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The Easter Cycle
Friday
We assemble again today in the sanctuary of St. Lawrence, the patron and model of catechumens.
Near the church there stood, in ancient times, an open fountain. Today’s liturgy refers
to the waters of baptism, “springing up into life everlasting” (Gospel). Today we join the newly
baptized Christians and stir up the grace of baptism within ourselves.
Moses struck the rock in the desert, and water flowed forth to relieve the thirst of the people
of Israel and to save them from death in the desert (Epistle). The rock is an image of Christ
(1 Cor 10:4). The rod which Moses used to strike the rock is a figure of the cross upon which
Christ died. The water which flowed from the rock, foreshadowed the grace which flows from
the sacraments. We receive first the graces of the sacrament of baptism, which the neophytes
now await with great longing.
Just as the water from the rock refreshed the Israelites in the desert and saved them
from a terrible death from thirst and gave them the strength to continue and finish their
perilous journey to the land of promise, so the waters of baptism strengthen and refresh us,
the new Israel, that we may continue our journey through the wilderness of our earthly life
to the promised land of heaven, guided and protected by the pillar and the cloud of God’s
providence. Christ the rock accompanies us. Day by day we may refresh ourselves at the
life-giving waters which Christ earned for us by His life and death. This lifegiving water
comes to us through the Mass and the sacraments. From the precious wounds opened in
His sacred body by the scourge, by the nails of the crucifixion, and by the lance of the centurion,
this lifegiving water flows down upon us in a continuous stream. Deprived of this
water from the Rock (Christ), men would languish and die in the wilderness. “He that shall
drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst forever” (Gospel). What a wonderful
promise! We discover the Rock which gives this precious water when we are baptized. It
is the water of salvation. The devout Christian believes and is grateful. Let us engrave the
image of this Rock in our hearts.
Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman the mystery of the water that gives eternal life
(Gospel). Fired by a zeal for the salvation of souls, He seats himself by Jacob’s well to await the
approach of the Samaritan, the sinner. He offers her the water which He alone can give. He assures
her that he who drinks of this water will not thirst again. It is the water of eternal life, which
He gives to the soul of the Samaritan woman, changing her from a sinner into a disciple. The
woman leaves her waterpot standing by the well; she no longer has any thought of the natural
water she came to draw. After she has tasted the living water which Christ gives her, the natural
water no longer has any attraction for her. A new world has been opened before her eyes. She
breaks with sin and becomes a new creature, nourished by the spirit of Christ. This Samaritan
woman is an image of the catechumens and of us who have been baptized.
At Jacob’s well, which for us is the sacraments and the tabernacle, Christ waits for us,
who are unworthy sinners. He wishes to save us by means of the living water which He
will give us. Having been allowed to drink from this water, we leave our pot standing at
the well, as did the Samaritan woman. We leave behind us the old man with his outlook
on life, his ambitions, and his base motives. Only one thing now has any value in our eyes:
the life of grace as children of God, a life filled with love for God and for souls. We wish to
become disciples of Christ and apostles of His grace and His doctrine. We indeed are like
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