Well of Living Water: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

Magdalen Lawler discovered this icon of the Woman at the Well many years ago. She has used it ever since as the inspiration for innumerable retreats and conferences. Its appeal to her is that it seems to span the traditions of West and East with its lyrical beauty and its deep theology.

The icon has encouraged Magdalen to study the gospel passage in detail and to research many accounts of life in first-century Palestine. Now her research and retreats are brought together in this beautifully illustrated series of reflections on the Samaritan Woman at the Well.

A regular contribution to Sr Magdalen’s Icon-themed retreats is the accompaniment of a song, Touching the Water by Tom McGuinness SJ.

Fr Tom says that he took his inspiration for the lyrics of the song from the passage ”So Jesus, worn out from the journey, sat, just like that, on the well.”

The lyrics are reproduced in an appendix to the book.

Listen to a recording of Touching the Water by Tom McGuinness here: