For each of us who are engaged with public ministry we are often readily identified by what we do or the roles we have. This is understandable even if at times frustrating because we know that each of us is more than just what we do. We also know from within ourselves that the external face of ministry only has meaning because of what happens at the depth of who we are. Vocation to ministry flows from encounter with Christ. It is that encounter that transforms.

As I write, the Gospel of the preceding Sunday was that known as the Samaritan Woman or the Woman at the Well (Jn. 4: 1- 42). For the woman at the centre of the narrative , it is the encounter with Jesus that transforms. In absolute love, Christ holds both her goodness and her vulnerabilities. In the conversation that ensues, the longing to share with others what has happened in her grows (mission). As these others eventually assert that they no longer believe because of what she has told them but because they have now seen for themselves, she is led to letting go of any sense of control over the others and the awareness of overwhelming grace.

Lent is a time for our being immersed in overwhelming grace. That encounter with Christ is always there. This season bears the insistent invitation to be profoundly aware of that encounter. The story of the woman at the well speaks to us because it is our the story – encounter, healing , mission, letting go.

May the Lenten journey of each us be peaceful, prayerful and joyous.