Homily: March 8, 2026, Third sunday of Lent (Jesus Thirsts)

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 “Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’”

Many of us would remember that Jesus said on the cross, “I thirst.” These two words carried a deep message. It meant so much to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who reflected deeply on it all through her missionary life. St. John Paul II also referred to it often in his spiritual reflections.

Our Lord Jesus on the cross, in His dying breath, said: “I thirst.”

Surely, He wasn’t asking for a drink. He was thirsting for something else. But this thirst of Jesus did not begin only when He was on the cross.

We see it already here in today’s Gospel, when He met the Samaritan woman at the well.

Jesus’ thirst is real. Yes, He was physically thirsty when He was at the well. But there was something deeper. Jesus thirsts for souls. Not to consume, but to commune. He wants so much to be a big part of our lives, and for us to be totally in His life, eternal life.

We are created in His image and likeness. God did not need to our existence to complete Him. He is perfect in Himself. Yet out of His infinite love, He created us, so that we might share in His love and His life but loving Him too.

Every human heart is searching for true love, but we are always searching for it in the wrong places with the wrong people. The only love that will truly satisfy our need and longing is the love of God.

And like in any human relationship, the more time you spend with someone who loves you, the happier you will be. The more time we spend with God, we will begin to understand the deep peace and joy of being loved. We begin to receive healing and grace in this relationship.

That was exactly what happened to the Samaritan woman.

At first, Jesus was just a stranger to her. Then she realized He was a Jew. Later she thought He was a prophet. And finally, she came to believe that He was the Messiah - the One who will save her from all her sorrows and sins.

But something else happened during their conversation. As she encountered Jesus and discover Him, she also began to encounter and discover herself. She began to see herself more clearly.

She recognized the wounds she had been carrying for years. The wrong places where she had been to search for love, acceptance, and happiness. All those relationships had failed her, leaving her broken.

And suddenly at this well, she encountered a love which knew her so well yet did not judge her at all. Love that embraced and accepted her totally.

And to prove that love, Jesus asked her for a drink to quench His thirst, and to quench her thirst. To ask from her, is His way of affirming her that she is capable of satisfying His thirst, of meeting His needs, of a relationship with God.

And then He offered her something deeper than the water in that well. He offered her living water — the water that quenches the thirst of the soul, the water that she truly needed and yearned for.

That conversation, that encounter, changed everything for her. The woman who came alone to the well, avoiding everyone every day, now she ran back to the village to talk to everyone, announcing to them the good news of the Messiah.

She left her water jar behind, because her past no longer held her down, no longer defined who she was, she had found the living water.

Because when you encounter the love of Christ, you encounter your new identity. You see the true image of who you are made to be.

So today the Gospel asks each of us a very personal question:

Where are you in your spiritual journey?

Are you ready to give Jesus a drink?

He thirsts for your love. You are capable of giving Him, and you are worthy of His love. He is ready to give you the living water that will finally satisfy your soul, fully, completely and eternally.

Amen.


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