image-i-nations trésor

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A – 2023

It happens so often with Bible texts:
the events related and the scenes described there reflect much of… ourselves.
The way people act and react often depicts something of our own attitudes.

Today’s first reading is a good example of this (Exodus 17:3-17).
The people of Israel, having escaped from Egypt, are now travelling through the desert.
There is no water available at the place they have reached, and they are thirsty.
Being thirsty makes them angry!

They turn to Moses accusing him of being responsible for this situation.
Moses led them out of the country where they were slaves, but they do not credit this to him.
On the contrary, they quarrel with him “almost ready to stone him”.

But more still, they question… God’s presence in their midst.
He does not seem to care for their pressing need of water.
They test him saying:

“Is the Lord among us or not?”

When things do not turn out as we would like, do we throw the blame on others?
When some events happen that we cannot control, do we quarrel and accuse those around us?
When some situations exceed our power, do we attack even people who have helped us?

Would we be ready to question God’s ways with us?
Do we sometimes hold him responsible for our misfortune?
Could it be that we take our distances from him since his help is not coming as we would want it?
Are we ready to test him to see if he really cares?

The Scripture text mentions two words in a foreign language (Hebrew):
“Massah and Meribah”.
Massah means testing and Meribah means quarreling.

The next time we are tempted to quarrel with people and to test God,
we could silently repeat these words, a little like a mantra… ‘Massah… Meribah’…
and wait for God to provide for our need, as he did for his people in the desert.

He cannot fail to do so…

 

Note: In the following video Arlene Priti Mascargnhas personifies the Samaritan Woman who tells us about her meeting at the well of Jacob: https://youtu.be/jU09NpjS27w

Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/3e-dimanche-du-careme-de-lannee-a-2023/

 

Source: Image: Making Him Known

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year A – 2020

The 1st reading on this 3rd Sunday of Lent (Year A – Exodus 17:3-7) presents us with a scene known to many of us.
The people of Israel complain that they have no water and accuse Moses of bringing them to a desert place.
He, in turn, complains to the Lord who tells him what to do to remedy the situation.
Moses strikes a rock and water gushes out abundantly.

We say: Fantastic! Wonderful!
We may add with religious admiration: ‘God answers the prayer of his servant!’
This is one aspect of the scene.

There is another, no less important if seldom mentioned.
Moses gives the location where this happened the names of:
Massah which means testing, and Meribah which means quarrelling.

These names are definitely foreign to us, but the reality they describe is most certainly familiar!
No one can doubt that, in our world today, there is much of this: testing and quarrelling.

What had led the Israelites to quarrel, to test Moses, and more still, to test God?
They were thirsty.
The 1st Sunday of Lent spoke about hunger, this one speaks of thirst – basic human needs indeed.

Our hunger and our thirst can take many forms –
bread and water are only representations of all that we long for:
health and wealth, power and prestige, freedom and domination – and so much more.

This ‘so much more’ hides ONE deeper need:
it is the one mentioned in the last verse of the text:
« The Israelites “tested the Lord saying,
‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ ”
 
This is the need for God’s presence with us.
It may remain hidden deeply within us, but it is there…
This period of Lent is welcome if it enables us to identify both, the need AND the presence!

Note: The scene of the gospel of the Samaritan at the well is presented in a video (in English) at: https://youtu.be/jU09NpjS27w
And another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/3e-dimanche-du-careme-annee-a-2020/

 

Source: Image: Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

 

World Water Day – 22 March

Water is the essential building block of life. But it is more than just essential to quench thirst or protect health; water is vital for creating jobs and supporting economic, social, and human development.

Today, there are over 663 million people living without a safe water supply close to home, spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distant sources, and coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water.

2017 Theme: Why Wastewater?
This year, we focus on wastewater and ways to reduce and reuse as over 80% of all the wastewater from our homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature polluting the environment and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.

We need to improve the collection and treatment of wastewater and safely reuse it. At the same time, we need to reduce the quantity and pollution load of wastewater we produce, to help protect the environment and our water resources.

Sustainable Development Goal 6 – ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030 – includes a target to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase water recycling and safe reuse.

Source: Text: UN   Image: Shilpsnutrilife

The Samaritan Woman

For this jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has written a special prayer in which it is said: « Lord, let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:If you knew the gift of God’ !”

In the following video, the Samaritan speaks of herself, and of the Man of Nazareth who spoke to her of another kind of water, another kind of life…