John 4:5-42
Year A -
Third Sunday of Lent
True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth
 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
10 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."
11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"
13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back."
17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband';
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"
19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us."
26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?"
28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,
29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"
30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
33 So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?"
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.
35 Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.
36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
37 For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'
38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done."
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
41 And many more believed because of his word.
42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world." (NRSV)
Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus
I said to the Samaritan woman that those who drink the water that I have to offer will never be thirsty again. And indeed what I am offering is the living spirit so that you may drink of it and never be thirsty.
My words are spirit and truth, my food on earth was to do the will of my Heavenly Father, and I invite you to eat of the spiritual food that I have prepared for your souls.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth, I have come to teach you spiritual things, so that you learn more about the spirit since you are destined to leave the flesh to enter into spiritual bodies for all eternity.
The living water that I give becomes a spring that supplies purity and life for the thirsty spirit. Those who drink of my spirit receive the fire of my love; they feel the hunger and thirst of the soul, which can only be satisfied by my own flesh and blood.
Just as my food was to do the will of the Heavenly Father, his will for you is to accept me as his Divine Son and as your Lord and Master. He has entrusted all creation to Me. I have provided the means to sustain your souls and to prepare them for Heaven through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. By eating of my flesh and drinking of my blood, your souls receive the nourishment they need to be pure and holy, by receiving the living waters of my Spirit, your souls live refreshed and fragrant until the time of departure from this life.
God is Spirit and the father of all spirits. You are flesh and blood, soul and spirit. As human beings you are bodies with a mind, souls with a spirit.
Just as you cannot see your minds but know that you have one, your souls are eternal bodies that have received the breath of God and are part of you. The soul has a superior part, which is the spirit; the spirit can only take life from Me so that you can become children of God.
I have come to awaken your souls and spirits, I have come to provide the food and drink for the life of your souls here on earth, and to those who respond to my call I will resurrect them on the last day and give them the gift of everlasting life.
Very politely I showed the Samaritan woman that she was living a life of sin and I invited her to be purified by the living waters of Grace. She accepted me as Her Savior and her life began to change immediately. She was compelled to share the good news with her neighbors and to testify that I was really the Messiah from God.
When you depart from your life of sin, I give you my Holy Spirit. He begins to burn within you giving you the wisdom to accept and desire my Word. As you leave the world behind and concentrate more in heavenly things, you become more spiritual, and then by a life of prayer and desire for God, you begin to understand how to worship God in spirit and in truth. My desire is that you change your life into a more spiritual life so that you can truly live my words. Follow me!
Received by: Joseph
of Jesus and Mary
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