Third Sunday of Lent

Thirsty?

Abraham Maslow, an American professor of psychology, created a theory which he called the Hierarchy of Needs. He often portrayed his theory in the shape of a pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at the top of the pyramid. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security. As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social. Soon, the need for love, friendship and intimacy become important. Further up the pyramid, the need for personal esteem and the highest level of needs requires human being to understand himself and see the value in his self. He tries to find himself through religion and his spiritual guidance. This is the area that is most meaningful in human being's life.

We thirst, we desire for these needs. There’s nothing wrong with it. But why is it that even when we already have all these, it seems to be that we are not yet satisfied?

St. Augustine, in his autobiography Confessions, he states “Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised . . . Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee”.  Our thirst for the highest level of our needs cannot be satisfied by our own efforts. Only God himself can satisfy it. “The desire for God is written in the human, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will man find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for: ‘The dignity of man rests above all on that fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.’ ”(CCC# 27)

The Samaritan woman in today’s Gospel the third Sunday of Lent was thirsty, not only of water but of deeper thirst. It was unusual for a woman to collect water in the heat of the day alone. She does not like it. The longer Gospel text reveals she had 5 husbands, has she been hurt by the gossip of other people? The woman is thirsty for meaning and purpose on her life. She was spiritually thirsty. Until her brief conversation with Jesus, she never realized such kind of thirst.  The journey of the Samaritan woman is our journey too. What we should do just as the Samaritan Woman is to acknowledge and recognize our spiritual thirst.

Our deeper thirst can not be satisfied by money, friends and achievements. Only God can satisfy it. In Him alone can we be satisfy of that thirst in our hearts. Sadly, many people do not feel that they are deeply in thirst because they are focused on satisfying their lower needs.

It is only drinking that living water that Jesus gives that will make us never be thirsty again. During this season of Lent, let this be an opportunity for all of us to enable to drink more and more of this living water that Jesus offers us. The Eucharist that we receive in Holy Communion will quench our thirst for God. If God is in us, we cannot ask for more. St. Teresa of Avila said in her prayers, Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you, all things pass away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who has God, finds he lacks nothing. God alone suffices.