Pastor’s Note 3/8/26

Dear Parishioners:

 Would God ever take time to get to know you? Maybe that seems like an odd or even inappropriate question. We may think of God as well occupied with more important things than us, or too mighty for casual conversations with you and me. And yet, the Gospel today is just that: Jesus getting to know the Samaritan woman at the well. She comes from a broken, stigmatized past: she is considered second-class by virtue of her gender, religion, and social ranking. The very fact that Jesus even begins a conversation with her is astounding by all standards of that era. Not only does he engage her in conversation, but he takes time to get to know her. He gently opens up a space in their encounter where she feels respected, heard, and seen. Throughout this soul-searching dialogue, Jesus invites her deeper spiritual thirst, he challenges her to recognize her need for conversion and repentance, and he guides her to know that she is to be given a mission by God. After this extended, profound moment of mutual exchange, this woman goes forth carrying with her the knowledge that God has known her…not just facts and figures about her, but her life, her soul, her entire being. And she has discovered the most profound truth: this God, in Jesus the Savior, comes to know her because he loves her, saves her, and offers her life with him. That’s the God who likewise takes time to know us, who offers his very self to save and love us always.

God’s peace,

Fr. John