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Lifelong Catechesis

Forming Catholic identity across generations
September 12, 2024
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Lent

Forty days before the Triduum, the Lenten season disposes Catechumens and the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery through prayer and penitential practices.

Sunday Readings and Backgrounds

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Third Sunday of Lent

Reading I : Exodus 17:3-7

Is the Lord in our midst or not?

  • In the Exodus reading, the Israelites grumble about their experience in the desert.
  • Their thirst represents Israel’s real question, “Why did God make us leave Egypt?”
  • Yahweh responds graciously to the needs of the people.

Reading II : Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

We are at peace with God through Christ.

  • The wonder of God’s free gift of salvation in Jesus is subject of the passage from Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
  • God responds to our need with compassion and mercy.
  • God’s love is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Gospel : John 4:5-42

Whoever drinks the water I give, will never thirst again.

  • In the story of the Samaritan woman, Jesus uses water as a symbol of God’s revelation and God’s Spirit.
  • The exchange between Jesus and the woman causes conversion to take place.
  • The woman identifies Jesus several times, each time with greater understanding. First, he was a Jewish man, then a prophet, and finally she makes a comment about the Messiah.