Image: The Water of Life Discourse between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well
by Angelika Kauffmann, 17th–18th century
Pope Leo’s Homily for 3rd Sunday of Lent
“St. Mary of the Presentation” Parish (Rome) – 8 March 2026
Sunday Gospel: John 4:5-16,19-26,39-42
Jesus came to the Samaritan town called Sychar, near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well is there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat straight down by the well.
It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘What? You are a Jew and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?’ – Jews, in fact, do not associate with Samaritans.
Jesus replied: ‘If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you: Give me a drink, you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water.’
She answered ‘You have no bucket, sir, and the well is deep: how could you get this living water? Are you a greater man than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?’
Jesus replied:
‘Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again; but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.’
The woman said: ‘Sir, give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water. I see you are a prophet, sir. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, while you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.’
Jesus then said: ‘Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know: for salvation comes from the Jews. But the hour will come – in fact it is here already – when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.’
The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah – that is, Christ – is coming; and when he arrives he will tell us everything.’
Jesus said: ‘I who am speaking to you, I am he.’
Pope Leo’s Homily
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to celebrate this Third Sunday of Lent with you.
It is an important stage in our journey with Jesus until his Passover of passion, death and resurrection.
On this journey, God’s closeness and our life of faith are profoundly intertwined.
By renewing the grace of baptism, the Lord calls us to conversion, as he purifies our hearts with his love and with the charitable works he asks of us/
In this regard, the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman deeply involves us.
Today’s Gospel speaks to us and of us and helping us to review our relationship with God.
The Samaritan woman’s thirst for life and love of the is our own: the thirst of the Church and of all humanity.
We are wounded by sin, yet we are also intimately inhabited by the desire for God.
Like water, we seek Him every time we ask ourselves the meaning of events and every time we feel how much we miss the good we want for ourselves and those around us, even when we do not realize it.
In this search, we meet Jesus.
He is already at the well, when the Samaritan woman finds him alone, under the midday sun, tired from his journey.
Perhaps to avoid the prejudiced looks of the other women, the woman goes to the well at that unusual time.
Jesus sees the marginalization in her heart: her failed marriages and current cohabitation make her unworthy of accompanying the village’s daughters, wives, and mothers.
Yet Jesus sits by the well as if waiting for her.
As Pope Francis loved to say; ‘this surprising encounter is one of the ways, Christ reveals the God of surprises—the most beautiful ones that change lives wherever and however they are encountered’.
This man loved the Samaritan woman in a way that no one had before.
While she was looking for the water every day, he wanted to give her living water, which satisfies every thirst and quenches every restlessness.
This water comes from the heart of God and fulfills every expectation.
Thus, Jesus’ initiative inaugurates the search for a greater good than water itself:
“If you only knew the gift of God”, the Lord tells the woman.
It is not a reproach, but a promise: ” “I am here to make you know God, who makes himself a gift for you”.
Yes, this gift is for you, even though you didn’t know him and considered yourself distant and condemned.
This gift will transform you; you will become a spring of eternal life.
In exchange for your former thirst, full of bitterness and spiritual aridity, the Son of God offers a renewed life, flowing from the Father’s mercy.
Everything is transformed in the encounter with the Lord.
The thirsty woman becomes a source. The outcast becomes a confidant.
The woman full of shame is now filled with joy, and the one who was silent in the village becomes a missionary to all its inhabitants.
She never imagined that she, so disoriented and defeated by life, would one day taste fresh water – a pure gift of God – and become in turn a gift to others.
How does this happen?
It happens by encountering Jesus and dialoguing with him—the living Word of God made flesh for our salvation.
The Gospel account accurately depicts the woman’s growth as she gradually recognizes the fundamental characteristics of Jesus’ identity: man, prophet, Messiah, and Savior.
By being close to Jesus and enjoying his company, the Samaritan woman in turn becomes a source of truth herself.
God’s gift of new water has begun to gush in her heart, and she immediately feels compelled to run back to her village.
Finally free from shame, she is eager to share her Liberator, Jesus, with everyone. He is the One who made all of this possible.
She runs precisely to those who had previously condemned her, but God has forgiven her.
She tells, announces, and bears witness.
The need for water that had driven her to the well now gives way to her desire to share the overwhelming transformation she has experienced.
Dear friends,
Through Baptism, we have all received the grace of a new water that washes away all our faults and quenches all thirst.
Like the Samaritan woman, we are given time during Lent to rediscover the gift of this sacrament which has introduced us to faith and Christian life like a door,
As a good and caring pastor, the Lord awaits us and accompanies us always, wherever we are.
He heals our wounds with mercy and offers himself to us as a gift, enabling us to become in turn a gift for our brothers and sisters in turn.
I am aware that your parish community lives in an area with many challenges. There is no shortage of situations involving marginalization, material poverty and moral poverty.
Adolescents and young people are at risk of being deceived by sellers of death or becoming disillusioned about the future
Many people are waiting for a home and a job that will ensure a dignified life.
They are waiting for safe environments where they can meet, play, and plan beautiful things as a group.
As in the Gospel account at the well, people arrive at this parish wounded in soul, offended in dignity, and thirsty for hope.
It is your urgent and liberating task to demonstrate Jesus’ closeness and his desire to redeem our existence from the evils that threaten it, offering a proposal for a just, true, and full life.
Starting with the Eucharist, the heart of every Christian community, I encourage you to make parish activities a sign of a church that cares for its children like a mother, welcoming, listening to, and supporting them in times of need.
May the Gospel’s word, welling up in us as a source of truth, help us open our eyes and wisely evaluate good and evil, forming free and mature consciences. Dear brothers and sisters, go forward with confidence!
The Lord walks with us and sustains us in every situation.
May the Blessed Virgin always accompany you always as you walk in faith.
May she give you the joy of being humble and courageous heralds of her gospel.
