Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary.

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
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 is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”

At that moment his disciples returned,
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?”
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said to the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment
and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”

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.”
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
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.” JN 4:5-42

According to the Scripture Scholar’s, John is writing about the second self-revelation of Christ. This time to a Samaritan woman. She is a half-Jew and Jesus would not be allowed to drink from any utensil she gave him because it would be unclean. Therefore, Jesus is revealing himself to half-Jews proving that His salvation is to come to all.

Bishop Barron in his meditation reflects on Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well as Jesus marrying his Bride, the Church. The Samaritan woman representing us as sinners who are trying to find happiness in wealth, honor, pleasure, and power (St. Thomas Aquinas). She has married 5 times representing 5 paths of misery, anxiety, worry, sin, false teachings, unfulfilling theology. Jesus offers us the water that fills us up to eternal life in the Church, his Bride.

Since we have been given a dispensation from Bishop Kemme today, I think it is a good idea to reflect on what you do to make up for Mass. There is no replacement to God giving himself to us, bringing us back to the foot of the Cross and the Last Supper, and giving us himself in the Eucharist to forgive our sins then sends us forth to do something with what we have received. The second way we receive Jesus is the Word. I think it is important today during Lent to think about how you view the Word. It is God’s breath. Do you run to it, thirsting for knowledge and understanding of who God is? This in turn will help us understand our own identity in God? This helps us bring Jesus to the center of our life, not just a part of our life.

I believe the first stage of repentance for me was making a decision to wake each morning and devote myself to the Scriptures, to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn. This required sacrifice of sleep or going to bed earlier, but it has been well worth it. Second, I had to learn to sit in silence and reflect on what Jesus was revealing to me with the circumstances of my life that day. This in turn moved Christ from a part of my life to the center of my life. This lead me to the 2nd stage of repentance for me. It is important to read the whole Gospel and reflect on it daily, not just every Sunday. It will not be easy and sometimes it will be boring. We fight through these things in our work and our life all of the time. Anything I have ever fought hard for had a great reward, the same for our spiritual life with a much greater reward.

The third stage of repentance came with fighting my sin because I had developed a personal relationship with Christ. I wanted to really fight my sin and try to quit. I knelt down on the kitchen floor in front of the Crucifix and just prayed. I had never really been taught how to pray. It didn’t matter. I just started talking to Jesus and telling Him I couldn’t do life on my own any more. I needed His grace, love, and mercy. I had learned through reflecting on the Scriptures that He is God and I am not. God’s love is the most powerful thing in the world, not me and my ego. I learned humility for the first time.

In this stage I experienced the meaning of humility, this helps us begin to fight Satan who hates humility. When we begin to play defense, wake early in the morning, pray, and recognize we have two things going against us each day. What two things must we fight? Our fallen human nature we have inherited from Adam and Eve and the temptations of Satan. God is found in communion, the Devil wants to separate. Remember this throughout your day and in your relationships. God and the Devil are at work in your mind. We have complete freedom to choose one over the other, a free will. Jesus is continually trying to encounter us throughout our day.

The fourth stage of repentance in my life when I failed to conquer sin completely was a desire for holiness. In recognizing what I was fighting, I began to distrust myself and rely fully on God. I realized I must give my every thought, word, deed, prayer, sacrifice, sin, suffering, life, and possession to God. I learned through reading many spiritual books on my journey to understanding who God is that I needed to consecrate myself to Jesus through Mary. This has been revolutionary. I stopped depending on myself and gave everything to God and trust in Him.

The fifth stage of repentance for me in seeking holiness was bringing myself to the holiest things God has given us. The Eucharist, consistent confession, daily prayer, devotion to the rosary and the Blessed Virgin Mary, spiritual books, recognizing God in me and everywhere around me in every person I come in contact with or just turning to prayer any time throughout the day. This lead me to unpack the idea that God is in us ready to guide us any time we say, “Come, Holy Spirit”! We are empowered(given strength and confidence) by God in the Holy Spirit. We recognize and understand Truth. At our Confirmation, Jesus breathed the same Holy Spirit on us as he did the Apostles 2,000 years ago. Once we reflect on the power we have within us, lose our ego, give everything to God and in return begin to give ourselves away to others, we begin to live an overwhelming joy and happiness that are unexplainable.

Does it really matter to you that you missed Mass today or were you excited you didn’t have to go to Mass and check something else off the to do list? Is Jesus a figment of your imagination or the living God you desire to imitate and have a personal relationship with? Does Jesus get in the way of your sports, Netflix, work, material goods, your ego, your money, pleasure, your awards or is He the center of your life?

Today’s challenge: Reflect on whether missing Mass was a good thing or bad thing for you. What are you really going to do to make it up? Most importantly, today is a good day to reflect on where you are at with Jesus in your life. Spend time with your family as we are being contained due to Coronavirus.

Be a servant, become a saint! #Christian YOLO