155. Holy Week Santos: LA SAMARITANA

An uncommon tableau that joins Lenten processions in the Philippine depicts a scene from the ministry of Jesus, as mentioned in John 4:1-40. It narrates Jesus’s meeting with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in the village of Samaria, while travelling north from Jerusalem.

Breaking tradition, Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, a group that Jews never liked. On top of this, Jesus asked her for a drink of water, which took the woman by surprise. Jesus then told the woman he could give her "living water" (referring to the gift of eternal life) so that she would never thirst again.

What’s more, Jesus revealed that he knew she had had five husbands and was now consorting with another who was not her husband. Her curiosity and interest piqued, the woman continued her conversation with Jesus.

Talking about their views on worship, the woman voiced her faith that the Messiah was coming. Jesus answered, "I who speak to you am he." It dawned on the Samaritan who her guest was, so she left behind her jug of water jar, went to the town to invite the people to "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did."

The Samaritan woman is identified as Santa Photina, according to Greek tradition. Moved by her encounter with Jesus, she took to preaching the Gospel and was jailed for doing so. She was finally martyred at Carthage , while another account tells of her death in the 1st century, in Rome at the hands of Nero, together with her sons Joseph and Victor. Sta. Photina’s feast is on March 20.