If Only You Knew (Homily Starter) by Kathy Worotny, Heart of Compassion International Faith Community, Windsor, ON, Canada, March 23, 2017

Karen Worotny, with stole sharing homily starter with Heart of Compassion Community,Windsor, ON,Canada

I see the woman standing near the well,

she's hardened, she is filled with fear, she's not happy with her life.

She longs for inner peace and freedom

to move her towards the grace of new life.

If only you knew what God is offering.

Jesus has asked her for a drink of water.

She responded harshly, as if He has no business interrupting

her moments of pondering the misery of her life.

Her fear of being alone has been projected as anger

towards Jesus.

If only you knew what God is offering.

Jesus speaks so gently to this woman at the well,

If only you knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying Give me a drink, and I would give living water.

This living water is a gift that will soften her soul,

a gift that will warm her heart

a gift that will enlighten her existence.

This living water is an invitation to let Jesus come into her soul.

If only you knew what God is offering.

She has a longing to know the Messiah

and to have a relationship with Him.

Fear inhibits her, she has given her all in her relationships in the past

and she has been left alone to start again.

Can she dare to trust again.  Can she let go of the pain and emptiness

to begin a relationship with this man at the well.

If only you knew what God is offering.

When this man tells her that if she drinks from this water

she will never thirst again.

She pictures herself as a fragile vessel. cracked

yet still able to hold water from the well.

It is revealed to her that her life is an earthen vessel

longing to be filled

Give me a drink of that water Sir

so I may never thirst

let me see the treasure that is within me being filled by this water.

Make me cherish the tender beginnings of this life with You as my Saviour.

Help me to recognize the stirrings that are invitations

to become one with you.

Help me transform myself to become whole again

that I may once again love life and live life

without being perfect in everyone's eyes except yours.

If only you knew what God is offering.