WEBVTT

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Holy Spirit. Christ is risen. Before I forget,

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a very happy Mother's Day to all mothers and

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godmothers and matushki. I just learned that

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word yesterday, the plural. And, of course, the

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grandmothers and the great -grandmothers and

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however many other generations there might be

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here. Have you ever truly been thirsty? Have

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you been really thirsty? You know, totally dehydrated.

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Perhaps you were working on a hot day out in

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the field or in the yard, or perhaps you were

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hiking. But when you are really dehydrated, when

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you are thirsty, you truly know the importance

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of water. And how wonderful it is to raise that

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glass of crystal clear water to your lips and

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pour it into your parched mouth and realize that

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life -giving nature of water and how essential

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it is for life. And in today's gospel reading,

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it's all about water. And it starts at a well,

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Jacob's well. Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son

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of Abraham. This well is located in Samaria,

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and if you so desired, you could go there this

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very day. You could go to the foot of Mount Gerizim,

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and you could be on a pilgrimage, and you could

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go up to that well, and you could drink from

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the water that is in Jacob's well. Well, Jesus

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arrives. at Jacob's well at noon. And being wearied

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from his journey, he is thirsty and desires a

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drink of water. And there is a Samaritan woman

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there. And Jesus says to her, give me a drink.

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And a dialogue, a conversation begins between

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the woman whose name is Fotini, or perhaps Svetlana,

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depending on your point of view. And Jesus, talks

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to Svetlana and asks her for this water, and

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she brings him water, but first they talk about

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the difference between living water and physical

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water. And Jesus says of this difference, whoever

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drinks of this water, meaning the physical water,

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will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the

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water that I shall give him will never thirst,

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but the water that I shall give him will become

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in him a fountain of water springing up into

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everlasting life. And Jesus is talking about

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spiritual water. And just as our bodies need

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physical water, so too our souls need spiritual

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water. thirst for God. David speaks of this in

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Psalm 42, saying, as the deer pants for the water

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brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul

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pants for God, for the living God. Blaise Pascal

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said that there is a God -shaped vacuum in the

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heart of every man which cannot be filled by

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any created thing, but only by God the Creator,

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made known through Jesus Christ. Our souls long

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for this living water. We need this living water.

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We need the Holy Spirit. And just as the holy

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apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and

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walked in God's will, so we too are to be are

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to take that area, that vacuum in our hearts,

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and to fill it, to ask God to fill it, to have

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the Holy Spirit dwell in our hearts, to drink

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from that well that has living water and be filled

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with the Holy Spirit. And Jesus says to Fotini,

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but the hour is coming and now is. When the true

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worshipers will worship the Father in spirit

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and in truth, for the Father is seeking such

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to worship him. God is spirit, and those who

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worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

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So just as our bodies need physical water, so

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our souls need to be filled with living water.

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So why are they sometimes not? What happens?

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Because all of us choose to drink from other

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wells at times in our life. We don't go to God

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in prayer when we really need to. We get distracted.

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There are entertainments. There are wells that

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fill us with that temporarily fill our thirst.

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But they will not fill it eternally. And yet,

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somehow, we still go back to those wells. It's

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good for us to ask ourselves, what wells are

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we drinking from? There is a well that we can

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drink from that is from God. And there is a well

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that we can drink from which is all about me.

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It is about... and my life and my feelings and

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my thoughts. It has to do with what I want. And

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sometimes we even tell God what he should do

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because we think we know better than he does.

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And these are wells that will not spring up to

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eternity. And then there are these wells of thought

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that are in the world, ways of thinking, if you

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will. As a teenager, I drank from such a well,

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a group that I affiliated with at that time taught

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about reincarnation. Perhaps you know what reincarnation

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is, the believing that a soul could come back

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in various bodies in various lifetimes, living

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many lives as different people. And let me be

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clear that we all have one life, we have one

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soul, we have one body that's given to us from

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God, and we live that life, and that reincarnation

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does not happen. But at that time, I chose to

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drink from that well of thought. And I was encouraged

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to go inward and to seek out those past lives

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that were inside me. And I convinced myself,

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that I was the reincarnated soul of Captain James

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Cook. And I really believed it. And I thought,

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yes, I could see myself on the stern of the ship

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with the wind blowing through my hair. And I

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walked around and told people that I was the

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reincarnation of James Cook. Well, I don't believe

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that any longer. in case you were wondering.

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But drinking from different wells sometimes can

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lead us to self -delusion, where we trick ourselves,

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or perhaps others tricked us, or perhaps it's

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a combination of all the above, maybe even some

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darkness involved in it. It tricks us into this

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delusion where we choose to believe something

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that is not true. And we really believe it, but

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it is not true. And I call this well the all

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about me well because it's usually focused on

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something about you that gets you to think about

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just you. And it could be even physical heritage.

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It doesn't have to be spiritual heritage, but

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it's all about me. And our eyes are not placed

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on God. And so ultimately, since our eyes are

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not placed on God, we go thirsty again. But there

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is only one well that will give you living water,

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and that is the church. The church founded by

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our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, established

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by the holy apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit

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on Pentecost, which we very soon will celebrate

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here. your eyes on you. But that well, the well

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that we come to today, the well where we enter

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into worship of the one true God, this will focus

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our eyes on God. And how much better that we

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would find God's will for our life. What a better

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place we'll end up in if we listen to God's will

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and go where he would direct us than to trust

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in ourselves. So don't settle for this water

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of the world in the many temporary wells, the

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ones that only quench your thirst today. Instead,

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we can go to the well of living water, which

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will bring us into God's presence now as well

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as for eternity. It will lead us away from pride

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and self -will. and lead us to humility and seeking

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God's will for our life. And instead of a self

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-directed life, we will learn step by step to

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lead a God -directed life. So let us follow the

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example of Saint Fotini, who chose to follow

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Christ and to drink this living water. May we

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determine to strive more and more to drink from

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that well. Christ is risen.