This Sunday, the third in Lent, we hear the story of the Samaritan women at the well, where Jesus asks her for a drink of water. In and of itself, this act of a Jewish man asking a Samaritan woman for a drink of water is beyond all the cultural norms of the day. In fact, it is beyond what was normal in Greco-Roman times. It was after all, Plato whose philosophy said that women were inferior to men in all aspects—physically, intellectually, spiritually, and morally—they had no autonomy. So except for the extremely wealthy, urban women nearly all other women were under the authority of their fathers or husbands. A lady would not have spoken to a man she did not know…and definitely not a Samaritan women to a Jewish man, as it was against the law.

So Jesus was quite counter-cultural for His day. Jesus consider women His friends, He travelled with them and taught that women should be respected and given trust, dignity and equality. Jesus was turning the then-world upside down.

There is a lot going on in this story. Jesus is tired, hot from His journey and sits down near a well— Jacob’s well. As it was noon, the hottest part of the day, the water from the well was important. It meant everything in life. And while you might think it would be busy at the well at noon on a hot day, it wasn’t. In fact, scripture scholars tell us that because it was not busy the Samaritan women came at that time to be out of sight from others, for she is ashamed of her life—a life that many in her community were well aware of. But Jesus knew of her secret (she had five previous husbands) and He engages her anyway—because He wants to offer her a relationship that will heal her. And this story has a lesson for us today.

Lent is a season to be open to and to receive from God His greatest gifts: Faith, Hope and Love (charity). He, the Lord of all, is waiting to offer each of us a great gift this Lent: the gift of a healing relationship, a relation ship that leads us to Light, and will provide for unending, eternal Joy that comes with the Wisdom, Power and Love that is God Himself. But sometimes our past, our shame and our inability to forgive ourselves makes us hide from God—we don’t go to Mass, we think we are unworthy; we don’t know if we can talk to the priest, what will everyone say about me…and so we hide form the Church and we only go to the “well” when the place is empty, nobody is around. We hide from God’s Love.

This Lent, let us take a closer look at our lives—past, present and what we hope for in the future—and consider what we might do to change the way of life we do not like? How can we be a better person? What might change if we go to Mass and receive the Lord? Should we try confession anew? It is by focusing solely on sin—our sin—that Lent becomes all about “me”. But if we focus on Him—God’s Love—then we come to the understanding that because it is all about Him, then we can understand that we are sinners who are loved by God.

Then we can be drawn into that healing relationship that He wishes to have with us. That makes Lent something new—now and forever