St. Photina
Today is the Feast of St Photina – the woman Jesus met at the well in John chapter four.
one
Jesus journeyed to a city of Samaria, called Sy′char, (today it is Nablus)…Jacob’s well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”…The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that 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 have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?...Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
“Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst…”
The Samaritan Woman has the one thing necessary – she has the right desire. She has a desire for the Living Water. She has tried everything else – and it doesn’t work. Now she desires God. St Thomas Aquinas was asked: “What does it take to become a saint?” He responded: Want it. Desire it. Then you will seek, and you will find it. Do you desire God? Do you want to drink of the Living Water more than anything else?
two
The woman said to Jesus, “I perceive that you are a prophet…I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”…So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and were coming to him. Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.
three
From Tradition we know the name of the Samaritan Woman. Her name is Photina. She had five husbands and she was living with a man who was not her husband. But then she meets Jesus. She has no theology degree, no professional training; but she knows Jesus is the One Savior of the World. She goes immediately and tells her family and friends. Photina has the two great qualities which we need: she desired God. And the second, she is not timid, she is not controlled by fear. She has courage. We are not like Photina, we are too timid. Our faith was meant to be personal, but it was never meant to be kept private.
four
In 66 AD Photina and her grown children, being warned that Rome was about to conquer Israel, left and moved to Carthage in North Africa. Her son Victor became an officer in the Roman army. A Government official and friend of Victor, named Sebastian wrote him, urging him and his mother to stop leading people to Jesus and to keep their faith private. As Sebastian was writing the letter, he fell blind for three days. On the 4th day he declared: “The God of the Christians is the only true God.” He asked for Baptism, after which he immediately regained his sight. Reports of this miraculous event reached the Emperor Nero. Both Sebastian and Victor were arrested and taken to Rome.
Hearing this news, Photina and her family went to Rome, accompanied by many Christians. They too were arrested and brought before Nero, but they refused to renounce Jesus Christ and were imprisoned, where they continued to speak to the fellow prisoners about Jesus and converted many. Finally they were tortured and put to death. A relic of the skull of Photina resides in the Church of Jacob’s well in Nablus in the Holy Land. I have often stood before that relic of the Martyr, Photina, praying God give me and you the grace to have the same love and courage as Photina.
five
At the end of this encounter with Photina at the well, after the whole village came to Jesus because of her Jesus turned and said to the Apostles: “Look around you, the fields are already ripe for harvest.” Jesus could say the same to us.
Jesus sent Photina, now he sends you. So what are you going to do? Befriend the people in your life. Delight in the goodness in them. Pray to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and courage. Then share the Rosary podcast with them or invite them into your routine of praying the Rosary or invite them to join a one-decade group with you!