RCIA, The First Scrutiny
John 4: 5-42
I think we all recognize that water is a critical resource for life. We have been through a pretty dry year, and as we are about to enter spring, the need for water is clearly evident. What if, instead of depending on periodic rains, the water for life was always present, always abundant?
The symbol presented to us in today’s gospel is just that – living water. Natural waters come to us from outside ourselves and they are soon spent, never reaching the deeper wants of our being. However, the “living water” that Christ gives originates from the very depths of our being, making the soul not a basin collecting water brought to it from outside itself, but a fountain springing, gushing, bubbling up and flowing forth within us, ever fresh, ever living.
Today, we celebrate the first of three scrutinies for the elect of our RCIA Class. The second and third scrutinies will be celebrated next Sunday and the one after.
Two weeks ago, this class celebrated the Rite of Election at the Cathedral. Now, their path of initiation takes on a new complexion. Its focus changes from one of formation to one of purification and enlightenment. For this they undergo the Scrutiny Rites.
The Scrutinies are prayers for healing, for liberation, and for forgiveness which all of us offer on behalf of the elect. They each deal with sin in a different way. But while the scrutinies deal with the acknowledgement of sin, their focus is on God’s love.
The scrutinies have a two-fold purpose: first, to heal all that is “weak, defective or sinful,” and second, to strengthen all that is “upright, strong, and good.” In these rites, we ask God to assist our RCIA candidates embrace the love of God; giving them strength against the power of sin.
Each scrutiny uses a different symbol to connect the spiritual reality with our material nature; that is what symbols do. The first scrutiny uses the symbol of living waters that quench our basic thirst (this symbol is unfolded in today’s gospel reading -- the Samaritan Woman at the Well). The second scrutiny uses the symbol of light for our blindness (and next week this will build from the gospel reading of The Man Born Blind). And finally, the third scrutiny has as its symbol the gift of the fullness of life (and for this we use the gospel reading of The Raising of Lazarus).
Our candidates have made an important choice in their lives: a choice to follow the Lord as disciples in the company of the Christian community. These final days of preparation involve us, as community, giving them the support they need to make this commitment.
Today’s celebration of the first scrutiny welcomes God’s presence into the lives of these elect. It acknowledges the power of grace over sin; that power which was so clearly evident for the Woman at the Well.
And as with the Samaritan Woman, our hearts are prepared for the infusion of this living water by naming the sin in our lives and affirmatively rejecting its power over us. That was why Jesus told the Samaritan Woman to go get her husband: He confronted her with her sin. Jesus had aroused her mind and stirred her emotions, but He also had to touch her conscience, and that meant dealing with her sin.
During these next few weeks we ask our elect to ponder the significant issues in their lives. We ask them to name and confront sin. The conversion of the Samaritan Woman and the townspeople was effected by the force of Jesus’ word, by the receipt of life giving water. And so it is with us and with these elect. And to effect a similar conversion for these elect, the Church turns to its practice of liturgical prayer, to the Mass. For what is the Liturgy of the Mass other than that pure, inexhaustible source of "living water" from which all who thirst can freely draw the gift of God.
This life giving water is gift; gift stemming from the Word of God as proclaimed at Mass. In a few moments then, let us, as community, join fully in this first scrutiny and join our voices with those of our candidates as we pray for God’s blessing upon them.