Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 8, 2026
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—
Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”
At that moment his disciples returned,
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?”
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said to the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment
and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”
Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified,
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
Every one of us carries a story: the moments and interactions that have shaped who we are and who we will become. I currently teach public speaking and English at a Catholic High School. Each semester, I challenge my students to write and share their testimony—moments where they have encountered God and their lives were changed.
For a sophomore, this can be overwhelming. Having to be vulnerable in front of their peers is the last thing they want to do. Oftentimes, I hear students say, “What if you don’t have a testimony?” Everyone has a testimony. A moment where God has touched their heart, it just might take some time to pray about and reflect on the little moments with Christ.
Each semester, I am blown away by my students’ vulnerability and how powerful the Lord works in their lives. It creates moments to share authentically about themselves, something that young people crave.
In today’s gospel reading, we hear about how one small interaction with Jesus changed a woman’s life. She goes from being a social outcast to being a woman who changes people’s lives forever. Jesus encounters this woman with kindness, empathy, and compassion, and from that moment on, she begins to feel known, loved, and seen—a desire that every individual has. She knows she cannot just keep this newfound joy to herself; she must share it with everyone.
Her willingness to be vulnerable didn’t just change her, but changed her entire community, bringing them to an encounter with Christ. Testimonies remind us that God works in ordinary lives. As you go through your day, think about how you might share Christ’s love with someone. You never know how God might use a simple moment of honesty to touch another person’s heart.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you revealed yourself to the woman at the well. She thirsted, and you provided her with life-giving water. Create in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life, that we may believe for ourselves that you truly are the savior of the world. Amen.
Saint of the Day
There were three great Spanish saints named John who were all contemporaries during the 1500s: St. John of the Cross, St. John of Avila, and St. John of God. In fact, St. John of Avila rescued today’s saint—St. John of God—from an asylum!
John of God lived a life marked by impulse. He ran away from home as a boy when he heard of adventures waiting in the New World. He never made it across the ocean, however, and enlisted in a company of mercenaries and fought in Spain’s war against France.
He lived the life of a soldier with his comrades, who enjoyed drinking, gambling, and pillaging when they could. When the band of soldiers fell apart, he worked as a shepherd until he was about 40 years old, when he began to reflect upon his life and the many things he had done wrong. He resolved to dedicate the rest of his life to God’s service.
He heard of Christians being held as slaves in Africa, and he left to do what he could to ransom them. When that did not work out, he returned to Spain and worked odd jobs, including peddling books.
One day he heard a sermon from the holy man known as John of Avila, and his words struck John of God to the heart. When he heard the homily, he was devastated over his past sins and rent his clothes, gave away everything to the poor, and ran through the streets wailing and pulling his hair out. He was committed to an asylum, and not even the severe treatments of the time brought him out of his grief.
John of Avila heard of the man’s plight and visited him in the asylum. He told John of God that he had done enough penance and should give his life to action that would benefit his own soul and the lives of others. John of God was instantly calmed and began to help care for other people in the asylum.
He eventually spread his good works to anyone who was poor and sick. He sold wood in the public square to raise money for the poor, and he sought people out from where they were living under bridges and in abandoned buildings. He would beg for those who were too sick to beg and gave everything away in service to those who were living miserable lives due to disease and poverty. He raised enough money to rent a building, which became a hospital. News of his work spread through the town and soon people were bringing donations and offering their time and energy to support his work. After his death, two religious orders emerged and continue his work today.
He was often mocked and criticized for helping anyone who needed it—even prostitutes and people of bad character. He responded by stating, “I confess that I know of no bad person in my hospital except myself alone, who am indeed unworthy to eat the bread of the poor.”
When John heard the news that a fire broke out in his hospital, he rushed to the scene to find people standing around, watching the building, and the sick inside, go up in flames. He sprang to action, running into the burning building and carrying out the sick on his own back. He made a number of trips through the flames but was not injured. A cannon was brought to destroy the part of the building that was burning in order to save the rest of it, but John stopped them and climbed to the roof and used an ax to separate the burning wing. When the walls fell away, he fell through and everyone thought him lost until he walked out of the building, unhurt. For this reason, he is the patron saint of firefighters.
In another instance of his impulsive love, he caught pneumonia when he waded into a flood trying to save a person and other supplies. He died from that illness on this date in 1550 at the age of 55. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. John of God, impulsive lover of God, and patron saint of firefighters, hospitals, and the sick—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. John of God is in the public domain. Last accessed February 6, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
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