The story of the Samaritan woman is one of the most striking in the Gospel. It is about a woman who belonged to a people looked down on by most Jews of Jesus' time. Contrary to all custom, Jesus speaks to the woman and even asks her for a drink of water. Jesus always goes beyond the externals to the inner potential of the person. It is this woman (not a Jew, not a man) who is privileged to be the first in John's gospel to be told of Jesus' true identity as the Messiah and, by implication, as the very Son of God. She also becomes the first evangeliser as she goes off to her village to proclaim Jesus and His identity to her people. In turn, they come in search of Jesus and, at the end, come to believe in Him. "Now we no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he really is the saviour of the world." Have I made my Christian faith fully my own? Or do I find myself quoting the authority of others? Is my faith based on a personal knowledge and experience of Jesus in my life? Let me pray for such a faith.