drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but he that shall drink of the water I will give him, shall not thirst forever; but the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.'

The astonishment of Photina-thus tradition calls her grows as her interlocutor speaks to her, but, as yet, she does not understand.

"The woman said to him, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw."

Little by little, Jesus had disposed her to address this demand to Him. So it frequently happens: God often speaks to a soul for a long time, without being understood, and, at times, He is quite near without being perceived.

The woman

"Go, call thy husband." answers: "I have no husband."

"Thou

For thou

hast said well: I have no husband. hast had five husbands: and he, whom thou hast now, is not thy husband. This thou hast said truly."

That settled it. Jesus had touched a sensible spot in her. With the art of His exquisite

goodness, He has provoked the demand she addressed to Him for the mysterious water; He made her look upon Him as a superior man, greater than her fathers. These divine touches can hardly be perceived, so delicate they are, but how efficacious!

Jesus, Thou art wonderful in the art of touching souls! Thou knowest the sore of this woman, Thou art not ignorant of her interior shame and her secret sorrow, and now, continuing in the same simple strain, with the same goodness, Thou letst her hear the humiliating revelation of her life's faults. If Thou layest them bare before her eyes, Thou doest it to establish Thy divine mission and also to forgive them.

The woman is upright and sincere. To the joy of the Saviour, she does not try to deny, not even to excuse, them.

"The woman said to him: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.'

Still more astonished, still more subdued by respect, she gives this new title to Him Who penetrates her life. She suspicions even more; for, according to her co-religionists, one of the qualities of the Messiah consists in divining the most hidden thoughts.

Convinced that this man, at least, has a divine mission, she opens the serious question of the true religion.

"Our fathers adored on this mountain, and you say at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore."

Thus the Samaritan woman goes straight to the main affair of life, she puts the question, the answer to which is desired by every intelligent soul: What is the religious truth? How must we serve God? For such is essentially the question asked by her in such peculiar form: What solution dost thou give to the difficulty that separates Samaritans and Jews? Must we adore on this mountain or at Jerusalem?

Though leading a bad life, this woman had kept the spirit of religion and a certain interest in the eternal problems. Jesus leads her back to the truth by the exercise of her mind, her personal efforts, and prayer.

Fatigued as He is, He does not shorten the conversation; He does not weary instructing this attentive soul; every one of His words manifests loving goodness and the most encouraging interest.

"Woman, believe me," said He, "that the

hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem adore the Father."

"Believe me"-this word so often invoked by the impotence of our language, on the lips of the Eternal Word, possesses the power of commanding persuasion. And to widen the views of the Samaritan woman, while yet insisting on the first rights of Israel, Jesus proclaims the entrance of all men into the fold of the new alliance.

"You adore that which you ́ know not, we adore that which we know; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth."

In view of the ignorance in which woman, considered by all peoples as inferior in rank, was kept all along, this teaching which Jesus gave her marks the beginning of her rehabilitation. This colloquy manifests the intellectual charity that seeks, instructs, and encourages those who are ignorant of, or combat, religious truth,—a rare charity, compared to the other that busies itself with the corporal works of mercy, since but few understand in what it consists, and how it should be practiced.

The astonishment of the woman becomes extreme, when Jesus tells her that God wishes to be honored by the mind, the will, and the heart, rather than by certain outward formulas and ceremonies. Bending one's knee in the church, reciting certain prayers, fulfilling the legal prescriptions, cannot satisfy God, when we offend Him wilfully or our heart is far from Him. Outward worship should be the manifestation of the inward sentiments. That is the true religion which inspires the whole life, which sacrifices to God all selfishness and pride. Man, indeed, can bring no better sacrifice than when he gives up his evil inclinations, can make no more pleasing offering than when he gives all his love to God.

"For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him."

Yes, God is constantly on the look-out for souls of good will, to pour into them His blessings and His glory. And to penetrate the Samaritan woman more deeply with the mystery of love, He insists and repeats:

"God is a spirit, and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth."

"In spirit": refined and detached from the