Abbey Church

(Lippold wire sculpture “Trinity” with Burch-Korrodi corpus)

Fr. Damian Kearney, for many years the editor of the monastery’s “Newsletter,” published this reflection in April of 1987, touching on themes that serve us well as we enter into Holy Week.

Dear Friends and Oblates of Portsmouth,

Each Sunday during Lent we are given special insights into the meaning of the Easter mystery in the scriptural readings. The great figures from the Old Testament portrayed in the first lessons – Adam, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, and so on – all foreshadow some aspect of the redemptive plan brought to fruition in the incarnate Word. Likewise, the Gospel passages show more directly the specific role Jesus plays as each incident is described and how it relates to us on our path to salvation: the temptation in the desert, the Transfiguration, the Samaritan woman at the well, the cure of the blind man and the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

The incident of the Samaritan woman is particularly significant in what it has to tell us of our need for redemption and the means of achieving it, which is what Lent and Easter are all about. To be reconciled with God from whom we have been separated by the original sin of the first man and woman, we are in need of the life-giving water of Baptism. And the first step to be taken as we make our journey back to God is to gain an awareness of guilt, of our sinful state, and the necessity of rebirth. Before Jesus could give the Samaritan woman the unfailing water of his Word, he had to bring her to a realization of her sinful state. And a sinner she certainly is since she has had five men in her life and is currently living with a sixth. In Jesus, she recognizes a prophet, but before the encounter is over, she will acknowledge Him as the long awaited Messiah. Her quest for salvation and her desire for faith are rewarded by Jesus’ disclosure to her of his messianic identity in much the same way as he reveals himself to the man born blind who after being cured by Jesus is driven from the temple. The exact nature of the Messiah‘s mission requires further instruction. Like the Apostles and the Jews of the time, she expected a world conqueror who would make the Chosen Race, as well as the Samaritans who also worshiped the one true God, the number one nation and people, lording it over all others. Not so, for as Jesus explains, “God is spirit, and they that adore him must adore him in spirit and in truth.“ The era of temple worship itself was about to end with the inception of the messianic reign.

The words of Jesus effect a conversion in the Samaritan woman; this is the unfailing water that he is able to offer. She is not in the category of Gentile or Jew – in fact, she is despised as worse than a Gentile since Samaritans were regarded as turncoats, collaborating with their conquerors and guilty of “miscegenation.“ Because of her status, she makes an act symbolic of fallen humanity in need of the forgiveness that only baptism can give. In her elation at Jesus‘ revelation to her of his identity, she symbolically leaves behind the water jar containing the ordinary well water, and rushes off to spread the good news to the townsfolk, just as the Apostles later will do when their ministry begins and as the shepherds in Bethlehem had done at the birth of Jesus.

Tabernacle at Easter

Easter is the celebration of our renewal in Jesus Christ and in the Word he left us; this word is given sacramental form in the water of baptism, and during the Easter service an important feature is the renewal of our baptismal promises by which we reaffirm our commitment to a life of Christian discipleship. Lent is the period of preparation which should make us better able to make these promises through a deeper faith, a stronger conviction and a more determined effort to follow in the path of Christ. The final weeks of Lent can provide us with the time for a closer look at ourselves, for a renewed effort to bring our lives into conformity with what is expected of us as human beings and as Christians.

Nowadays, we hear much of making our Lenten observance something positive, and this is a good thing, but there should also be an element of renunciation, of “giving up“ as well as of “giving.“ We are specifically told that “unless you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.“ There has to be some element of self-denial, some discomfort in the practice of our faith if we are to be true followers of Christ. Before Easter comes Good Friday, before the triumph and glory of resurrection comes the Cross of Calvary, and as the writer of the Imitation reminds us, “If we would be with Christ in glory, we must be fellow with him in pain.“

And so it is important for us during the season to abstain from some of the things which we normally partake of and legitimately enjoy, whether it be a food, drink, entertainment, travel, or any of the many kinds of activity that are not essential to our existence, that for a time we can do without. These can become positive means of identifying ourselves with the Cross of Christ in the “little way“ of ordinary life. And if at times we lose heart and are in need of encouragement, we can draw inspiration again from the author of the Imitation of Christ, “Bear the cross, and it will bear thee.”

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