Pope Francis says "Today we can ask ourselves: am I thirsty for God, do I realize that I need his love like water to live?" FULL TEXT + Video
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POPE FRANCIS at the ANGELUS
in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, March 12, 2023
______________________________________
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning, happy Sunday!
This Sunday the Gospel presents us with one of Jesus' most beautiful and fascinating encounters, the one with the Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:5-42). Jesus and the disciples pause near a well in Samaria. A woman arrives and Jesus says to her: «Give me a drink» (v. 8). I would like to dwell precisely on this expression: Give me a drink.
The scene shows us thirsty and tired Jesus, who lets the Samaritan woman find him at the well in the hottest hour, at noon, and like a beggar asks for refreshment. It is an image of the abasement of God: God abases himself in Jesus Christ for redemption, he comes to us. In Jesus, God became one of us, he humbled himself; thirsty like us, he suffers from our own thirst. Contemplating this scene, each of us can say: the Lord, the Master «asks me for a drink. He is therefore thirsty like me. He has my thirst. You are really close to me, Lord! You are tied to my poverty – I can't believe it! – you took me from below, from the lowest of myself, where no one reaches me» (P. Mazzolari, La Samaritana, Bologna 2022, 55-56).
And you came down to me and took me from there, because you were, and are, thirsty for me. Jesus' thirst, in fact, is not only physical, it expresses the deepest thirst of our lives: it is above all a thirst for our love. He is more than a beggar, he is thirsty for our love. And it will emerge in the culminating moment of the passion, on the cross; there, before dying, Jesus will say: "I thirst" (Jn 19:28). That thirst for love that led him to descend, to humble himself, to be one of us.
But the Lord, who asks for a drink, is the one who gives the drink: meeting the Samaritan woman, he speaks to her of the living water of the Holy Spirit, and from the cross he pours out blood and water from her pierced side (cf. Jn 19:34). Jesus, thirsty for love, quenches our thirst with love. And he does with us as with the Samaritan woman: he comes to meet us in our daily life, he shares our thirst, he promises us the living water that causes eternal life to spring up in us (cf. Jn 4:14).
Give me a drink. There is a second aspect. These words are not only Jesu s' request to the Samaritan woman, but an appeal - sometimes silent - that rises up to us every day and asks us to take care of other people's thirst. Give me a drink tell us how many - in the family, at work, in the other places we frequent - are thirsty for closeness, attention, listening; those who thirst for the Word of God and need to find an oasis in the Church where to drink water tell us. Give me a drink is the appeal of our society, where haste, the rush to consume and above all indifference, this culture of indifference generate aridity and inner emptiness. And - let us not forget - give me a drink is the cry of so many brothers and sisters who lack water to live on, while we continue to pollute and disfigure our common home; and it too, exhausted and parched, "is thirsty".
Faced with these challenges, today's Gospel offers each of us the living water that can make us a source of refreshment for others. And then, like the Samaritan woman, who left her amphora at the well and went to call the people of the village (cf. v. 28), we too will no longer think only of quenching our thirst, our material, intellectual or cultural thirst, but with the joy of having encountered the Lord we will be able to quench our thirst: to give meaning to the life of others, not as masters, but as servants of this Word of God which has thirsted for us, which continually thirsts for us; we will be able to understand their thirst and share the love that He has given us. I feel like asking this question, to me and to you: are we capable of understanding the thirst of others? The thirst of the people, the thirst of many in my family, in my neighborhood? Today we can ask ourselves: am I thirsty for God, do I realize that I need his love like water to live? And then, I who am thirsty, am I concerned about the thirst of others, the spiritual thirst, the material thirst?
May Our Lady intercede for us and support us on the way.
_______________________
After the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters!
I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims from many countries, especially the faithful who have come from Madrid and Split.
I greet the parish groups of Padua, Caerano San Marco, Bagolino, Formia and Sant'Ireneo in Rome.
Next Friday 17 March and Saturday 18 the "24 hours for the Lord" initiative will be renewed throughout the Church: a time dedicated to prayer of adoration and the sacrament of Reconciliation. On Friday afternoon I will go to a Roman parish for the penitential celebration. A year ago, in this context, we performed the solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, invoking the gift of peace. Our entrustment does not fail, hope does not waver! The Lord always listens to the pleas that his people address to him through the intercession of the Virgin Mother. We remain united in faith and in solidarity with our brothers who are suffering because of the war; above all let us not forget the martyred Ukrainian people!
I wish everyone a good Sunday. Please don't forget to pray for me. Have a nice lunch and goodbye!
in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, March 12, 2023
______________________________________
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning, happy Sunday!
This Sunday the Gospel presents us with one of Jesus' most beautiful and fascinating encounters, the one with the Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:5-42). Jesus and the disciples pause near a well in Samaria. A woman arrives and Jesus says to her: «Give me a drink» (v. 8). I would like to dwell precisely on this expression: Give me a drink.
The scene shows us thirsty and tired Jesus, who lets the Samaritan woman find him at the well in the hottest hour, at noon, and like a beggar asks for refreshment. It is an image of the abasement of God: God abases himself in Jesus Christ for redemption, he comes to us. In Jesus, God became one of us, he humbled himself; thirsty like us, he suffers from our own thirst. Contemplating this scene, each of us can say: the Lord, the Master «asks me for a drink. He is therefore thirsty like me. He has my thirst. You are really close to me, Lord! You are tied to my poverty – I can't believe it! – you took me from below, from the lowest of myself, where no one reaches me» (P. Mazzolari, La Samaritana, Bologna 2022, 55-56).
And you came down to me and took me from there, because you were, and are, thirsty for me. Jesus' thirst, in fact, is not only physical, it expresses the deepest thirst of our lives: it is above all a thirst for our love. He is more than a beggar, he is thirsty for our love. And it will emerge in the culminating moment of the passion, on the cross; there, before dying, Jesus will say: "I thirst" (Jn 19:28). That thirst for love that led him to descend, to humble himself, to be one of us.
But the Lord, who asks for a drink, is the one who gives the drink: meeting the Samaritan woman, he speaks to her of the living water of the Holy Spirit, and from the cross he pours out blood and water from her pierced side (cf. Jn 19:34). Jesus, thirsty for love, quenches our thirst with love. And he does with us as with the Samaritan woman: he comes to meet us in our daily life, he shares our thirst, he promises us the living water that causes eternal life to spring up in us (cf. Jn 4:14).
Give me a drink. There is a second aspect. These words are not only Jesu s' request to the Samaritan woman, but an appeal - sometimes silent - that rises up to us every day and asks us to take care of other people's thirst. Give me a drink tell us how many - in the family, at work, in the other places we frequent - are thirsty for closeness, attention, listening; those who thirst for the Word of God and need to find an oasis in the Church where to drink water tell us. Give me a drink is the appeal of our society, where haste, the rush to consume and above all indifference, this culture of indifference generate aridity and inner emptiness. And - let us not forget - give me a drink is the cry of so many brothers and sisters who lack water to live on, while we continue to pollute and disfigure our common home; and it too, exhausted and parched, "is thirsty".
Faced with these challenges, today's Gospel offers each of us the living water that can make us a source of refreshment for others. And then, like the Samaritan woman, who left her amphora at the well and went to call the people of the village (cf. v. 28), we too will no longer think only of quenching our thirst, our material, intellectual or cultural thirst, but with the joy of having encountered the Lord we will be able to quench our thirst: to give meaning to the life of others, not as masters, but as servants of this Word of God which has thirsted for us, which continually thirsts for us; we will be able to understand their thirst and share the love that He has given us. I feel like asking this question, to me and to you: are we capable of understanding the thirst of others? The thirst of the people, the thirst of many in my family, in my neighborhood? Today we can ask ourselves: am I thirsty for God, do I realize that I need his love like water to live? And then, I who am thirsty, am I concerned about the thirst of others, the spiritual thirst, the material thirst?
May Our Lady intercede for us and support us on the way.
_______________________
After the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters!
I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims from many countries, especially the faithful who have come from Madrid and Split.
I greet the parish groups of Padua, Caerano San Marco, Bagolino, Formia and Sant'Ireneo in Rome.
Next Friday 17 March and Saturday 18 the "24 hours for the Lord" initiative will be renewed throughout the Church: a time dedicated to prayer of adoration and the sacrament of Reconciliation. On Friday afternoon I will go to a Roman parish for the penitential celebration. A year ago, in this context, we performed the solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, invoking the gift of peace. Our entrustment does not fail, hope does not waver! The Lord always listens to the pleas that his people address to him through the intercession of the Virgin Mother. We remain united in faith and in solidarity with our brothers who are suffering because of the war; above all let us not forget the martyred Ukrainian people!
I wish everyone a good Sunday. Please don't forget to pray for me. Have a nice lunch and goodbye!
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