By Christina Semmens

“O that today you would hearken to his voice! Harden not your hearts.” ~ Psalm 95:7-8

Are You Grumbling?

The first reading from Exodus recounts the story of the Israelites grumbling against Moses in the desert after being brought out of Egypt. We are now three weeks into Lent, and if you are anything like me, you probably have done a bit of grumbling towards God. Are you irritated at having to remember the Church’s Lenten practices? Or perhaps you are angry because Lent isn’t going as well as you had hoped? Or maybe life is such that you are doubting the truth of God’s promises—just like the Israelites did in the desert?

Whatever it might be, grumbling has a cost. Our hearts become hardened.

Hope Does Not Disappoint

What causes hearts to soften? Hope. 

And how do we know hope does not disappoint?

Paul’s Letter to the Romans plays a vital role in helping us on our Lenten journey because he lays it out for us. Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit has poured the love of God directly into our hearts. He tells us that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. But, most importantly, the gift of God’s Son is the ultimate proof of how much God loves each one of us.

God’s love is unconditional, everlasting, without measure, and eternal. Therefore, God’s love is the hope that does not disappoint—even if it might not seem like it in the midst of our daily life.

Asking For Living Water

If anyone should have been grumbling against God or thought God’s promises were disappointing, it was the Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at the well in the Gospel today.

I’m pretty sure her life wasn’t going as she had hoped it would. She had already had five husbands and was living with another man who wasn’t her husband. She was an outcast in her town, which caused her to go out to the well in the heat of the day. Despite all this, her heart was not hardened. When she met Jesus, she showed this openness of heart by immediately asking for the living water of which He speaks. 

Then, when Jesus asks her to get her husband and she replies that she does not have one, Jesus proves He is the Messiah promised in Scripture by telling her everything about her life, and then He eventually shares with her that He is the One called the Christ. Because her heart is open, she believes and then goes immediately to tell the entire town about Jesus. 

Lent is an opportunity for conversion and transformation. But for those things to happen, we need to harden not our hearts. We can soften our hearts by meditating upon a couple of questions:

• Is my heart open to God’s voice?
• If so, am I asking for the living water that only He can give?
• Am I willing to stop grumbling, and instead trust in God’s promises? 

The woman at the well heard Jesus’ voice and immediately responded. Will we do the same?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, grant me the grace of an open heart. Help me hear Your voice so I might immediately ask for the living water that only You can give. May I have the clarity to see whatever is causing me to grumble against You. Strengthen me with the courage I need to embrace any cross present in my life, so I may always trust in Your promises, secure in the knowledge that hope does not disappoint.

Call to Action:

Resolve to spend time in silence this week so you might more easily hear God’s voice in your daily life. Ask Him to help you set aside anything that is causing you to grumble against Him and doubt His promises. Finally, ask Jesus to give you the living water that will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

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