Bishop Mefody on the Sunday of the Samaritan

Here is my translation of a very brief word for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman by Bishop Mefody of Campanie (+1974):

What a marvelous image of Christ the Savior is revealed in today’s Gospel! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Teacher and wonder-worker humbly converses at Jacob’s Well in Samaria with the Samaritan woman, that is, with a schismatic and sinful woman who is in an unlawful cohabitation. Conversing about water, He speaks about living water, that is, about the grace of God, and speaks in such a way that the sinful woman touches this water of the grace of the Holy Spirit, leaving her sinful life, turning from a sinner to a holy martyr for Christ, whom we know by the name of Photini – Svetlana.

In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, the Lord says that God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

How important this reminder is to each of us. We believe in God, we pray to God, but do we always do so in spirit and in truth? Do we always remember before Whom we stand and walk? Do we always pray from the soul, from the heart? Do we always listen to the very words of our prayer? Are we always in fact crossing ourselves with the sign of the cross, or are we just waving our hand? God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and for this we seek and ask the Lord for living water, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which can spiritually renew and strengthen us: Lord, grant us this water! Amen.

Icon: A miniature from the 12th-century Jruchi Gospels II MSS from Georgia.

N.B., This was the 500th post on this web log!