We celebrated today, with our Catechumens, the first of the three Scrutinies. The three scrutinies are celebrated on the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent with those who are preparing to enter the Church at Easter. The three scrutinies are solemn rituals in which we pray to help to purify, enlighten and strengthen the catechumens as they prepare for the Easter Sacraments.
The word "scrutinize" means to examine in minute detail, and in the scrutinies, the Church prays that every-last minute detail of the lives of the Catechumens may be converted to Christ. The ritual book for the scrutitines says that their purpose is to "heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful in the hearts of the elect" and "to give them strength in Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life". And that’s something each of us need to seek, every day: to turn to the Lord to heal anything that is defective or sinful in our hearts.
Catechism says, “In order to reach perfection, the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christ’s gift, so that . . . doing the will of the Father in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor.” We are to utilize all of the strength at our disposal--the strength of our intellect and will, the gifts of the spirit—to root out sin so that we may live more fully for God.
We do this before Sacramental Confession of course. We thoroughly scrutinize our moral decisions since our last confession. But it’s a very good idea to get in the habit of doing this every day; before bed, make an examination of your day—your choices and decisions and conversations and interactions—scrutinize your day in the light of Christ. That daily scrutiny is a powerful spiritual help for growth in holiness.
“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” promises Jesus. We seek to purify ourselves of sin, so that we may see God in this life and in the next. Sin obscures spiritual vision—it clouds the intellect. We will hear more about the curing of spiritual blindness next week—in the gospel of the healing of the blind man at the pool of siloam. Yet, this Sunday’s Gospel also had to do with spiritual vision in a sense, as the Samaritan woman came to spiritually see Jesus for who he really is—the one who can quench our thirst for living waters.
This is really a powerful Gospel. There are a couple important details right at the beginning of the story: “Jesus came to a town of Samaria.” Jesus enters this place, where no pious Jew would go. . Samaria was filled with half-breeds—Jews who had intermarried with the Assyrians invaders of centuries past.
First, insight: Jesus doesn’t go around the unclean land or the unclean person. Jesus loves the unclean, the marginalized, the outsider. In the Second Reading, we are reminded by St. Paul that Jesus loves the sinner so much, he lays down his life for them.
Secondly: this woman, goes to the well, at the hottest part of the day, by herself. She is likely ostracized by her own people. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that she had five husbands and was living with a man to whom she was not married. She is surrounded with stigma, she’s living in sin. And it is precisely with her, that jesus converses and offers the gift of life-giving waters.
The Samaritan woman represents every one of us. She is wounded, complicated, burdened by her past, and yet still sought out by Christ. Jesus waits for her at the well. And Jesus waits for us too. He is not afraid of the mess of her life, and He is not afraid of the mess in ours. He sees everything. He sees every sin, every compromise, every disappointment, every attempt we have made to find fulfillment apart from God—and still He speaks to us. Still He desires to give us living water.
This too makes the Samaritan woman’s faith is so striking—“Sir, give me this water”. She doesn’t quite yet understand who Jesus is completely. She doesn’t have a master’s degree in theology. But she recognizes that Jesus can do for her what no one else can. Her life may not be completely in order—but she gets this right. Recognizing Jesus as Savior, was life changing.
And then the next striking thing about this story: this encounter was so meaningful that she immediately becomes a missionary. This woman who had been avoiding others now runs to them. Once she encounters Christ, she can no longer keep Him to herself.
Here is a sign of authentic conversion. A real encounter with Jesus never remains private. It bears fruit. It changes how we speak, how we act, how we love, how we see others. When we ourselves have been healed, we are moved by love to desire that healing for others.
We know the suffering that comes from living apart from God, and so we desire to help others know Him. We know the emptiness the world has to offer, and so we desire to help others experience the fullness that comes from Him.
We do not want the people around us to remain thirsty, burdened, wounded, confused, or far from God. We want them to know the One we have come to know. We want them to encounter the mercy that has begun to heal us. That is what we see in the Samaritan woman. Once she begins to recognize who Jesus is, she leaves behind her water jar and goes her family and fellow townsfolk. She becomes, almost immediately, a witness. She does not yet understand everything about Jesus. Her faith is still new, still developing. But even so, she has found something—or rather Someone—too important to keep to herself.
And that is often how conversion works. A person who has really encountered Christ may not yet be able to explain every doctrine or answer every theological question, but we know this: I was thirsty, and He met me. I was burdened, and He spoke to me. I was wandering, and He began to lead me. I was hurting, and he comforted me. That’s evangelization.
Evangelization is not only the task of apologists, theologians, clergy, and catechists. Certainly, we have an important role in the Church. But at its heart, Christian witness is simple. I was wounded and empty, and he healed me. It is one beggar showing another where to find bread; one thirsty soul showing another where to find water.
This Lent, the Lord invites us to scrutinize our lives—to lay them bare that we may drink every-more-deeply of the life-giving waters, then sends us out to make that invitation to others—for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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