In the March 8th, Women’s Day, the Pope dedicated his Angelus reflection to the Gospel of the Samaritan woman, one of the greatest evangelical pages. The Pontiff recalled “the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the healing of the man born blind and the resurrection of Lazarus which since the first centuries of the history of the Church have illuminated the path of those who will receive baptism at Easter and begin a new life”. These songs, he explained, «are listened to again by the whole community because they help to become Christians or, if you already are, to be so with more authenticity and more joy.”
At the center of the meditation is the meeting between Jesus and the woman at the well. “Jesus is God’s answer to our thirst”, said the Pope, recalling that “the encounter with him activates in the depths of each one a source of water that wells up for eternal life”. A spiritual search that continues today: “How many people around the world are still looking for this spiritual source today.”
To express this search, the Pope quoted the words of the young Etty Hillesum: «”Sometimes I can reach her” she said». «More often it is covered by stones and sand. Then God is buried. Then we have to dig it up again” he continues. Hence the invitation: “Dear ones, there is no energy better spent than that which we dedicate to freeing the heart.”
Commenting on the Gospel, the Pope also recalled the surprise of the disciples in seeing Jesus talking to the woman: «They have such a hard time feeling his mission as their own that the master has to provoke them. “Don’t you say maybe another 4 months and then comes the harvest?”. Behold, I say to you, raise your eyes and look at the fields that are already turning golden”
An invitation also addressed to the Church today: «Lift your eyes and recognize God’s surprises. In the fields four months before the harvest you can see almost nothing. But where we see nothing, grace is already in action and the fruits are ready to be harvested.”
Jesus, the Pope explained, he does not ignore the Samaritan woman as the customs of the time would have suggested: «Jesus speaks to her, listens to her, gives her credit without ulterior motives and without contempt». And it is precisely this attention that many seek in the Christian community: “How many people seek in the Church this same delicacy, this availability, and how beautiful it is when we lose the sense of time to pay attention to those we meet.”
From that meeting was born a testimony that spreads: “Thus the Samaritan woman becomes the first of many evangelizers”, and thanks to her word “many through her testimony come to meet Jesus and in them too faith flows like pure water”.
In the final part of the Angelus the Pope then made an appeal for peace in the face of news of violence coming from the Middle East. “Let us raise our humble prayer to the Lord so that the roar of the bombs may cease, the weapons should be silent and a space for dialogue may open up in which the voice of the people can be heard”, he said, entrusting “this plea to Mary, Queen of Peace”.
Finally he remembered International Women’s Day: «We renew the commitment which for us Christians is based on the Gospel for the recognition of the equal dignity of men and women. Unfortunately, many women are still discriminated against since childhood and suffer various forms of violence.”
