WEDNESDAY.
Conversion of the Samaritan Woman.— I.
I. "Jesus being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well." (John iv. 6.) Like a good shepherd our Lord travelled on foot seeking for His lost sheep, and among other corporal miseries admitted weariness and thirst. But observe with what patience He endured them. He sat down by the fountain, foreseeing what would happen, not so much to rest Himself as to take an occasion of benefiting others. Thus the Divine " wisdom forerunneth them that covet her, so that she first showeth herself to them." (Wis. vi. 14.) How often has she attempted to anticipate you, and you have disregarded her!
II. While He was sitting by the fountain, a woman came to draw water. Christ first addresses her by the words, "Give Me to drink." She refuses, and asks; " How dost Thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink?" Thus many reject Jesus Christ, when He moves them by His interior grace, and wishes to be refreshed by their virtues. Christ, however, did not desist from helping this sinner, but remarked, " If thou didst know the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, ' give Me to drink,' thou perhaps wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." (John iv. 10.)
III. Consider the excellence of this living water, which is Divine grace, and which Christ promises to His faithful servants. " He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst forever." It quenches, therefore, forever, the thirst of the soul, and satisfies it. The soul then no longer thirsts after earthly waters, that
