This Sunday we celebrate the first of three Scrutinies for the Elect - those "elected" by the Church (in parishes) for baptism this Easter. The "scrutinies" are moments of spiritual introspection when the Elect "scrutinise" themselves to see if they are ready to celebrate the sacraments of initiation - Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.

By their own internal self-scrutiny they call the rest of the Church to scrutinise themselves in this Lenten period so that we too may be renewed in body, mind and spirit as we journey towards Easter with them.

To help the Elect in this process of self-scrutiny the Church in her liturgy assigns passages from the gospel of St John in which Jesus enters into personal dialogue with people - the Samaritan woman (3rd Sunday), the man born blind (4 th Sunday), and the raising of Lazarus from the dead (5 th Sunday), in anticipation of Easter.

This dialogical process is the means whereby Jesus communicates himself to the Samaritan woman; he is offering her "good news". This is an important biblical teaching: Jesus saves us by entering into dialogue with us. Through dialogue Jesus offers himself as life-giving water and this is "good news".

The whole movement in today's gospel must be carefully noted. First of all, Jesus initiates the conversation; he befriends the Samaritan woman.

This is deeply biblical stretching all the way back to Moses in the book of Exodus: God always initiates the encounter with us and then asks us to follow. Next, Jesus makes an offer - " If you only knew what God is offering you ". Jesus never thrusts himself upon us; he leaves us free to respond.

The free offer of Jesus and the free response of the believer stand in contrast to our violent Caribbean history in which the cross was planted by force and not friendship. We hope that never again will a historian write in reference to our Christian past: "They [the missionaries] fell on their knees and then on the aborigines".

RESPONSIBILITY AND TRUTH

This offer of Jesus ends in faith, and faith impels us to worship. But it is a particular kind of worship for " those who worship must worship in spirit and truth. " In communicating himself to us, then, Jesus puts truth as the highest criterion of the good news. All these aspects must be borne in mind when we think of evangelisation.

Last Monday, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter on communications entitled "The Rapid Development". In this letter the Pope calls the Church to use all available means of social communications to proclaim the gospel and to promote truth.

In presenting the gospel then, the religious media must be friendly; we must not frighten or threaten people into becoming Jesus' disciples. The religious media must continue the offer Jesus made to the Samaritan woman respecting the freedom of its listeners or viewers.

The media must also present the facts, even when these facts are painful, as in the case of abuse of minors by clergy. But " the truth will set you free " (Jn 8:32 ) - it will free the media to perform its tasks responsibly in the world and retain its credibility as an instrument of the gospel.

As Jesus communicates himself to the Elect more deeply during the Scrutinies, let us also communicate him to the wider world through responsible and efficient use of all means of social communications.