This week's readings Week of Mar. 3 - 9 Sunday, March 3, 2002 Reading I: Exodus 17:3-7 Reading II: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 Gospel: John 4:5-42 Monday, March 4, 2002 Reading I: 2 Kings 5:1-15ab Gospel: Luke 4:24-30 Tuesday, March 5, 2002 Reading I: Daniel 3:25, 34-43 Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35 Wednesday, March 6, 2002 Reading I: Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19 Thursday, March 7, 2002 Reading I: Jeremiah 7:23-28 Gospel: Luke 11:14-23 Friday, March 8, 2002 Reading I: Hosea 14:2-10 Gospel: Mark 12:28-34 Saturday, March 9, 2002 Reading I: Hosea 6:1-6 Gospel: Luke 18:9-14 Pope's Prayer Intentions February General Intention Leadership by Catholic hospitals in defending human life and dignity: That Catholic hospitals may stand out in relieving suffering and proclaiming the Gospel of life and respect for every person. February Mission Intention Vocations in Cambodia and Laos: That the Christians of Cambodia and Laos may promote priestly and religious vocations with intensified devotion.

Don't just hear the Good News:

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

Ask someone if they believe that people landed on the moon, and usually they will say "yes." They've seen the 1969 video footage sent back from the moon.

They've read about it in magazines, newspapers, or history books. They may have visited museums where artifacts from the moon program are on display. Some may have met the astronauts.

Or ask someone if they believe that there was a World War II, or if President Lincoln was assassinated, or if the United States declared its independence in 1776, or if the world is made of atoms, or if TV works or if computers are helpful, and you'll get the same answer: "yes."

We have no problem accepting and believing so many things, but we don't have direct proof for much of it. We weren't on the moon. We didn't fight in the war, we didn't sit in Ford's theatre, we didn't sign the Declaration of Independence, we can't see atoms, we don't understand how TV works or what makes computers so useful.

Yet we don't doubt such things. We believe them on the testimony of other people, whether written, oral or by other means.

Readings for Third Sunday of Lent (March 3) Exodus 17:3-7 Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-7, 8-9 Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 John 4:5-42

We take them on faith.

The people who came out to meet Jesus on the testimony of the Samaritan woman at the well did so because they came to see for themselves what she had been talking about. "I think he is the Christ," she told them.

"Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, 'He told me everything I have done.'" They took on faith that what she said was true, and then because the news was so important they came out to see him for themselves.

They weren't content just to hear the news, they wanted to be part of the experience!

Saint Paul teaches that "the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." That love of God is real and alive, just as Jesus who died on the cross is real, and just as by his resurrection he lives forever.

The same can be true of us who believe in Jesus now, in 2002, during this season of Lent. Each week we come to celebrate together the deep mysteries of our faith: the gift of baptism and our life as members of the Church; the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Catholic life; the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; and the Gospel which he taught us as a pattern for our living.

We don't come to church for history lessons, or just to hear some news. We come to have a full, living experience of the living Christ, the one those Samaritans recognized as the Messiah who was coming, "the one called the Christ . . . the savior of the world." Though his loving mercy Jesus preaches the Good News, and he makes us a part of it.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.