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Today, on the 5th Sunday of Pascha, the Church celebrates the memory of the Samaritan Woman, who, although unnamed in Holy Scripture, is known to the Church as being St. Photini. And while I usually point out that each Sunday Gospel Reading contains many things for us to learn, I believe that this particular Reading has as much, if not more, than any of the others. It is so full of information, of theology, of lessons for us, about how God wants us to live. Consider, this morning, for example, the manner in which St. Photini went from seeing Jesus as simply a stranger, and a Jew, to seeing Him as a prophet, and then recognizing that, indeed, His is the Christ, the Chosen One of God. And with this new-found knowledge, she rushed back to the people of her village, to say: Come! Listen to One Who has spoken as no-one else has ever spoken, One Who, without hearing a word from my lips has seen into the depth of my heart, into the darkness of my life, has seen and known everything.
