4th Sunday of Easter – Good Shepherd Sunday

APPOINTED TO BE READ AT ALL PUBLIC MASSES IN ALL CHURCHES AND CHAPELS IN THE DIOCESE OF LANCASTER ON THE WEEKEND OF 25/26 APRIL 2026

Pastoral Letter for the Fourth Sunday of Eastertide, Good Shepherd Sunday.

My dear people,

It is worthy of note that for us in this country Good Shepherd Sunday falls with good timing, right in the middle of the lambing season. This is a time when not only do we see lambs and sheep appearing in our fields, but we are also treated to an array of TV programmes on farming, veterinary practices and shepherding in particular. All this gives a good insight into the care that shepherds lavish upon their flocks. They are not just supervising the births, but they go on to make sure there is food and water, also protections from disease, the weather and even predators.

We know that Jesus was not a sheep farmer, though sheep, lambs and shepherds do appear from time to time in his teaching. What we heard in the Gospel was not about animal husbandry, but rather Jesus describing himself with the qualities of a Good Shepherd: one who provides care, nourishment, protection. And in using the image of a shepherd, our Lord is borrowing from the Old Testament, which is peppered with that image, especially applied to prophets and kings – and one king in particular, David. It was he who united the north and south into one kingdom and brought stability and peace. He was the recipient of God’s promise that one of his line would prove to be the long-awaited Messiah. We understand that is Jesus. So, to those nurturing qualities of the shepherd: care, nourishment and protection, we can add leadership, even authority.

Our Gospel ended with what some have called Jesus’ strapline: ‘I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’ All this talk about being a Good Shepherd is about life, abundant life, life to the full. Everything that Jesus said and did was life-giving. Even when he was chastising the Scribes and Pharisees and others, it was so that they might change and truly live. That aspect of Jesus ministry of Good Shepherd, lives on in those he has called, and is calling to be priests, to be shepherds of the Lord’s flock. So, it is not coincidental that today is designated as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, it springs right out of the Gospel.

I would like now to address these words to those single men present among us:

St John Henry Newman affirms eloquently for all Christians that God has a plan for us: “God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me, which he hasn’t committed to another. I have my mission.” Ask yourself: what is my ‘definite service’? What is my ‘mission’, committed to me by God?

Is God calling you to be a priest? Amid the noise of life, the designs and opportunities open to you, be courageous and reflect: What does God want from me? When the Apostles first encountered Jesus, He did not explain why he had chosen them, or what he had in store for them. He simply said, “Follow me!” and they did.

Perhaps, as you hear this, you are already thinking “No, this couldn’t possibly be for me”. As your Bishop, I can tell you: we all feel unworthy in our call from God. This is especially the case when we reflect that the Good Shepherd Himself may be asking us to share in his work as shepherds of His flock. Put yourself in God’s hands and let him lead you. Allow the question of becoming a priest be asked of you; meditate on it, give that process of discernment an opportunity to grow. When you come to the moment of receiving Holy Communion at Mass today – and every time you go to Mass – ask the Lord Jesus: what do you want from me?

If any of these words strike you, I invite you to join me at Lancaster Cathedral, along with others from across our diocese, at the next ‘Day for Discerning Vocation to the Priesthood’: Saturday 30 May beginning with Mass at 12.15pm. I look forward to joining you for lunch and the opportunity to talk and reflect together.

To all of you present I ask you: pray for vocations to the priesthood! And pray for your priests! This is so important. Also important is to promote a culture of vocations. We do this by talking positively about the priestly vocation, even suggesting it to someone whom God has placed in your path. We can be people who are full of encouragement. This year, please God, we shall have one ordination to the priesthood which will leave us with one student to complete his training. Some good news is that in September we shall have five men embarking on their journey of discernment, mostly at the English College in Spain. This news encourages us and prompts us to prayer.

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, it would not go amiss to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for those priests that God has sent your way both now and in the past.

With my blessing,

+Rt Rev Paul Swarbrick

Bishop of Lancaster

3rd Sunday of Easter

‘They recognised him at the breaking of bread.’  In the Emmaus story today, two disciples were going home, discussing the happenings of recent events, striving to make sense of their disappointment of Jesus’ crucifixion.  A man they loved, and with his death, their whole world had collapsed, putting an end to their dreams for the redemption of Israel.  Suddenly, a stranger appeared and joined them, who listened sympathetically to their story, he helped them to see through scripture the full meaning of what had happened.  At every step of their troubled journey Jesus was at their side, but they did not recognise him until the breaking of bread at Emmaus.

Today we are shown an important pattern of the opening up of scripture followed by the breaking of bread.  This pattern becomes so important to the early Church that it becomes the basic pattern of daily Mass for us.  The Liturgy of the Word leading into the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

We feel the presence of Jesus, first by his Words and then again with the very act of the breaking of bread.  This Emmaus account makes clear that Scripture itself points us towards an appreciation of its own unbreakable bond with the Eucharist.  Both are so deeply bound together that we cannot understand one without the other.  The ‘Word of God’ sacramentally takes flesh in the event of the Eucharist.  And the Eucharist opens our understanding of the scriptures, illuminating our minds and hearts. 

We heard the two disciples say to each other ‘didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road explaining the scriptures.’  Their ‘eyes were opened’.  We hear the very same three words in Genesis, when Adam and Eve’s ‘eyes were opened’ after disobeying God, after eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden. 

St Leo the Great comments on this by saying: ‘the eyes of these two men were opened, far more happily to the sight of their own glorified humanity, rather than the eyes of our first parents, to the shame of their sinfulness.’ 

Jesus is once again presented as the ‘New Adam’ who here gives living food to the ‘first meal of the new creation’ at Emmaus.

This Gospel account helps to shed light on our own situation in our times of trial and distress.  How many times have we walked the road to Emmaus with downcast faces, either by having quarrels at homes, difficulties at work, or the loneliness of being rejected.  The troubles and worries of life can crowd our minds that we can lose sense of our direction and we are brought to the point of despair.  All the time forgetting that Jesus is walking beside us, anxious to help, if only we would turn to him in prayer for guidance. 

Since our ransom has been paid in the precious blood of Christ, let us reflect upon how many times the Lord has helped us in our daily lives. 

We prayer to the Lord to continue to show us his love, by letting us see him more clearly by his divine presence.  Through the Liturgy of the Mass, and especially in our own ‘path of life’ comprising of daily readings of scripture and of prayer. 

We ask the Lord, that he will illuminate our minds and hearts on this great mystery of our faith, by making our eyes be opened, and allowing the words of the Apostle Thomas to be upon our lips, as we say: ‘My Lord and my God.’

2nd Sunday of Easter – Divine Mercy Sunday

Jesus said to Thomas ‘Give me your hand, put it into my side, doubt no longer but believe.’  Today we hear the encounter between Jesus and Thomas, the doubting disciple.  We shouldn’t dismiss Thomas as a man of little faith.  Who could really blame him for not believing.  After the events on Good Friday, Thomas had seen the Lord, whom he loved, die the death of a criminal, crucified between two thieves and witnessed Peter denying him three times, even after Peter promised loyalty towards Jesus hours earlier.  Thomas was disheartened, disillusioned and angry, which made him have a harden heart and unwilling to accept the words of others, even about seeing the Risen Lord.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, a devotion that was permitted by St. Pope John Paul II after reinvestigating St Faustina’s visions.  St Faustina was a Nun of the ‘Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy’.  On the 22^nd of February 1931, she had a vision from the Lord.  Jesus appeared to her bringing a message of Mercy.  She recalls in her diaries, that Jesus was dressed in white with His right hand raised in blessing, and the other hand touching his heart.  Two large rays came forth from his heart, one red and one white.  This image was painted and the words ‘Jesus, I trust in You’ were written below.  In another vision Saint Faustina was told about the teaching of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, praying for the conversion of sinners throughout the world.

But, let us return back to the image of Christ, especially the ‘side of Christ’, where Thomas placed his hand, and where St Faustina saw two rays of red and white light.  What do we understanding of the importance of Jesus’ pierced side, what can it teach us?  We know that it points to Jesus’ crucifixion when his side was pierced by the Roman Soldier, and Blood and Water gusted forth from his wounded heart.  This is a reminder that life emerges from death, through the Sacraments of the Church.  Blood and Water being Catholic symbols for the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist.

The piercing of Jesus’ side is unique to John’s Gospel, and it fulfils a twofold prophecy.  ‘None of his bones shall be broken, and they will look on the one whom they have pierced.’ 

There is symbol-ism here of Jesus being the New Temple.  There is an ancient document called the Mishnah.  This document explains that there were two drain holes at the south-western corner of the Altar in Jerusalem, this was to drain away all the blood from the sacrificed lambs.  It would have come out of the side of the temple mount, mingled with water flowing down into a stream into the Kidron valley.  For a first century Jew, it would have been a very familiar sight.  John the evangelist would have recognised this parallel link to Jesus’ pierced side when blood and water gushed forth on the cross.  Jesus’ body is now the New Temple.  We hear in Jesus’ own words saying: ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’  The Jewish Temple mount has now been replaced with a New Temple, that is Jesus’ body, that comes forth the Sacraments of the Church. 

We might have doubts in our faith from time to time, but searching for the truth is nothing to be ashamed from.  It helps us grow stronger in our faith.  In many ways Thomas echoes our moments of uncertainty.  Our vision of God gets blurred by clouds of doubt.  But it is only through the Risen Christ that we enter into a personal relationship with him, that allows us to enjoy the New Life which he offers. 

When we have moments of despair and all else seems to fail.  Fall back on your faith, say a prayer similar to:  ‘Jesus I trust in you’, and He will help and support you in your time of need.  ‘Doubt no longer, but believe.’

Easter Sunday

The Resurrection of the Lord

The disciples saw and they believed.  Yes, indeed!  Christ has truly risen.  This is our core profession of faith.  This this the cry of victory that unites us all here today.  Jesus is alive, and therefore who can ever be able to separate us from the Lord?  We will never be deprived of the divine love that conquers all evil, even death itself. 

The Easter proclamation spreads throughout the world today, with joyful song of ‘Alleluia, Alleluia’.  The word that has remained silent all these days during Lent.  Let us now sing it with our full voices, and above all, with our hearts and lives.  Jesus is our hope, He is the true peace of the world.

Reflecting on this Gospel passage today, it brings back memories from various Passion movies that I have watched over the years on TV.  At the end of these movies, the film director seems to get the actor playing Christ to rise from the darkness of the tomb into the bright sunlight, the light shines all-round him, even rays of light beaming through the holes of his hands.  At that moment I say to myself, ‘Yes, He’s back’.

In the Gospel we heard, Mary of Magdalene came to the tomb early on the first day of the week.  Her only thoughts were to see Jesus’ body.  She might have wanted to complete any outstanding tasks on his body, since Jesus’ burial was done in haste, due to the Jewish feast of Passover. 

A time where no work was allowed to be done by law.  Mary’s sole desire was to spend time with Jesus.  I wonder what Mary might have been pondering in her mind, on her journey to the tomb?  What was she thinking about?  It sounded like she had a restless sleep, as she was up so early in the morning.  Very eager to get to the tomb, without any thought about how she was going to roll away the big boulder from the entrance.  Mary’s sole purpose was to be with the Lord. 

To her surprise the boulder was already moved and without looking inside she immediately knew the body of Jesus was not there, then she turned and ran to tell the disciples.

Up until that moment the disciples failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that Christ must rise from the dead.  In the months ahead they would recognise more and more the power of His Resurrection at work in their lives, calling them to live in an entirely new way. 

In a similar fashion, we are also filled with Easter hope as we celebrate and proclaim that Jesus Christ is risen.  What happened on that first Easter day, has implications for us too.  The Resurrection is the central mystery of our redemption.  Christ’s victory breaks all the chains of our sin that we have made for ourselves.

The newness of life is the key message of this Easter season.  It comes about at the start of spring when nature begins to burst forth anew.

In Jesus’ Resurrection, God has had the final word.  Jesus’ life ends in victory and not in defeat.  The doors of Heaven are unlocked for our Salvation. 

We now know, that we have a heavenly home to look forward to, a new vision to focus upon, and eternal truths to shape our way of thinking.  This allows us to take a fresh look life, that we vowed to lead through our Baptismal promises. 

During this Holy Season of Easter, let the Resurrection dwell deeply within our hearts, as we rejoice and praise His Holy Name. 

We are an Easter people and ‘Alleluia’ is our song.

Good Friday

‘The Hour begins.’  Crucifixion was recognised as the lowest point of human humiliation in the Roman empire.  However, Jesus accepted His Cross for the salvation of the world.  His ‘hour’ had come.  The saving power on the Cross was His finest ‘hour’ that opened the doors to paradise.  He was the Lamb, that was led to its slaughter, and who took away the sins of the world. 

St John the Evangelist clearly highlights the ‘Kingship’ of Jesus within the Gospel.  We also see clearly, it is Jesus, the Sovereign Lord, who is in total control over all the events in His Passion.  He possesses the Divine Power, and these events would only happen because He allowed them to happen. 

Through His Kingship we see the freedom with which he goes to the Cross.  We hear in scripture: “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down on my own.  I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.”  By freely going to the Cross, Jesus offers His life as a perfect gift of love, given to the Father for the world’s salvation.  Through His obedience, Jesus reveals the infinite depths of the Father’s love and mercy towards us, since we are sinners. 

I would like to focus on three specific elements of interest within the Passion narrative.  The Title on the Cross, the division of Jesus’ garments and the piercing of Jesus’ side.

According to Roman custom a board was carried in front of the condemned person or sometimes it was nailed to the cross itself.  Jesus’ board read.  ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ 

It was Pilate who was responsible and took the initiative on writing these words down, making Pilate declare Jesus’ royal status to the whole world.  The Title board was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, the three great nation languages in the Roman empire.  So, it is interesting that the greatest nation in the world, should claim Jesus, King.

However, there might be a special hidden meaning that we are missing?  Since many of the Jews were there at the place of crucifixion, near the city walls, everybody had the chance of reading the Title board and to understand it.  Scholars have wondered, was God giving everyone a last chance, to understand Jesus’ offer of salvation, as King of the Jews?

The division of Jesus’ garments and the seamless tunic.  St John the evangelist goes into great detail on the sharing of Jesus’ garments.  Every Jew wore five items of clothing, however, there were only four soldiers.  The main item was a long under garment which was worn next to the body.  Described as being without seam and woven from top to bottom.  In the book of Exodus and Leviticus it says that this type of seamless garment was only worn by the high priests.  So, John the Evangelist was pointing to Jesus not only as King but also as eternal High Priest of the Church.

The Piercing of Jesus’ side.  This is unique to John’s Passion Narrative.  One of the soldiers thrust a lance into Jesus’ side.  In doing so a twofold prophecy was fulfilled.  The ‘Passover Lamb’ in Exodus: ‘None of his bones shall be broken’ and the ‘Pierced Messiah’ in Zechariah ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced’. 

With Water & Blood being signs of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist.  There is also another important symbol here, that points to Jesus being the ‘New Temple’.  During the 1^st century AD when Jews approached the temple mount at the time of Passover, when the sacrifices were being offered around 3pm, they would see a stream of blood and water flowing out from the side of the temple mount and down into the Kidron Valley.  This would have been a familiar image in the mindset of the 1^st century Jew.  The Evangelist would have recognised the sign of Jesus’ body, when water and blood flowed from His side as the ‘New Temple of God.’  ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’  It is not the Temple in Jerusalem that will flow with blood sacrifices any longer, but it has been replaced with a new temple by the crucified body of Jesus.

So, let us today, take to heart the true meaning of Jesus’ Passion and Death, it isn’t the time to be sad or down-hearted.  Since it was Jesus’ finest ‘hour’, His ultimate Glorification and Exaltation of the Son of Man, in order to save the world and bring us into Eternal Glory.   

Maundy Thursday

Jesus said, “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. ” 

Jesus knew everything that was going to happen, he knew that his ‘hour’, his moment of Exaltation and Glorification was looming.  He is now surrounded by those whom he loved, his chosen friends and Apostles.

Jesus approaches his final moments by giving them his final teaching.  Jesus institutes the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of the life of the Church.  He also institutes the Ministry of the Sacred Priesthood to his Apostles, in a new and beautiful way. 

Jesus loves his own right up to the end.  He shows the intensity of his love, even to give up his life, but this love doesn’t stop at death.  Jesus who is aware that he is the Son of God, and that the Father has put everything into his hands, humbles himself to perform a final service.  A service that is more appropriate for the household servants.  Culturally, the underside of the foot was considered a dishonourable part of the body, and the washing of another person’s feet was performed by a someone of a lower status. 

We are reminded of the hymn in the letter of St Paul to the Philippians:  “Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.”

Christ came into the world, ‘not to be served but to serve’, this scene of the washing of the feet teaches us the same thing.  Through Jesus’ example we should serve each other in all humility and simplicity.  So, in the presence of his most beloved disciples, Jesus gladly carries out the task of a servant. 

We see on one hand the malice of Judas, who fails to respond to Jesus’ demonstration of love, and on the other hand we see the great emphasis of goodness in Christ.  Jesus then reaches out beyond Judas’ malice by washing his feet and treating him as a friend, right up to the moment when he betrays him.

In our daily lives, you might find Jesus whispering in our ear, from time to time, saying ‘I have given you an example of humility’, so that you too may learn to serve with a meekness of heart.   

Peter sees how inappropriate it was for Jesus to wash his feet, starts to protest.  St Augustine comments by saying: ‘Who would not, shrink back in dismay, from having their feet washed by the Son of God.’  However, Our Lord’s loving gesture has a deeper significance than Peter was able to grasp.  It was only after the Resurrection that the Apostles understood the mystery of Jesus’ service.  By washing their feet, he was stating in a simple and symbolic way that he came to serve and that his service consisted of giving ‘his very life as a ransom for many.’  Jesus’ whole life was an example of service, fulfilling his Father’s will to the point of dying on the cross, to save all humanity from their sins, and allow them to enter into eternal life.  

Our Lord has promised us that if we imitate him, our teacher, we will find true happiness, that no one, can take away. 

So, let us always reject from our hearts any pride or malice that we face, in order that, peace, love and joy will reign around us and within us, during this Holy Season of Easter. 

Passion Sunday – Year A

We have finally begun the period of Holy Week, a day of glory and impending tragedy.  The scene is set for us, as Jesus makes his triumphal journey from Bethany to Jerusalem, his final movement to bring everything together through his death and glorious Passion.

Imagine the sight of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey with people waving palm branches and shouting, ‘Hosanna in the highest’, acclaiming him King, must have made the visiting crowds who were gathered for the Passover festival, stop in amazement.  Little did the people know that the rejoicing would quickly be swept aside.  Before long, the triumphal shouting turned to tragedy, those palm branches changing into the wood of the cross, the hosannas, became jeers and calls for his death.

This Holy Week is a most sacred time, it highlights the peak moments of Christ’s love for us, gives us an opportunity to look at our lives and accept responsibility for our failings.  Jesus was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter and abandoned by all.  If we are honest with ourselves, we can see shades in our hearts, that shadow, those who put Jesus to death.  Peter and Judas, Pilate and the soldiers.  This should cause us to reflect on our own sins and failings inside each one of us. 

Every Christian becomes aware that in their own life they need to meet the same fate as Jesus.  We should join in Christ’s suffering and death, in order to share his eternal glory.  Our victory, like Christ’s, comes only through the cross. 

Let us during these final days of Lent offer ourselves the opportunity to harmonise our minds and hearts with Christ, allowing the truth of Jesus’ ultimate, finest ‘Hour’ of Exultation and Glorification for the nations, to dawn deeply into our hearts.  The truth is that:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that, everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life.”

5th Sunday of Lent – Year A

Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life.”  We have arrived at the last part of John’s Gospel narrative, which is called the book the ‘signs.’  This shows the final events of Jesus’ public ministry and looks towards the ‘hour’ of His Passion and Death.  Over the course of John’s narrative Jesus’ miracles or ‘signs’ have been increasing.  Starting with the superabundance of good wine in Cana.  Then healing the man who was paralyzed, followed by the feeding of the five thousand, and then the healing of the man blind from birth. 

Now we hear Jesus’ greatest sign of His public ministry: He brings Lazarus who has been dead for four days, back to life.  A ‘sign’ that reveals Jesus’ divine power over life and death, and many will come to believe in him as a result.

Most of us at some point have stood at a loved ones grave, so we know that pain and hurt that Martha and Mary felt at the loss of their brother.  We can even sense Martha’s rebuke towards Jesus for not being there sooner.  Echoes of anger, bitterness and resentment which many of us feel on the occasion of an un-timely death. 

The death of a loved one brings into sharp focus the big question of the meaning of life.  It makes us realise how frail our human bodies are, and lets us ponder about what the next life will be like. 

People who have no faith, must be in a desperate state, not knowing of the hope that is out there. 

However, we are people of the light, and we must not allow the darkness to overcome us.  Death for a Christian, is the great moment of bodily change, when we receive our new heavenly bodies, free from all physical weakness and ailments.  This hope and joy is rooted in the central truth of Christ’s Resurrection.  It tells us that God is stronger than death and he will bring all, who are his, into eternal life. 

The raising of Lazarus points out, that the life we are searching for is not an extension of physical life but eternal life with God.  The law of nature indicates that we must all die at some point, but during our life here on earth we share it with God through our Baptism.  At that moment we were given the power to start seeing Jesus as He sees, to love as He loves, and to follow Him to the right hand of God the Father. 

In this story of Lazarus there is also symbolism.  Lazarus represents the faithful Christian person.  The one that Jesus loves, the one for whom He weeps for.  The raising up of Lazarus symbolises the resurrection of the Christian person.  We understand that whoever comes to Jesus in faith will never experience spiritual death. 

St John in his narrative was also showing that Lazarus who was in the tomb for four days already, was definitely dead and not in a coma-tose state.  Making it the longest time in any of the gospel accounts of a miracle to happen from death to life.  It clearly shows Jesus’ power over physical death … and on another level, points to Jesus’ life-giving power.

Let us through these final days of Lent join ourselves to the passion and death of Christ by deepening our response in prayer, penance and acts of charity.  So, at Jesus’ Resurrection at Easter, we may respond with Mary and Martha by saying: “Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.”

4th Sunday of Lent – Laetare Sunday

(Mothers Day)

“Jesus said ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ The blind man replied ‘Lord, I believe.’”

There are two intertwined themes in today’s readings.  The first is about light and darkness.  Jesus being the focal point of the true faith, the source of light and the giver of sight.  St Paul in our second reading encourages the Ephesians to live in the light and to avoid the darkness of sin.  Young David, in our first reading, is brought into God’s light and was anointed King.  David being singled out by God who sees the inmost depths of his heart, a man of faith. 

The second theme is baptism.  The man born blind was converted, baptised in the pool of Siloam, and given both a physical healing of sight, and also a spiritual healing of the heart, as he came to believe in Jesus Christ and worshipped Him.

The blind man signifies us, Humankind.  While we were all born into original sin, we were blind in our faith at birth.  We could also say, living as Christians now, we have our own personal blind spots in our day to day lives.  However, God is a Father of love and mercy, He sent down his only Son, Jesus to heal our sin and division, giving us sight of true faith and wisdom of heart. 

In the Gospel Jesus smears mud on the eyes of the blind man, and we are smeared with Holy Oil at our Baptism.  The blind man was washed in the pool of Siloam, and we were washed in the baptismal font in the Church.  

The blind man gained sight and understanding in faith in Jesus and so do we, receiving sight in faith, hope and charity in Jesus Christ through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

During this fourth Sunday of Lent, is a day to stop and reflect on the joys of Easter, Jesus being the ‘Light of the World’, gaining ‘New Life’ with Him at His Resurrection.  Lent is the liturgical colour of purple and Easter being the colour of White.  So, if we mix the two together, we get Rose. 

The only other day in the church’s calendar where we wear Rose is on the 3^rd Sunday of Advent, when the rose candle is lit on the advent wreath, because we are ‘Joyful’ once again, and ready to partake in the big festive celebrations.

Jesus is our Salvation.  He is the source of our light and our hope.  He has made us beacons of His light.  A light that has been entrusted to us to be kept shining brightly in our lives, setting an example for others to follow, by leading good Christian lives.

Whoever, believes and accepts their Christian faith, will have their eyes opened, and hearts lifted out of the darkness, into God’s wonderful divine light, that liberates us and heals our spiritual blindness.  Making us have the confidence to say the words of our psalm today “The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want”.

So, today is a time to relax from all your Penitential commitments, especially for all the mother’s here today.  As it is your special day, to relax and put your feet up.  Enjoy the celebrations with your family and friends, making sure someone else is doing the cooking. 

Let us rejoice, because Our Lord and shepherd, lightens our way and heals us from our blindness, bringing us ever closer to Him.  We have been called ‘Children of the Light’, let us continue to say in our hearts ‘O Lord, I believe in you, help me, so that I may see.’

Third Sunday of Lent – Year A

Today a very human picture is painted of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan Women at the well.  Jesus who was exhausted from his long walk in the heat of the sun, sat wearily down and asked a woman for a drink of water.  By doing so, he dismissed a century’s old Jewish tradition.  Since Jews did not talk to Samaritan’s because of an old feud during the time when Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.

Jesus begins the conversation with what seems like weakness: “Give me a drink.”  God comes to us as one who thirsts.  This is not only physical thirst; it symbolises His longing for us.  St. Augustine famously said, “God thirsts, to be thirsted for.”  In Jesus, God reveals that He desires a relationship with us more deeply than we often desire Him.  He takes the first step, initiating conversation, breaking boundaries, crossing lines that humans have drawn.

The woman taking Jesus literally, and was astonished to hear that he could provide her with water that would last forever.  As the conversation deepens the woman came to realise that her problem was not the lack of water, but an inner thirst that no earthly water could satisfy.  A thirst that was caused by the absence of God in her life.  Jesus led her to look deeply into her troubled life and helped unburdened her soul.  Jesus accepted her as she came to terms with everything she ever did wrong, and was released from her guilt.  Jesus gave her hope and offered her nothing less than the living waters of friendship and the Holy Spirit of God which leads to eternal life.

It took five husbands to teach the Samaritan Woman from her mistakes.  Jesus’ conversation gives her great hope, because a worthwhile life seemed to be beyond her.  However, Jesus won her over by gently leading her out of herself and raising her mind and heart to higher things.  This conversation at the well restored this woman’s dignity and changed her life.

Notice what happens next. She leaves her water jar behind. The very symbol of her old routine, her old thirsts, her old patterns, she abandons it. When Christ truly enters a life, something must be left behind.  Conversion means letting go not only of sin, but of the illusions we cling to, those false wells from which we keep drawing.

Then something remarkable happens:  she becomes an evangelist. The woman who came alone, avoiding others, now runs to the town to tell them about Jesus. Grace does not merely soothe wounds; it sends us out.

She becomes a witness not because she has all the answers, but because she has encountered the One who knows her completely and loves her still.

Many believed in Jesus because of her testimony. The one who felt least worthy, becomes the means by which others meet the Saviour. That is the pattern of the Gospel. God chooses the unlikely. He works through the broken. He builds His kingdom with people who know their thirst and have discovered where the true water is found.

The people eventually say, “We no longer believe because of your word; we have heard for ourselves.”  Evangelisation always leads to this. Our task is not to convert others ourselves, but to lead them to the One who speaks to their hearts more deeply than we ever could.

The Lord sits today beside the well of our own lives. He meets us in our routines, our hidden wounds, our unspoken loneliness. He comes not to judge but to draw out our thirst so that He may fill it.

Let us bring to Him the jars we carry, our burdens, our disappointments, our sins, our desires, and let us ask Him for the living water only He can give.

May we, like the Samaritan woman, allow ourselves to be known, to be healed, and to be sent. And may we discover in Jesus the One who satisfies every thirst.