March 15: Third Sunday of Lent
Posted by Campus Ministry on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 3:48 PM PDT
Last summer I met with Fr. Colin for coffee and he gave me advice that still to this day keeps me questioning my desires and temptations. Fr. Colin said to me: “Mariah, you are starving, and you need to find something that is going to feed you.” His statement shocked me. I mean, I was not literally starving, though his words made me realize that I was and am still starving spiritually. So the next question is, “What/who is going to satisfy/feed me?” When I reflect on this passage from the Gospel of John, I often feel as an outsider, as though I cannot relate to Jesus or the woman at well. But when I remember what Fr. Colin said to me, I realize that I am like this woman, yearning for what is nourishing. In my past and even now, I have always been aware of my desires and temptations, and how they lead to my actions. These desires and temptations try, for better or worse, to feed me in some way. But just like the woman at the well, I have come to realize that many of these desires and temptations cannot truly satisfy me at the end of the day. I am often left feeling empty inside or starving as Fr. Colin stated, and like the woman at the well I too am intrigued by Jesus’ promise of this so-called living water. I turn to the world to try to satisfy or fill my needs, when in reality God can only satisfy or fill me, and this gives me hope. “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts…” (Romans 5:5). In every Mass Jesus is poured out to me in the Eucharist, and in this love, I am fed physically and spiritually. How and with what do we feed ourselves? What temptations are leaving us feeling empty at the end of the day? Do we give God the chance to satisfy/feed us?
Mariah Nickerson, Class of 2020