Gospel: (John 4:5-42)

Jesus came to a town of Samaria …Jacob’s well was there.  Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.  It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”  …The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”  Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “ Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? …Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but 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.”…Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”…”My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.”

Reflection:           

Thirst is a metaphor for conversion.  It captures the dynamic of encountering Christ, hearing his voice, seeing our lives for what they are, and then turning to Christ who is the source of our thirst.  Christ is the “gift of God” who gives us the “living water” of his own preaching, dying, and rising. All we need do is drink deeply and we, too, will never thirst again.  It is then that we will be able to say with Jesus, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.” (Living Liturgy,p.72)

Vincentian Meditation: 

“A sure way for a Christian to grow rapidly in holiness is a conscientious effort to carry out God’s will in all circumstances….Each one should show a great eagerness in that sort of openness to God’s will which Christ and the saints developed so carefully.” -St. Vincent de Paul- 

Discussion: (Share your thoughts after a moment of silence) 

Vincent always discerned every action carefully to be sure that it was rooted in God’s will. He studied the Gospels, asked for advice and prayed for God’s light and strength. Think back to an occasion when the sense of doing God’s will was especially strong for you, and share this experience. 

Closing Prayer:

The Church constantly calls us to spiritual renewal, and so we pray:

As we abandon ourselves to God’s will-renew in us your Spirit, O God.

As we allow prayer to change our lives-be present to us, O God.

As we seek to know Christ ever more fully-transform us, O God.

As we serve Christ faithfully in the person of the poor-strengthen us, O God.  Amen.