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Like the Samaritan Woman by the Well
By Sister Claudia Hae-In Lee (1945 - )
Translated from the Korean by Brother Anthony of Taizé
 
Lord, won’t you come and quietly speak
as if asking me for one cup of water first
like you did the Samaritan woman who came
to draw water out of Jacob’s Well?
You know that I’m a sinner
I lack courage—
 
Speak quickly, please,
I want to hear directly from you today
who I am
and who you are
and what our encounter means.
 
I keep drawing water for you
from the well of daily life
in my small shabby bucket
but won’t you show me a way
to draw water without any bucket at all?
 
From the moment you took your place beside me,
deep pure well of water that you are,
every day has been a new festival for me.
My long stagnant sorrow and thirst
like drops of water in my jar
Have risen up to dance, all smiling now.
 
The happiness of meeting you is such
I may forget for a moment how sinful I am;
I hope you will forgive me?
Lord, the happiness of loving you
can really not be kept hidden.
 
Grant me now to go running farther
like that Samaritan woman beside the well
who left her pitcher and ran to the village.
To bring many others to you
and also
to tell about the living water—
 

This week, we’re reading “Like the Samaritan Woman by the Well,” a poem of Sister Claudia Hae-in Lee of Korea.
 
Sister Claudia was born in South Korea in 1945. She joined the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters of Busan in 1964, after her graduation from high school. She holds a degree in English from St. Louis University in the Philippines and published her first collection of poems in 1976, at the age of 31.  Since that time, she has taught and held various leadership positions in her congregation. She has also lectured widely, including in the United States. In 2008, she had a serious bout with cancer. She has said:
 
"After fighting cancer, I started using more words like happiness and enjoyment which I didn't use often before. I realized that pain can become an opportunity for blessing.” In 2015, a news report circulated that she had died, and her “last poem” was widely shared. Reports of her death were greatly exaggerated. Lee said, “I could forgive the fake news, but I can’t go easy on the fake poem.”
 
Sister Claudia is still alive today, a beloved and best-selling poet in Korea.
 
In the poem that Jackie read, Sister Claudia reflects on the Gospel story of the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well.
 
In that familiar story, which we hear every year during Lent, Jesus encounters a woman who has come to draw water from a well. She is not just any woman!  She is a Samaritan—the archenemies of the Jewish people—and she has a checkered past. But Jesus enters into conversation with her, and gradually the conversation deepens, as Jesus leads her from the water of the well, to himself, the living water. By the end of the passage, the woman has run home to tell others about Jesus, the source of living water.
 
Lee’s poem begins with a prayer for a similar encounter. “Lord, won’t you come and quietly speak / as if asking me for one cup of water first / like you did the Samaritan woman who came / to draw water out of Jacob’s Well?”
 
She identifies closely with the Samaritan woman. “You know that I’m a sinner / I lack courage.” She longs for a meaningful dialogue with Jesus, like the woman at the well had. In that encounter, the woman not only learned who Jesus was; Jesus also revealed to her who she really was. “I want to hear directly from you today / who I am / and who you are / and what our encounter means.” It’s a wonderfully simple prayer, isn’t it, for a relationship with Jesus. She wants something deeper and more meaningful than she has now:  “I keep drawing water for you / from the well of daily life / in my small shabby bucket.” She longs for the living water: for a relationship that is not rote or mechanical, but that springs up naturally.
 
In the second part of the poem, we get a glimpse of what that deeper relationship looks like. “From the moment you took your place beside me, / deep pure well of water that you are, / every day has been a new festival for me.” Sorrow and thirst “have risen up to dance.” This encounter is so joyful that “I may forget for a moment how sinful I am; / I hope you will forgive me.” When she encounters Jesus, it’s all about Jesus, and the joy of this encounter overwhelms everything else—she forgets her own sinfulness, her own checkered past, and simply wants to share the encounter with others. The poem ends with a prayer that she might “go running… To bring many others to you / and also / to tell about the living water.”
 
The story of the Samaritan woman at the well is a story about becoming a disciple. A chance encounter leads to dialogue, which leads to relationship. But relationship with Jesus is never exclusive, for ourselves alone. Relationship with Jesus send the Samaritan woman running, as she tells the people of her village: “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” Relationship with Jesus leads to discipleship, prompting us to share the joy we have found, and inviting others to meet Jesus. This encounter with Jesus, this journey to discipleship, is about coming to know Jesus, and in the process, discovering who we really are.
 

 

 

 

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Seattle, Washington  98104
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