The Sunday reading (Cycle A ) to start our Week 3 of Lent is the story about the Samaritan woman who encounters Jesus at the well, who offered her “Living Water” to nourish her soul. It is a symbol of perfect love and total acceptance that Jesus offers to her and to each of us every day of our lives. Just as we need nutritious food for healthy bodies, we need the love, acceptance, forgiveness and mercy from Our Lord. This comes through prayer and communication with Our Lord, daily conversation.

The other optional reading for Week 3 of Lent is the story of the fig tree, which is not producing any good fruit. Should it be cut down? No, instead the gardener in the story asks to be responsible for the tree for one year, using good fertilizer, so that hopefully it will bear good fruit. Just like the fig tree, we need to be fertilized with prayer and daily conversation with Our Lord to ‘fertilize’ our souls in order to produce good fruits/actions and service to others. This is a great season to continue to use this time wisely to grow our faith and care for our spiritual being.

Ideas for growth: Journaling each day as part of our prayer time as a way of conversing with Our Lord and planning fruitful actions that we can do each day.

PJP