Fountains and springs of water gladden our journey and haunt the memory. One of the most vivid memories of Rome must be Tivoli's Villa d'Este where many fountains of magical desire cast sparkling water skywards to delight both mind and heart. "Pleasant coolness in the heart" is a much-loved line from our Pentecost hymn as we ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse, to inspire, and to make strong. In scripture, all wells and fountains are sources of life for people's animals and plants. They are places of special inspiration and of meeting with the Lord. An ancient tradition in Nazareth reminds us that it may have been at the village well that the Angel's message came to Mary and that by the water she said her "yes!" to God.
As we walk our Lenten journey to the holy mountain of Easter, St John asks us to go with Jesus to the Samaritan town of Sychar. We are close to the well of Jacob and at the heart of history. With the heat of the day and the tiring journey Jesus sat to rest by this well of peace. He was weary from the journey - a rare description of the Saviour. Here he was in hostile territory. Jews and Samaritans were torn apart by bitter animosity rooted in ages past. "Give me to drink!" Jesus asked the woman of Samaria. She was stunned. "You! A Jew! And you ask water from me?" came the startled reply. The Redeemer with courtesy and love put before her (and us) the concept of living water springing to eternal life. With gentle humour and without reproach Jesus asks her to call her husband. "You have had five! The one you have now is not your husband!"
The astonished woman moves at once to safer ground. Where is the proper location for authentic worship? The Saviour leads us all to eternal truth. "True worshippers will worship in Spirit and in truth. This is the type of worship the Father wants .. . " Jesus calls then (and now) for genuine prayer and sincere worship from clean hearts and dedicated minds. The only sincere devotion is the constant readiness to do, here and now, what God asks. Jesus, the light of the world, has come to bring light in our darkness.
And to this poor rejected and much confused woman Jesus grants the great revelation of the truth. "I who am speaking to you. I am He!" She hurries back to spread the good news and announce the message to all. She becomes the first apostle of Samaria. Christ points to the crops of the fields and the endless harvest of eager souls thirsting for beauty, for healing and for ultimate truth. Will the grace-filled beauty of our lives echo the challenge of the gentle woman by the well. "Come and see!"
Many that day believed because of the words of the fresh convert. The Lenten journey of reparation and renewal and resolve should lead us all to drink of the living water by Jacob's Well coming to us now in Scripture Word and life-giving Sacrament. Baptism is recalled to us in our springtime prayer. Have we forgotten the cleansing water, the spotless robe, the shining light? Now is the time to become fully alive and to awaken to our call. Can others say to us, seeing the radiance of our lives: "Now we believe not just because of what you told us. We have listened to Him ourselves and we know that He is indeed the Savour of the world."
We seek the living water offered to us by Christ. We will heal the parched and arid world in which we walk and awaken those who might, but for us, perish amid the loss of all that leads to life.
Cardinal Newman gives new hope:
"Let us but raise the level of religion in our hearts and it will rise in the world. Those who attempt to set up God's kingdom in their hearts further it in the world. Those whose prayers come up for a memorial before God, open the windows of heaven, and the very foundations of the deep. And then all the waters rise .. ."