Plato’s famous metaphor of the cave tells how people live in darkness and see only shadows, believing them to be reality. One day, a person is released from the cave and discovers the light outside, and he returns to try to explain it to those living there. However, those still living in the darkness refused to listen or believe.

This Third Sunday of Lent, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at the well who is burdened, isolated, and carrying a complicated past. He offers her acceptance and living water. Like her, we come to Mass weighed down by our own burdens, and leave transformed. The Church is our well, and Christ waits there to strengthen us through the Sacraments and send us back into the world as witnesses of peace, mercy, and hope.