This is a translation of the Spanish homily that I preached on the
3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A: March 27, 2011
Exod 17:3-7; Ps 95; Rom 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-52
Because we are corporeal beings—because we are not just souls, but a combination of soul and body—we are characterized by thirst, and by hunger. Thirst for water; hunger for food. And also for other things: for we also need clothing and shelter; security; and things that are less tangible: hunger for meaning, and for accomplishment; thirst for love, and for yet more.
And when we go without any of these needs for a very long time, it can be said of us—as it was said of the People of Israel in the desert in our first reading—that we are dying of thirst. We need it, but we don’t have it: we are dying of thirst. And what are we going to do to satisfy that thirst? (more…)