The Gospels relate many meetings between Jesus and the men and women of His day. A common feature of all these narratives is the transforming power present and manifest in these encounters with Jesus, inasmuch as they initiate an authentic process of conversion, communion and solidarity. Among the most significant is the meeting with the Samaritan woman Cf. Jn. 4:5-42.

Jesus calls her in order to quench His thirst, a thirst that was not only physical but, as Saint Augustine said: “He who asked for a drink was thirsting for the faith of that woman.”

By saying to her “Give me a drink” Jn.4:7 and speaking to  her about living water, the Lord awakened in the Samaritan woman a question, almost a prayer for something far greater than she was capable of understanding at the time: “Sir, give me this water, that I might not thirst”  Jn. 4:15. The Samaritan woman is in fact asking for the living water of which her divine visitor speaks. When Jesus reveals to her that He is indeed the Christ Cf. Jn. 4:26, the Samaritan woman feels impelled to proclaim to the other townspeople that she has found the Messiah Cf. Jn. 4:28-30.

Jesus continues to invite us to a closer relationship with Him. “Come and see” Jn. 1:39.

May this book of prayer initiate many authentic processes of conversion, communion and solidarity.

 F. B. Henry,
Bishop of Calgary