times and was presently living with a man. She never came to the well in the cool hours of the morning when the other women, chatting and sharing bits of gossip, gathered to get their supply of water for the day because she would be shunned and become part of the gossip. When she saw a Jewish man sitting at the well she expected trouble.

Samaritans and Jews were historical enemies the most hostile kind because they were related. They were both Israelites. They split in the 8 th century B.C. because of political and religious disagreements surrounding the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple. The people of Judah rejected the assistance of the Samaritans, so they built their own temple which was absolute heresy in the eyes of the Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon.

Jesus asked her for a drink of water because he didn’t have a bucket to draw water from the deep well. It was spontaneous; her answer reeked with anger. “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” The dialogue that followed may seem strange to us, but a tremendous healing was in process.

He asked her for water and then offered her living water, “water that becomes a spring that wells up to eternal life.” She said, “You people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” He then addressed her as “woman,” a revered title that Jesus used to address his own mother, and told her that the day was coming, and was indeed very near, when people would not need a place to worship because they would “worship the Father in Spirit and truth.” He

then told her “everything she ever did.” The dialogue ended with Jesus revealing himself as the Christ the Messiah she, the Samaritans, and the Jewish people, had been longing for.

One sentence at a time Jesus knocked down the walls of hurt and prejudice that held this woman prisoner. His kindness healed the wounds of her personal past. He put God into a new perspective for her. Her heart and mind soared to the Father in Spirit and truth. He gave her living water. It became a life-giving spring within her.

Her story has the most wonderful ending. “Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me everything I have done.’ 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.’” This tarnished, suffering woman became the first apostle to the Gentiles. Her testimony converted the hostile, Samaritan town of Sychar. The people, in turn, gave witness to Jesus and brought hope and change to many lives.

The Samaritan woman’s story gives testimony to us, too. God knows everything each of us has ever done. That doesn’t stop God from loving us. If anything, it draws God closer. If we just believe that God sees everything and loves us even more for it the freer we can be to “worship in Spirit and truth”, to acknowledge God’s Spirit in us, to see beyond the deception of the world. The world is longing for God’s peace. If we can witness to God’s love in our own lives, the greater will our power be to open the world to the Kingdom of God.

So today, the gospel asks us to say yes to the Spirit. Say yes to the healing and transforming love of God.

  • Tweet
Tagged under: ordinary time, pastor, reflection, sunday

What you can read next

TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2019
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST JUNE 22-23, 2019
THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME NOVEMBER 9-10, 2019

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT, March 19, 2023

    1SAMUEL 16:1B, 6-7, 10-13A | EPHESIANS 5:8-14 |...
  • SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT, March 5, 2023

    GENESIS 12:1-4A | 2 TIMOTHY 1:8B-10 | MATTHEW 1...
  • FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, February 26, 2023

    GENESIS 12:1-4A | 2 TIMOTHY 1:8B-10 | MATTHEW 1...
  • SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, February 19, 2023

    LEVITICUS 19:1-2, 17-18 | 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16-23...
  • SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, February 12, 2023

    SIRACH 15:15-20 | 1 CORINTHIANS 2:6-10 | MATTHE...

Recent Comments

  • Eglise Saint Jean Baptiste on HOLY FAMILY SUNDAY, January 3, 2021
  • Joanne Spuches on HOLY FAMILY SUNDAY, January 3, 2021
  • Donna Szabo on SECOND EASTER SUNDAY APRIL 19, 2020

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019

Categories

  • Church Reflections
  • Memorials

Featured Posts

  • FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT, March 19, 2023

    0 comments
  • SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT, March 5, 2023

    0 comments
  • FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, February 26, 2023

    0 comments

FOOTER MENU

  • DONATE
  • Our History

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

By subscribing to our mailing list you will always be updated with the latest news from us.

We never spam!

GET IN TOUCH

T (212) 288-5082
Email: info@sjbny.org

St Jean Baptiste Church
184 E 76th St, New York, NY 10021

Open in Google Maps

  • GET SOCIAL

Eglise St. Jean Baptiste © 2019 All rights reserved. Credits Gianluca Boccia.

TOP
CHURCH SCHEDULE OF MASSES

REVISED CHURCH SCHEDULE

WEEKDAY 
Church opens at 7:00 AM
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 8:00 AM until 11:30 AM
Confessions from 11:30 AM until 11:50 AM
MASS at 12:00 PM

SATURDAY 
Church Opens at 11:00 AM
Confessions from 11:30 AM until 11:50 AM
MASS at 12:00 PM
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament until 4:45 PM
Confessions from 4:30 PM until 4:50 PM
Anticipated Sunday MASS at 5:00 PM
Church closes at 6:30 PM

SUNDAY SCHEDULE
Church Opens at 8:30 AM
MASS at 9:00 AM
HIGH MASS at 11:00 AM
EVENING PRAYER at 3:15 PM
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament From Noon until 3:45 PM
MASS at 4:00 PM