John Chapter 4
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In John chapter four Jesus came to the Samaritan town called Sychar… Jacob's well is there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat down by the well…When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink'…The Samaritan woman said to him, 'What? You are a Jew and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?'…Jesus replied: 'If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you: Give me a drink, you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water'. 'You have no bucket, sir,' she answered 'and the well is deep: how could you get this living water?...Jesus replied: 'Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again; but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life'. 'Sir,' said the woman 'give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water.' 'Go and call your husband' said Jesus to her 'and come back here.' The woman answered, 'I have no husband'. He said to her, 'You are right…for although you have had five, the one you have now is not your husband…
These words of Jesus struck me: “If you only knew what God was offering… anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again.”
I want the Living Water that Jesus is offering? Do you?
Jesus is the Living Water. He is offering the only thing that can satisfy all our desires. He is offering Himself. Yet we try to find satisfaction in everything but God. This woman thought she could find what she was looking for in a relationship. Now she’s been through six and it didn’t work. She still comes up empty.
What are you chasing? Do you even know?
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What well are you going to in the effort to satisfy your thirst for happiness?
Is it your spouse, a job or career, so achievement, your health, maybe your kids or grandkids, politics, entertainment, sports, travel, experiences, safety, security. These may be good things in themselves – but none of them can satisfy you’re thirst for God.
Let’s look at this from a different angle. With what in our life are we dissatisfied? Our dissatisfaction likely comes from trying to find our happiness in some earthly thing. And it should leave you dissatisfied because it can’t do the job – it can’t satisfy you like God. Are we expecting too much from an earthly thing?
I am not letting you off the hook. None of us seeks God above all things. We all have our secret well where we try to find happiness that isn’t God. What is yours?
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In Jesus, God also comes to the well because He too has a longing, a desire, a thirst – for you. The woman comes to the well because she has a longing that no man, no earthly thing can satisfy – only God. Here at the well the longing of God meets the longing of the woman. And both are satisfied. The well I am talking about is prayer. When we come to prayer we drink from the Living Water of God. But also in prayer God’s thirst for us is satisfied. Prayer is where the thirst of Jesus meets our thirst. He for me and I for him. What a wonder: we give Jesus a drink and quench his thirst when we pray. We refuse the thirst of Jesus when we refuse to spend time with him in prayer. Will you leave him thirsty?
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Diary of Faustina: On one occasion, I saw Jesus thirsting and fainting, and He said to me, I thirst. When I gave Him water, He took it, but did not drink and immediately disappeared… Then Jesus said to me: When you reflect upon what I tell you in the depths of your heart, you profit more than if you had read many books. Oh, if souls would only want to listen to My voice when I am speaking in the depths of their hearts, they would reach the peak of holiness in a short time. (Diary 584)
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The Rosary is a good start. Make it a daily habit. But don’t stop there. God wants to give you more. The Lord’s statement to Blessed Angela of Foligno applies to all of us: “Make yourself a capacity and I will make myself a torrent.”[1] We make it too complicated. Go to a quiet place or put in your headphones and some white noise, turn off your phone, read something from the life of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, then talk to Jesus from the heart about it and just sit and reflect on the life of Jesus and your own life. When you get distracted just go back to your reading and begin where you left off.
Why do we make God wait by the well alone? Why do we insist on leaving him to die of thirst? Why do we refuse to give him a drink?
[1] (Dubay, Fr. Thomas. Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer p. 76)