Here in the desert of Lent, the Lord brings us to the oasis of Jacob’s well. The Samaritan woman came at noon to fill her water jar. Had she been without water all morning? Perhaps she came at noon to avoid people who gossiped about her and her five husbands. We can use our Gospel imagination and suppose that she came to the well dry, thirsty, and ashamed. But something amazing happened: she had an encounter with Christ.
This scene is reminiscent of the sacrament of Reconciliation. The woman is alone with Christ. It is a place of honesty. Christ knows all her sins, and He tells them to her. Later she joyfully witnesses to the townspeople: “He told me everything I have done” (John 4:39). It’s like a live, in-person examination of conscience. Then she is cleansed and quenched by living water. We can infer this because she left her water jar at the well; she did not need it any longer. Jesus had given her this living water: “whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).
She tasted the same water that the Israelites drank from the rock in Horeb: “Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink” (Exodus 17:6). Later, after Jesus’s death on the cross, the same living water poured forth from His side: “one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out” (John 19:34).
“When the grace of the Holy Spirit enters a soul and is established there, it gushes forth more powerfully than any other spring; it neither ceases, dries up, nor is exhausted. And the Savior, to signify this inexhaustible gift of grace, calls it a spring and a torrent; He also calls it gushing water, to indicate its force and impetus.” – St. John Chrysostom
We too can receive living water by being open to receiving the Holy Spirit, who is sometimes described as water: “I will pour out water upon the thirsty ground, streams upon the dry land; I will pour out my spirit upon your offspring, my blessing upon your descendants” (Isaiah 44:3).
This week, consider asking Jesus to pour out His living water of grace upon you. Seek to encounter Him personally in some way, such as listening to Him closely in prayer, reading His Word, or adoring Him in the Blessed Sacrament. Ask Him to quench the places in your life that are tired, dry, and spent with His living water.
Oh my Jesus, how I thirst for Your living water. Come Holy Spirit, pour out Your love and grace upon me. Cleanse me from my sin. Heal me from my wounds. Pour Your living water upon the places in my life where I feel dry and spent. Give me the courage and grace to speak joyfully about my encounters with You, like the Samaritan woman.