“Transformed by Hope” is proposed as a space of listening and discernment on the Sunday Gospels that will accompany our Lenten journey.

The initiative, promoted by the UISG Women Theologians, is situated within the horizon opened by the Jubilee and seeks to prolong its grace, continuing to live our vocation as pilgrims of hope amid the challenges of the present time.

Each week, in the light of the Word of God, we will contemplate an aspect of the conversion to which we are called, allowing ourselves to be guided by the Spirit on the journey toward Easter. It is an invitation to allow evangelical hope to shape our way of believing, of living communion, and of participating in the mission of the Church.

During the third week, the commentary on the Gospel of John (4:5–42) is prepared by Sr. Mariana Zossi, OP.

Every year, the first two Sundays of Lent bring us the account of the temptations and the transfiguration according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They present the beginning and end of Jesus' path of passion: the presence of evil that incites us to reject God's plan for our lives and the encounter with the glorious Lord who strengthens us and gives us the grace to continue walking faithfully in our daily lives.

From the third Sunday onwards, each cycle takes a different path towards Easter. Cycle A, which we are walking through now, follows an order in the baptismal itinerary using three elements with great symbolic significance: water, light and life. On this third Sunday, we will focus our attention on water as a sign of God's presence on our journey. Let us take a look.

A second key: we are all invited to leave the jar by old Jacob's well because we have experienced definitive salvation. We cannot always look back; our faith and commitment must always take a step forward. This is a sign of health and maturity in our lives. The opposite would be the experience of the people of Israel in the desert... let us return to Egypt or remain in the desert without moving forward. It is comfortable, but... our life becomes a plateau!

Finally, Jesus appears at the well, ‘weary from his journey,’ thirsty and asking the Samaritan woman for a drink. If we pay close attention to the text, what John ultimately conveys is that Jesus thirsts to communicate, to give himself, to make everyone know the ‘gift of God,’ to drink the water of life; he thirsts to save humanity.

The final key: how wonderful it would be to understand Jesus' proposal of the kingdom as a proposal for humanity! May the encounter he proposes always lead us to be more fully ourselves: happy women and men, with words, who question their lives, who love and risk themselves for what they know to be true, people who seek, through study, research, and commitment, the good of others, beings who are not alone, but who live with others in respect and selfless service.

May the Lord renew in us today, on this Lenten journey, this thirst for humanity.