By reaching out in pity to the Samaritan woman Jesus was breaking three taboos. One social: he, a single man, was speaking to a much married woman; one racial, since Jews had no dealings with Samaritans; one religious, a rift between those who worshipped on the nearby mountain and those who worshipped in Jerusalem. As one ostracised by her community she came to the well at noon. As soon as Jesus reaches out to her with his request for a drink she attempts to lead the conversation, but it is Jesus who leads her to repentance and faith, since she acknowledges the truth of his prophetic words about her life. Jesus reached out to this needy woman, this tormented woman. The focus is entirely on her, to the extent that we don’t if Our Lord got his drink or not. The woman was looking expectantly to the coming of the Messiah who would give clear teaching about worship. Repentance and faith prepare her to be an apostle. She brings the townsfolk, those very people who had ostracised her, to meet Jesus. The heart open to faith inspires the active charity of an apostle.
Our much loved Abbot Leo Avery chose as his motto the words, Si scires donum Dei. ‘If you knew the gift of God’. Perhaps better: ‘If you were to experience the gift of God’. Long before we elected him our Abbot, before he went to study in Rome, Father Leo knew the gift of God: he knew how to encourage, how to reach out. In my time of need he reassured me by saying with great simplicity that he had always thought me to be in the right place. He was a true son of encouragement, since the Gift of God is given for the building up of the Church, the family, the community. We share it and by reaching out, in calling upon this gift, we are possessed more powerfully by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus reached our first, and in her turn the woman reached out: her action may be compared to that of the apostles at Pentecost as she brought the townsfolk to Jesus, in whom they recognised the Saviour of the world.
The scene points forward to that other noonday thirst of our Saviour, where his thirst was quenched with vinegar as his redemptive work reached completion. Then the waters of salvation poured from the side of our Saviour as he slept on the cross to quench the thirst of all humanity. There we too may joyfully draw water from the fount of the Saviour.