Message from Fr. Rolando Cabrera

St. Anthony Catholic Parish

Dear Parish Family,

On this Third Sunday of Lent, the Church gives us the beautiful Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5–42).

In this encounter, Jesus reveals Himself not only as a teacher, but as the One who quenches the deepest thirst of the human heart.

The woman comes to the well at noon, in the heat of the day perhaps to avoid others, perhaps carrying shame, disappointment, or loneliness. Yet it is there, in the ordinary place of her daily routine, that she meets Christ. Jesus begins with a simple request: “Give me a drink.” He makes Himself vulnerable. He enters into dialogue. He crosses boundaries of religion, culture, and personal history. And then He speaks of “living water.”

All of us know what it means to be thirsty not just physically, but spiritually. We thirst for love, for forgiveness, for purpose, for peace. We try to satisfy that thirst with success, possessions, recognition, or distractions. But these wells eventually run dry. Only Christ offers water that becomes “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Lent invites us to ask:

• What am I really thirsty for?

• And where am I trying to satisfy that thirst?

Like the Samaritan woman, we are called to honesty. Jesus already knows our story our struggles, our wounds, our sins. Yet He does not condemn. He invites. He reveals. He transforms. The woman who came to draw water leaves her jar behind and becomes a missionary, running back to her town to say, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have done.” Her shame turns into witness. Her isolation turns into evangelization.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let us return to the well especially in prayer, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and in the Eucharist. There, Christ continues to offer us living water. There, He meets us personally.

May this week be a time to deepen our prayer, to let go of whatever “water jars” we are clinging to, and to allow the Lord to fill us with His grace.

With prayers for you and your families,

Fr. Rolando Cabrera