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.

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptising more disciples than John – although it was not Jesus who was baptising but his disciples – Jesus left Judea and went again into Galilee. It was necessary to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan village, called Sychar, close to the land Jacob gave Joseph, his son. There was Jacob’s well . So Jesus, exhausted from the journey, sat down, as he was, at the well. It was about the sixth hour.

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

For God loved the world so much that he gave up his only child, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have the resurrection life. For God did not send his Son into the world in order to pronounce condemnation on the world but that the world would be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe is already condemned, because they do not believe in the name of the only Son of God.

This is the judgement – that the light has come into the world and yet people loved the darkness than rather the light, for their deeds were evil. Indeed everyone who goes on doing evil hates the light and and does not come to the light, lest their works might be exposed. The one who acts in truth comes to the light, so that their works may be shown to have been carried out in God.+

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

Nicodemus replied: ‘How can these things happen?’

Jesus answered: ‘Are you the Teacher of Israel yet do not know these things? Truly, truly I tell you we speak of what we know and we bear witness to what we have seen, yet you all have not received our testimony. If I speak to you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you about heavenly things?

‘Now no one has gone up into heaven, except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up so that all who believe might have resurrection life in him.’

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

After this Jesus went down to Capernaum, with his mother, the brothers, and his disciples, and he stayed there for a quite a few days.

The Passover Feast (of the Jews) was near and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he discovered both sellers of cattle, sheep and pigeon and money-changers sitting there. He made a rope whip and drove them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He scattered the coins of the money-changers and over-turned their tables. And he said to the pigeon-sellers ‘Take everything from here. Do not make my Father’s house a house of commerce.’ His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will burn me up.’

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.

His mother said to the servants ‘Do whatever he says.’ Standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish purifications, holding up to nine gallons each Jesus said to them ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them to the top. He said’ Now draw some out, and carry it to the head waiter.’ And they did so. And when the head waiter tasted the water that had become wine, but he did not know from where it came, (although the servants knew who drew the water,) he said to the groom ‘Everyone first puts out the good wine, and when they have had to much to drink, the poorer stuff. But you have kept the best wine until now.’ So Jesus began his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

And on the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus (and his disciples) had also been invited. And when the wine had run out, Jesus’s mother said to him ‘They don’t have any wine!’ Jesus replied ‘Should I care for what you are care about, Lady? My time has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants ‘Do whatever he says.’

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, and said about him: ‘Look, truly an Israelite, there is nothing deceitful in him’.

Nathanael said to him: ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered: ‘I saw you while you were under the fig tree, before Philip called you.’ Nathanael answered ‘Rabbi, you are the son of God, King of Israel!’

Jesus replied: ‘Do you believe because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things that these. Amen, amen, I say to you all – you will see the heavens standing open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man. ‘

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

On the following day Andrew (?) decided to go away to Galilee and find Philip.

Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Philip was from Bethsaida, the village of Andrew and Peter.

Phillip found Nathanael and said to him ‘We have found the one whom Moses (in the Law) and the prophets wrote about: Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’ And Nathanael said to him: ‘From Nazareth! Can there be anything good from there?’ Philip replied ‘Come and see.’

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great