Came across this recently in an essay by the American Catholic novelist, Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964):

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, in instructing catechumens, wrote: The dragon sits by the side of the road watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon. No matter what form the dragon may take, it is of this mysterious passage past him, or into his jaws, that stories of any depth will always be concerned to tell, and this being the case, it requires considerable courage at any time, in any country, not to turn away from the storyteller.

(Flannery O’Connor: Mystery and Manners, Occasional prose selected and edited by Sally and Robert Fitzgerald; New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1957; p. 35)

Are the stories that we tell in the catechumenate “stories of any depth”? Would anyone guess that the journey of the Christian life “passes by the dragon” (whatever form this takes)?

Something to think about.

This past fall I had the pleasure of working with Fr. Ron Lewinski at a couple of Forum institutes. Fr. Lewinski is a pastor and former director of the Office of Divine Worship in the Chicago Archdiocese. He was one of the early leaders in the catechumenate during its initial implementation in the 1970s and ’80s. Something he said about the Scrutinies impressed me, and I’d like to pursue the thought here further. The idea he presented was that the Scrutinies are about seeing something. They are a means of seeing sin in its true aspect, and seeing who Christ is for us. He is our liberator, and reigns over all.

Often enough, when people sin, they are not attempting to do something wicked. They are trying to attain some end which seems good, but they don’t see the full picture. They don’t see how pursuing it may engender other, negative consequences. The example he gave was of a man who took on extra work in order to get a promotion. His goal was to secure a better home for his family. His desire was for something good. But the time that his work took away from his daily life ultimately resulted in the break up of his family. He got his promotion, but at what a cost!

How Evil Works

This is often how evil works into our lives. We can all think of similar examples. Our striving after something we think is good can become something quite different, unless we see it rightly. Or sometimes we feel trapped; we can’t seem to move forward. We think the sinful or negative aspects of our lives are impossible to change. We don’t see how things could be different. Or, focused on our own needs, we don’t see that the needs of our neighbor also have a claim on us. Not only that—we may miss entirely the promise that responding to the needs of others will actually make our own lives better, freer, and more holy. We don’t see it. Giving without calculation looks like foolishness, a bad investment, when it really is the best use of our gifts.

How we see is important. And a Scrutiny is about seeing. When we see sin in its right aspect, we become free to choose something different, to step away from sin and into the light of Christ. When we call upon Jesus Christ to help us, all kinds of good things begin to happen.

The Scrutinies are therefore an exercise of sight and of letting the light in. They make an opening to new and better living. They open the eyes of our hearts and souls, so we can see what is truly good. The elect need to see how sin works in their own lives, in order to turn away from it, and walk into the light of Christ at Baptism.

The Worth of Repetition

I’d like to suggest two reasons why it is good that the Scrutinies are repeated (they are celebrated three times, unless some truly extraordinary circumstances prevent it). There are more than two reasons why the Scrutinies are repeated, of course—reasons from tradition and so on—but these two arise from the very nature of the human subject.

First, the Scrutinies need to be repeated because they are like an exercise. Only by doing them repeatedly do we get the hang of it. Spiritual therapy of this sort makes us stronger, just as physical exercise makes us strong in body. Scrutinies are a kind of exercise of the spirit. Discerning sin, and turning to receive God’s grace make us firmer in resolve, and strengthens our will for doing good.

Second, we repeat the Scrutinies because we don’t know how deep our trouble is until we start looking. We see more clearly, each time, that we still have a way to go. Recall the story of a healing in the eighth chapter of Saint Mark’s gospel. The evangelist tells of a blind man at Bethsaida whom Jesus heals, but the healing of his sight proceeds only in stages. Jesus puts saliva on his eyes, and lays hands on him, and asks him if he can see now. The man replies I can see people, but they look like trees, walking. (Mark 8:24). So Jesus lays his hands on him again, and only then does the healing become complete. It took more than one try.

How remarkable this episode of gradual healing is, for Mark. In the other stories Mark tells, things usually happen at lightening speed. His gospel uses the word immediately more than any other sacred author—thirty-four times! There is no waiting around in Mark’s gospel. But here it takes a second touch to free the man’s sight. A parable for us, indeed.

The Scrutinies—three of them—are experiences of the freeing touch of grace, which restores our sight, letting us see good and evil, sin and grace, as they really are. The Scrutinies are repeated so that we will learn to see well. Haste can short-circuit the process. We need to repeat the Scrutinies so that the elect will see sin and grace not just as shadows, trees walking, but in the contours of sharply defined people, places, and events.

After Initiation

The ritual and catechetical events of the initiation process prepare for the sacraments. But they also teach people the skills they will need for living as faithful disciples long after initiation. The goal of initiation is forming disciples who live the Christian life. Initiatory events are not left behind once they are over. Their echoes remain. Their pattern is retained in us, as the template for future experiences. They become part of ourselves as valuable ideas, worthy habits, learned responses, and treasured relationships that will be used and tested again and again in our ongoing human experience.

That is yet another reason why the Scrutinies must be celebrated well. Passionately. And with a clear sense of their purpose. The assembly too, year after year, has the benefit of these rites. The faithful do not receive a laying on of hands year after year—that is for the elect—but  they too can pray for clearer sight. We all need it.

When do you introduce your introduce your inquirers to Scripture? I think for most folks, it’s pretty early on. I try to at least connect the inquirers’ stories with a story from Scripture, even if I don’t pull out a Bible and read the story exactly. Certainly by the time they are showing signs of readiness for the Rite of Acceptance, they should have a rudimentary understanding of the Bible.

That’s why I’ve never liked the optional “Presentation of a Bible” in the Rite of Acceptance. I try to make sure the inquirers have their own Bible and are reading it regularly well before they become catechumens.

It’s easiest for the inquirers if the parish has a supply of Bibles on hand. If you have the budget for it, you can give them away. If budget money is scarce, you could ask the inquirers for a donation or ask the sponsors to buy a Bible as a gift for the inquirers. A paperback version of The New American Bible for Catholics: With Revised New Testament and Revised Book of Psalms is $7.00 on Amazon. And if you order four or more at a time (more than $25.00 worth), shipping is free.

I also think it is important to put an actual Bible in their hands and not a missallette or other lectionary-like resources.

How to read the Bible

To get inquirers started on reading Scripture, first teach them how to navigate. They can always look in the table of contents if they get lost. But here are a couple tricks for finding your way around more quickly.

• If you open the Bible to the very middle, it will usually open to the Psalms or Proverbs.
• If you then open the second half to the middle (so now you have ¾ of the pages in your left hand and ¼ in your right) you will be in the New Testament, probably looking at one of the gospels.
• The four gospels always appear in this order: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• Acts always follows John, although it is the “second half” of the Gospel of Luke.
• Following Acts, we get the major letters of Paul: Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians
• Then, you can remember next letters with this mnemonic: General Electric Power Company (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians)
• After that, you’re on your own. Those are all the tricks I know.

Give the inquirers a list of the upcoming Sunday Gospels and have them read along with the church’s lectionary. Teach them how to read the chapter and verse numbers so they can look up the readings later on their own. Point out to them that the lectionary skips some portions of the Gospel and encourage them to read the missing portions as well.

Have them read the Psalms the same way. Give them a list of the daily or Sunday Psalms from the lectionary, and ask them to read along as the church year progresses. Have them read the entire psalm and not just what’s printed in the lectionary.

How to pray with the Bible

There are probably as many ways to pray with the Bible as there are people who are reading it. Here is a simple process you might use or adapt.

1. Ask God to open your ears and heart.
2. Open the Bible to the reading you want to reflect on.
3. Read the reading through, perhaps even speaking it out loud.
4. Go back and read it a second time, more slowly, and stop when you get to a phrase that moves your heart. Dwell on that phrase.
5. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to better understand the meaning of the phrase. Imagine what it means for your life right now. Stay in that moment for as long as you feel comfortable.
6. Read the entire passage again, perhaps speaking it out loud.
7. Conclude by praying the Lord’s Prayer. Or, if the inquirers do not yet know the Lord’s Prayer, have them pray: “Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us your Word. May I learn to follow you more faithfully.”

What have I left out? Do you have any other tips for teaching the inquirers how to read and pray with the Bible?

The adaptation of the scrutiny rites for child catechumens is confusing (RCIA 291). Instead of clearly labeling the rites as scrutinies, they are called “Penitential Rites (Scutinies).” And even though the title is plural, only one text is given with an instruction to write your own for a second, using the given text as a model. Nothing is said about a third scrutiny. There are nine readings listed as options for the liturgy of the word and, although the traditional Johannine gospels are listed among them, there is no requirement that they be used and no emphasis in the rite on the progressive nature of these three traditional scrutiny gospels.

Most parishes that have child catechumens simply include the children in the regular scrutinies with the adults. If the liturgy is celebrated well, it is as meaningful for the children as it is for the adults.

• Choreographing the Scrutinies
• Don’t catechize in Lent
• What are the proper prayers for the scrutinies?
• 9 Ways to Treat the Elect Like Royalty
• Reckless Love: A Scrutiny Homily
• “God Glasses” for the Man Born Blind – A Scrutiny Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

We all know that we always use the readings from the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent, Year A, for the scrutinies, right? But do you know what Mass prayers to use? They are not the Mass prayers from those Sundays. Instead, whenever the scrutinies are celebrated, we use the Mass prayers for “Christian Initiation: The Scrutinies” (see RCIA 146). You’ll find those in the back of the sacramentary in the section titled “Ritual Masses.”

• Choreographing the Scrutinies
• Don’t catechize in Lent
• 9 Ways to Treat the Elect Like Royalty
• Reckless Love: A Scrutiny Homily
• “God Glasses” for the Man Born Blind – A Scrutiny Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

A number of years ago, I wrote a little book about election (On the Rite of Election, LTP, 1994) for the Forum Essays series. I felt that divine election was an important concept to grapple with, and that—for a variety of reasons—our liturgical celebrations of election were missing the boat.

The main problem at that time seemed to be that the bishop was dominating the event. Election became “all about the bishop” rather than a rite that is “all about God” and God’s giving of a mission to the elect. The praenotanda of the rite clearly tell us that the rite is about divine election, but you’d be hard pressed to discover this from watching most election celebrations unfold. If the uninstructed observer dropped in and was asked to discern what was happening, she’d have said it’s a rite designed to have everyone receive the bishop’s special handshake.

Now, some fourteen years later, I wonder if things have really improved all that much. People did read the book (it’s still in print), and a considerable number of diocesan leaders and committees took its critiques to heart when it first came out. Workshops were offered. Planning teams looked again at how they had adapted the ritual. Some stayed with what they’d done, but many dioceses discontinued the handshake, or took it out of the center of the ritual so that the testimony and signing of the book would stand out better. People thought a bit harder about why we do the things we do.

Unfortunately, not too many bishops read the book. And as new bishops got appointed, they didn’t necessarily look carefully at the rite either. My information is anecdotal, but it seems to me there has been some backsliding. I’ve heard of numerous occasions in recent years where the bishop is a lackluster presider at the Rite of Election and doesn’t seem to understand what it is all about. Their predecessors had put some energy into celebrating election. It was new. Now, it seems to have slid to a level of a low priority. (There are exceptions, but this seems to be the trend.)

So what happens when the bishop doesn’t “get it”? The default setting is, of course, for the bishop to assume that the catechumens are there for a sort of RCIA “graduation” ceremony—a poor substitute for the celebration of God’s vital and life-changing intervention in our own human history, but there we are.

The important question now is: Can we do anything about it? As my esteemed colleague Father Paul Turner has pointed out, the idea of making election the sole initiation rite presided over by the bishop is brand new historically, and may in fact be a bad idea. Some have suggested taking election back to the parishes. On the other hand, having it at the parish doesn’t necessarily make it better. If a diocesan Rite of Election is done well—with the focus placed where it belongs—it can make a positive contribution that folks will bring home with them to their parishes.

Any impetus for improvement has to come from the grassroots. If our celebration of the Rite of Election is going to get better, it will be because somebody has worked at it. The people who participate in diocesan committees or commissions to implement the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults need to put the Rite of Election on the table for discussion again. Communicate with your bishops. Raise theological and pastoral questions. Don’t settle for ho-hum leadership. Ask yourselves, where are we going with this? How do we want election to look a decade from now, a generation from now? Why?

Rehearsal outline:
Sending of the Catechumens for Election

RCIA 106-117

6:30 Before everyone arrives

• Turn on lights and put out microphones.
• Put stand or table for the Book of the Elect in place.
• Place the book and a substantial pen on it.
• Put the lectionary on the ambo.
• Put presider’s script or ritual book on his chair.
• Put the catechumenate director’s script on her chair or pew.
• Place name tags in the pews where you want the catechumens and their godparents to sit.
• If necessary, mark the spots where the catechumens will stand with a piece of masking tape.

7:00 Welcome the participants: the presider, the director of the catechumenate, the godparents, and perhaps the musician. (The catechumens are not present.) Ask the presider, godparents, and catechumenate director to sit in their places. Lead a brief prayer.

7:10 Remind the godparents of these essential points; be lighthearted, but still convey the importance of the information:

• Point out to the godparents that this rite has two primary elements
  • The testimony of the godparents (and the assembly)
  • The signing of the Book of the Elect
• Godparents need to pick up their catechumens from home or meet them in front of the church before Mass.
• Everyone needs to be in their seats 15 minutes before Mass starts.
• From the minute they walk into the church, until the minute the catechumens are dismissed, the godparents need to be in physical contact with their catechumens. A hand on an arm or shoulder at all times.
• It is the godparents’ responsibility to know the details of the rite. They need to project an air of confidence and always reassure the catechumens that things are under control.
• Point out to them that Mass will begin as usual and will be “normal” up through the homily. After the homily ends, they need to be ready.

7:20 Presentation of the candidates

The catechumenate director moves to her microphone and reads her lines at paragraph 111 in the RCIA. (Remember, these lines can be adapted, but you need to do that before rehearsal.)

The presider calls forth the catechumens. He can make a general call (paragraph 111), followed by the name of each catechumen. Or he can make a general call and the director of the catechumenate can call each individual name.

When the godparent hears his catechumen’s name, he should act out taking the catechumen by the arm and walking the catechumen to the spot you have chosen.

MUSIC NOTE: The cantor could chant the names of the catechumens to call them forward.

7:25 Affirmation by the godparents

The presider reads his lines (paragraph 112). If the godparents are going to give extended testimony, the presider would not ask the questions in the text. (Remember, these lines can be adapted, but you need to do that before rehearsal.) If that is the case, instruct the godparents about these things:

• The order in which they will testify. (They don’t need to go in order, but then you need to tell them that also.)
• They need to speak loudly, even if they have a microphone. (Practice a few lines to see how they sound.)
• If you or another member of the team will be working with them on their testimony, tell them when and where.

If you will not be doing extended testimony, have the presider read through the questions and have the godparents respond. Make sure they respond loudly and clearly.

(Remind them to keep a hand on their catechumen.)

MUSIC NOTE: There can be a sung acclamation after the testimonies. If you are doing extended testimonies, perhaps an acclamation after every three or so.

7:35 Affirmation by the assembly

Have the presider ask for the assembly’s affirmation. This can also be an extended testimony if you have time. Or it can be a simple question to which the assembly responds “Yes” or “We do.” However, there is no question in the ritual text. You will need to write one.

7:40 Signing of the book

(If the signing is to take place in the presence of the bishop, it is omitted in the parish Rite of Sending.)

The presider concludes the affirmations with a call to sign the book. You will need to write this; it is not in the ritual text.

The godparents act out escorting their catechumens to the book and handing them the pen to sign with. Tell them what order to go in and how long to wait between signings. Tell them to return to their “tape” spot after their catechumen has signed. Walk it through with each godparent.

(Remind them to keep a hand on their catechumen.)

Point out to the godparents that even though the catechumens will have signed the Book of the Elect, they will not be Elect until the bishop declares them to be.

During the signings, the director of the catechumenate goes to get the lectionary.

MUSIC NOTE: There can be a sung acclamation after each signing. There should be a more extended acclamation after all the signings. You or the director or the presider could process the Book of the Elect (open) through the assembly at this point.

7:50 Intercessions

Note that the intercessions and the prayer over the catechumens will be prayed at this point. (There is no need to actually read through them.)

Point out to the godparents that these are intercessions for the catechumens and not the prayer of the faithful that we usually do at Mass.

(Remind them to keep a hand on their catechumen.)

MUSIC NOTE: The intercessions could be chanted.

Dismissal

The presider reads the dismissal line. (Write one or choose one of the options in the ritual text before rehearsal.)

The director of the catechumenate exits down the center aisle, carrying the lectionary.

Tell the godparents to tell the catechumens to follow the book. Remind them that even though the catechumens will be used to a dismissal, the flow of the liturgy will be new to them and they might be momentarily confused. The godparents should make sure the catechumens know what to do.

After the catechumens have left, the godparents will return to their pews.

MUSIC NOTE: There would ordinarily be an acclamation as the catechumens leave.

8:00 End

Thank the godparents for their time and their commitment. Remind them to be in their seats 15 minutes early. Make sure they have your e-mail address and cell phone number in case they have any questions.

• Testify!
• Are your catechumens ready for the next stage?
• RCIA Discernment: How do you know if they know enough?
• Help your assembly prepare for the Rite of Election

Lent comes early in 2008—February 6. That means that you only have a few weeks to decide who among your catechumens will celebrate the rite of election.

Unless you have a year-round process, you’ve probably already made the decision. In most parishes, anyone who celebrated the Rite of Acceptance this past fall (or even this past Advent!) is expected to become one of the elect and to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. It is difficult, however, to know if those who have been catechumens for only a short time are really ready for the next step in the initiation process. In this year when Lent begins so early, it might be a good time to look more closely at the shortcomings of a nine-month process (which, this year, works out to something more like a three- or four-month process).

Let’s first agree on what we are looking for. The RCIA gives us a list of criteria.

Before the rite of election is celebrated, the catechumens are expected to have undergone a conversion in mind and in action and to have developed a sufficient acquaintance with Christian teaching as well as a spirit of faith and charity. (120)

There are three clear challenges listed there. First, what does a conversion in mind and action look like? Well, that’s hard to answer. I’d have to know your catechumens pretty well. I’d have to know what their lives were like before they started coming to your parish. I’d have to know what they said they were looking for when you asked them at the Rite of Acceptance what it is they asked of God and God’s people. I’d have to watch them in the parish and how they interacted with various parish groups. I’d have to listen to them talk about their faith. I’d have to have long talks with their sponsors.

The next challenge is to see in them a sufficient acquaintance with Christian teaching. The rite says at a minimum, that teaching takes a full liturgical year to unfold. It is not so much a list of precepts and dogmas they have to master. It is a deep understanding of what Jesus meant when he said follow me. Do they know in mind and heart, what it means to follow the cross? I’d have to listen to the catechumens discuss their beliefs. I’d have to observe how they brought their beliefs to bear in difficult times. I’d have to see how they responded to the gifts God has blessed them with. I’d have to see how faithful they were in celebrating the liturgy of the church.

The final challenge is to see in the catechumens a spirit of faith and charity. I’d have to hear them talk about and see them care for those who are less fortunate than they. I’d have to witness an attitude of generosity in them. I’d have to know in my heart that they believed the poor and the outcast are especially loved by God.

Honestly, I just don’t see how it is possible to get to know these things in a few months, especially if you have a large number of catechumens. If you’re feeling the same way, then what can be done at this point? It seems you have only a couple of options. If you have the stomach for it, you might pose these challenges to the catechumens themselves. If you really don’t know them well enough to discern these areas of growth in them (or you know for sure they have not grown in these areas), tell them that. Tell them you cannot in good conscience recommend them for the Rite of Election this year.

Your other option is, perhaps less pastoral, but less stressful on you. Come clean with them about your misgivings. But, offer the catechumens the option of celebrating the Rite of Election in spite of your hesitations. Encourage those who wish, to remain in the catechumenate for another year, but allow those who are determined, to move to the next stage. The reason I suggest this is less pastoral is that those who do go forward will almost certainly fall away after the Easter Vigil. They are the ones most interested in “finishing,” not beginning.

Finally, make a New Year’s resolution that any new inquirers you encounter in the coming year will not be promised a “date” for their initiation until after an in-depth discernment process based on the criteria the RCIA provides.

The Elect are about to join the royal priesthood, and it is time to start getting them used to their royal status. Here are 9 ways to help the Elect enter more fully into their preparation for baptism and Eucharist.

1. Chauffeur them. At a recent Election Rite, a candidate was late for the liturgy because she dropped off her kids—and her godparent—and then went to park the car. She arrived soaked because it was raining. Bestow blessings on the Elect in your community. Be sure their godparents drive them to and from all the rituals of the lenten season and the Triduum.
2. Wine and dine them. The Elect should be in parishioners homes for dinner at least once a week during Lent. And folks in the parish can be delivering hot meals to the homes of the Elect at least a couple times a week. Relieving the Elect of the cooking duties frees them up for the essential prayer and reflection they should be doing.
3. Rehearse the godparents. Don’t burden the new royalty with having to remember all the complex actions of the Election Rite, the Scrutinies, the Holy Saturday Preparation Rites and the Vigil. Put that burden on their godparents, and let the Elect relax and enter into the prayer.
4. Do make them come to all the rites. Royalty do have public duties after all. The duties of the Elect in the lenten season are to enter fully into the dialogue of worship. This is for their own spiritual growth, but just as importantly, it is also for ours. We are reminded of our commitment when we see newcomers taking up the cross.
5. Don’t skip the Holy Saturday Preparation Rites. Make it an hour, a half day, or full day retreat. This is a really important step in the process. There are lots of options to be found at RCIA 185 and following. Adapt what you find there and add in other elements that have worked well for your parish at youth or Cursillo retreats. Invite the whole parish, but “require” the godparents, catechists, and family members to be present.
6. Proclaim a fast. RCIA 185 also says the Elect “should refrain from their usual activities, spend their time in prayer and reflection, and as far as they can, observe a fast.” Remember, this is an extension of the Paschal fast that began on Good Friday. When the royalty fast, of course, so should everyone else. Make sure the whole parish is invited to fast and pray in solidarity with the Elect.
7. Party, party, party. I have been to one too many Vigils that ended with the final blessing and everyone heading home. If the Elect, and the parish, have really been fasting for two days, throw a banquet! Sure, it’s late and everyone is tired. But it’s only once a year. More importantly, it is once in a lifetime for the Elect. Make it night to remember forever.
8. Show up on Easter morning. This is so important for the “new evangelization” that Pope John Paul II talked about. Lots of Catholics only show up on Easter. What will they think if the Elect, still smelling of chrism, show up in their white garments along with hordes of weary revelers who have been celebrating all night long? It will certainly make the once-a-year crowd sit up and take notice of a Catholicism they might have written off as too stodgy.
9. Keep in touch. I am not a big fan of guilting the Elect into showing up for eight more “classes” after Easter, but I do think the godparents ought to be getting them to Mass for every Sunday of Easter. Vacations and trips need to be postponed and rescheduled way in advance to make sure this happens. And, again, parishioners need to be inviting the Elect to their Memorial Day barbecues, Mothers Day parties, and Fishing Opener camping trips.

Have you ever been in love with someone you weren’t supposed to love? Someone your parents or your friends disapproved of?

In the first two paragraphs of today’s Gospel, Jesus does some astounding things.

• He goes to Samaria.
• He walks up to a well where a woman is drawing water.
• He sends off his disciples so he is alone with the woman.
• He speaks to her.
• He does this at noon, when anyone walking by can see.

All of these are very large barriers for a Jewish man to cross in Jesus’ day. His friends clearly disapproved. What does Jesus want so badly that he is willing to engage in such risky behavior?

This story really begins with the wedding at Cana when Jesus reveals himself as the Bridegroom. The Bridegroom is in search of a Bride and he has discovered that the House of Israel only seemed interested in a marriage of convenience. So Jesus stepped out. He went to the part of town he shouldn’t have. He asked out the girl with the reputation. He went to Samaria, across the border, to a place self-respecting Jews did not go.

The very nature of the God is an incessant craving for intimacy. The reason for creation is so God could have an “other” to love. The reason the Son became flesh is so God could feel how we feel, love how we love, want what we want. That God could love us like that seems almost reckless. If God had parents, surely they would not approve.

That reckless love, that intimacy with Jesus, is what Pope John Paul II said catechists are to help people find. If you’ve ever loved someone, you know intimacy is a two way street. You cannot have intimacy all by yourself. Someone has to desire you, to want to be intimate back, to share their life with you. No matter how much we desire Jesus, he desires us more. No matter how much the woman at the well needed Jesus, he needed her more.

In this story, Jesus was reckless in his love. He was willing to cross over physical and social boundaries to get what he needed. He was willing to put up with the questioning and suspicion of his closest disciples to teach them not have such a small love, not to limit their love only to places and people where they feel safe.

The disciples didn’t love the Samaritans. The Samaritans were foreigners who had strange customs and strange foods. They had odd rituals, and weird devotional practices. The disciples were willing to follow Jesus into Samaria, but they didn’t really cross over the boundary. They are like some Americans who go to foreign countries for vacation and get upset when they can’t get eggs and bacon for breakfast. When the disciples went to town to buy food, they probably went to the first century version of McDonalds. It didn’t occur to them to tell people about Jesus while they were there. Who throws pearls before swine after all?

The Woman at the Well, on the other hand, couldn’t wait. She rushed off so fast, she left her water jar, left everything. She ran, totally committed to the love she had discovered. She ran to town to announce the good news. This was the same town the disciples had just returned from. The woman went into the town and returned to the well with hearts to woo. The disciples returned with lunch.

We have Samaritan Women among us today. The Elect are here, asking the same kinds of questions the woman at the well asked. In a moment, we will pray for them that their love remains true, that their commitment is total. We will pray God strengthens all that God loves in them and that they will be healed from all that hinders their love for God.

We can be sure they do love God with a passionate, reckless love that perhaps some people in their lives may not approve of. Their catechists and this community have succeeded in matchmaking them with Jesus, bringing them to that love and intimacy Pope John Paul talked about.

Likewise, we can be sure that Jesus loves them. He loves them, needs them, desires them, wants them as much as he needed the Samaritan woman. He is crossing over their Samarias, sitting at their wells, courting them in broad daylight, not caring who knows that he is crazy in love with them. This Easter Vigil, when the Elect step up to the well of living water, they will become the Bride. Their desire, their need, their thirst for intimacy will be so fully quenched, they will never thirst again.

And we who will be witnesses at this new Cana, at the Easter Vigil’s wedding banquet, we will remember when our own love of Christ was newly in bloom and our own desire was met with overwhelming desire. On that night of overflowing water, we will remember how our baptism quenched all our thirsts. On that night, we will renew our vows, our promise, our total commitment to the love of Christ.

It is a reckless, head over heals kind of love affair we have. It is a love that crosses boundaries and seeks intimacy in places we might not have expected, in places we might not have gone, in people who are not like us, who at first might have seemed foreign and unsafe.

When we read this love story of the Woman at the Well, we hear it differently at different times in our lives. When we are new to love or when we are feeling unlovable, we might imagine ourselves to be the woman, a person thirsting for intimacy, a person parched by the day to day struggles of trying to make sense of life. When we are bored or burnt out or not vibrantly in touch with our faith, we might think we are the disciples, good hearted folks who are a bit clueless and need a little reminding of what it means to be a Catholic and a Christian.

But today, in this place, as we are about to pray for the Elect in our midst, we, the baptized, are like Christ at Cana, at the Wedding Banquet, to whom the Mother of God says, “They have no wine.” In Christ, we can turn water into wine, loneliness and isolation into intimacy and communion. With Christ, we can cross the boundaries of places we might otherwise be afraid to go. Through Christ, we can sit at the well of those who are not like us in so many ways, but are like us in the one way that matters. We all thirst for that deep intimacy that only the Bridegroom can give.

The boundary breaking, intimate, deep-as-a-well love Jesus showed the woman freed her. The love welled up in her to the point she couldn’t contain it. She had to share it. She herself became a well, a fountain overflowing with Christ’s love. She became like Jesus, crossing boundaries, finding those searching for love and telling them to come and see.

When we were plunged into the waters of life, we also became like Jesus, seeking intimacy with all the world, especially in the places that might seem risky and out of bounds—in our enemies, in those who are foreign to us, in those who would persecute us.

We when eat and drink at this wedding banquet every Sunday, we become what we eat. We become the love of Christ for the world.

Do we believe that? Can we imagine it? If so, let’s leave our little water jars and our small love behind and go out to love with astounding, reckless abandon.