<\/div>\n
Today\u2019s Gospel passage, along with the passages we will hear for the next two Sundays, are some of the most beautiful passages of the Gospels.<\/p>\n
All three tell a similar story: the unraveling of faith in a human soul. \u00a0All three narrate the story of a person who when encountering Christ, comes to believe in Him. \u00a0Today we have the Samaritan woman, next week the man born blind and the following week Martha, the sister of Lazarus.<\/p>\n
The Samaritan woman is annoyed with Jesus\u2019 presence. \u00a0He asks for a drink. \u00a0Her response is dismissive: \u201cHow can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?\u201d \u00a0We can almost add to her words to Jesus: Get lost. \u00a0Then she points out to him, perhaps a bit sarcastically: \u201cSir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?\u201d \u00a0Once again, we could add to her words: Leave me alone.<\/p>\n
The woman didn\u2019t want to be bothered. \u00a0Why?<\/p>\n
In Jesus\u2019 time (as many women still do today), women went to draw water early in the morning before the sun came out, while it was still cool. \u00a0Drawing water and carrying it back home was a burdensome and sweaty task. \u00a0This woman came to the well at noon, more than likely to avoid the other women. \u00a0She did this perhaps because she was a known sinner, having had five husbands? \u00a0Others probably shunned her and ignored her. \u00a0Yet Jesus comes right up to her and asks for water, to the woman who wants to be left alone. \u00a0He goes to the sinner whose heart had been hardened. \u00a0No wonder the apostles and other onlookers were scandalized: Jesus provided plenty of material to gossip about.<\/p>\n
The woman is thirsty for the living waters Jesus offers. \u00a0She is incredibly thirsty because her sins have parched her soul. \u00a0She keeps drawing water from the wells of sin which always leave her thirsty. <\/p>\n
The woman begins to pay attention when Jesus calls her out on a half-truth by saying: \u201cyou have had five husbands.\u201d \u00a0Once the truth is revealed, perhaps a truth she was greatly ashamed of, that she\u2019d had five husbands, she is able to recognize Jesus as a \u201cprophet.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the conversation continues, Jesus reveals himself to her as the Messiah and the woman becomes an evangelizer by bringing others to Christ by sharing her experience. \u00a0Her experience with Christ moved the woman from darkness into light, from living in a lie to living in the truth, from drinking water from a well that leaves her always thirsty and wanting to drinking from the well of living waters.<\/p>\n
The passage makes two questions arise in my mind, I will focus more on the second:<\/p>\n
1. <\/span>In what ways am I like the Samaritan woman? \u00a0What well do I keep going to that leaves my soul parched rather than going to Christ who will quench my thirst? <\/p>\n2. <\/span>In what ways am I like the apostles and the other women of the village? \u00a0In what ways do I judge others, jump to conclusions without knowing the whole story, gossip and destroy the reputation of others? \u00a0How often do I make false judgments and act based upon them, doing violence to others by my words and actions? <\/p>\nI remember getting upset once in college when I got up from my pew at Mass to let an older lady sit down and a young guy rushed in and sat down. \u00a0I was furious! \u00a0A week later, I spotted the guy on campus, I noticed he had a limp. \u00a0As I walked past him, I overheard his conversation: he had a deformed foot and couldn\u2019t stand on it very long. \u00a0I overheard at just the right moment.<\/p>\n
Once a lady said to me, \u201cFather I never gossip because all I say is true.\u201d \u00a0Gossip is true most of the time, just because I know something doesn\u2019t mean I can share it with others. <\/p>\n
Gossip, rash judgement, half-truths and lies are always destructive. \u00a0They sow discord and undermine trust. \u00a0This happens between husband and wife, it happens in families, work places, parishes etc. \u00a0We must remain in the Truth, using our words only to express what is true and kind. <\/p>\n
My advice for when you hear something dubious or suspicious about another person is that you have two options. \u00a0First, keep living as if you never heard it because it\u2019s more than likely gossip, idle talk or a lie. \u00a0Second, go to the person and clear it with him or her. \u00a0If it is indeed a lie, then go to the person that told you that gossip and tell him or her to stop it. \u00a0It\u2019s the only way to put an end to it. \u00a0You have to pull the rug from underneath the lie.<\/p>\n
We must not drink from the well of gossip, rash judgement, half-truths and lies, its water leaves us still thirsty. \u00a0The living waters Christ offers will keep us in the Truth and will allow us to be lights in the darkness like the Samaritan woman.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today\u2019s Gospel passage, along with the passages we will hear for the next two Sundays, are some of the most beautiful passages of the Gospels. All three tell a similar story: the unraveling of faith in a human soul. \u00a0All three narrate the story of a person who when encountering Christ, comes to believe in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The well of gossip, judgements and lies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today\u2019s Gospel passage, along with the passages we will hear for the next two Sundays, are some of the most beautiful passages of the Gospels.All three\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2014\/03\/the-well-of-gossip-judgements-and-lies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The well of gossip, judgements and lies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s Gospel passage, along with the passages we will hear for the next two Sundays, are some of the most beautiful passages of the Gospels.All three\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2014\/03\/the-well-of-gossip-judgements-and-lies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Labyrinthine Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-23T09:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2014\/03\/the-well-of-gossip-judgements-and-lies.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2014\/03\/the-well-of-gossip-judgements-and-lies.html\",\"name\":\"The well of gossip, judgements and lies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-23T09:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-23T09:59:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\"},\"description\":\"Today\u2019s Gospel passage, along with the passages we will hear for the next two Sundays, are some of the most beautiful passages of the Gospels.All three\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2014\/03\/the-well-of-gossip-judgements-and-lies.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2014\/03\/the-well-of-gossip-judgements-and-lies.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2014\/03\/the-well-of-gossip-judgements-and-lies.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The well of gossip, judgements and lies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/\",\"name\":\"Labyrinthine Mind\",\"description\":\"Seeking God in the labyrinth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\",\"name\":\"Father Pablo Migone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Father Pablo Migone\"},\"description\":\"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. 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