Father Joseph Illo, pastor of Star of the Sea in San Francisco, gave a 10-minute homily on Sunday, March 23.
The readings are getting longer as we get closer to Easter. Today we have the burning bush who calls Moses. He is a personal God, yet infinite. Our Lord meets the woman at the well. She has lost hope. He approaches her one-on-one.
St. Augustine wrote a homily on this Gospel 1600 years ago. He says Jesus meets the woman where she is. Mother Teresa says His saying I thirst means He longs for you. I am the needy one. The woman begins to soften. She begins to realize her own thirst. “You’re the only one who can heal me.” Then she drops her bucket. She’s not thirsty for water. She runs back to the town. She tells them that He asked her for a drink.
Once we have given Him a tiny bit of water, He pours out a torrent to us.
Mother Teresa: “Jesus thirsts for you always, even when you don’t feel worthy.”
Mother Teresa pray for us. Jesus have mercy on us.
If Fr. Illo’s Mass used the first reading about the burning bush and the Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well, then he improperly combined readings from Lectionary Cycle C and Cycle A. You must use one complete set or the other complete set; you may not pick and choose from each set to create a hybrid set.
Liturgical abuse.
When I look around at the condition of the church, it’s hard to believe this story and what Mother Teresa said. The church is not meeting people where they are at. And young people have left. Less than 15% of people raised Catholic still go to Mass. The church loses about 7/8 people raised in the faith. The people aren’t thirsty for the Jesus that the church is serving up.
But they are thirsty for Starbucks. I see people lining up to buy and drinking Starbucks all over the place. The Church wishes it were as successful as Starbucks. People pay for Starbucks. They don’t want what the Church offers even though it’s free.
Reply to Starbucks: Starbucks doesn’t make a good cappuccino.
I like the frappuccino