Now that day was Sabbath. So the Jewish (leaders) said to the man who had been healed ‘It is Sabbath, so it is not permitted for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them ‘The one who made me well – he said to me “Take your mat and walk.”‘ They asked him ‘Who is the man who said to you “Take it and walk”?’ Now the man who had been healed did not know who he was, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that had been there.

Some time after this Jesus found him in the temple grounds, and said to him ‘Look, you are now well, do not sin any longer, in case anything worse happens to you. ‘

The man left and reported to the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

Some time after this there was a Jewish festival and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda; it has five covered walkways. Under these lay a crowd of sick, blind, lame, and paralysed people. Now there was a certain man there; he had been ill for thirty eight years. Jesus seeing this man lying down and knowing that he had been ill already a long time, said to him ‘Do you want to be well?’ The sick man replied ‘Sir, I don’t have someone who might put me in the pool when the water is stirred. While I am going, someone else goes down before me.’

Jesus said to him ‘Get up, take your mat and walk away.’ Straighta way the man was well and he took his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a Sabbath.+

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

So (Jesus) returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. When he heard that he had come back from Judea into Galilee, he went after him and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was about to die.

Jesus said to him: ‘Unless you all see signs or wonders, you will not believe.’ The official said to him: ‘Rabbi, come down before my little child dies.’ Jesus said to him: ‘Go, your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and set off.

While he was going down, his slaves met him with the news that his child was going to live. So he asked them the time he began to feel better. They told him ‘Yesterday, at one o’clock the fever left him.’ Then the father realised that was the time Jesus had said to him ‘Your son will live,’ and he believed and his whole household. Jesus did this as his second sign, when he came from Judea to Galilee.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

Many Samaritans from that village began to believe in him because of the woman’s testimony: ‘He told me everything that I have done.’ So the Samaritans pressed him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. And so they said to the woman ‘We do not believe any longer because of your report, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that this is really the Saviour of the World.’

After these two days he left there for Galilee. Jesus himself had born witness that a prophet has no honour in his own homeland. So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen everything that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival, for they too had gone to the festival.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

And at this moment his disciples arrived and were amazed that he was speaking with a woman. Though no-one said ‘What are you after?’ or ‘Why are you speaking to her?’ So the woman left her water jar and went to the village. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything that I have done, maybe he is the Christ?’ They left the village and started going to him.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

He said to her ‘Go and call your husband and come back here.’ She replied : ‘I haven’t got a husband.’ Jesus said to her ‘That’s right, you said “I haven’t got a husband.” You have had five husbands and you are not married to the man you have now. What you have said is quite right’.

The woman said to him: ‘I see that you are like a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain and yet you (Jews) say the place to worship must be in Jerusalem.’

Jesus replied: ‘Believe me lady, because the hour is coming, when neither here nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You,( Samaritans) worship someone you don’t know. We worship someone we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming- and now has arrived- when true worshippers will worship the Father in the spirit and truth. For indeed the Father seeks people like that as worshippers. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in the spirit and truth.

The woman said to him ‘ I know that Messiah is coming, (the one called Christ). When he comes he will tell us everything.’ Jesus said to her ‘I am the one, the one speaking to you.’

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

The woman said to him ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty, or have to come here to draw water.’

He said to her ‘Go and call your husband and come back here.’ She replied : ‘I haven’t got a husband.’ Jesus said to her ‘That’s right, you said “I haven’t got a husband.” You have had five husbands and you are not married to the man you have now. What you have said is quite right’.

The woman said to him: ‘I see that you are like a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain and yet you (Jews) say the place to worship must be in Jerusalem.’

Jesus replied: ‘Believe me lady, because the hour is coming, when neither here nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You,( Samaritans) worship someone you don’t know. We worship someone we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming- and now has arrived- when true worshippers will worship the Father in the spirit and truth. For indeed the Father seeks people like that as worshippers. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in the spirit and truth.

The woman said to him ‘ I know that Messiah is coming, (the one called Christ). When he comes he will tell us everything.’ Jesus said to her ‘I am the one, the one speaking to you.’

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

The woman said to him: ‘Sir, you do not have a bucket and the well is deep. So where will you get living water? Surely you are not greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons and his cattle?’

Jesus replied ‘Everyone who drinks (again and again) some of this water will become thirsty once more. Whoever drinks (once) from the water I will give them, will never ever thirst, for eternity. The water that I will give them will become for them a spring of water, bubbling up to resurrection life in them.

The woman said to him ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty, or have to come here to draw water.’

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.