The expression “the system has failed has been used to express disappointment about how a person has been treated.  The system failed  the Samaritan woman.  We can sense from the Gospel reading she was hurt. There was hurt in her life in so many ways.  She was getting water at the well by herself at the noon hour. This was a bad sign. Usually people gathered at the well, it was their social hub.  Also gathering the water at this time of the day was not optimal. Usually, water was gathered early in the morning but to do so at noon when the sun was hot was a sign that the woman wanted to avoid contact with others.  The people of the town had failed her. The Samaritan woman had been failed by her ancestors as well.  She came to a well used by Jacob and his son Joseph, but this well was almost depleted.  It was a labor intensive to try to get some water out so when someone else ask for even some water it was an extra effort.  The ancestors had used most of the well’s water and now it was scarce. The ancestors failed the woman.   As Jesus approaches the woman, she is caught off guard. Jesus was breaking the social customs.  He was not supposed to be talking to a woman at midday, and especially not a woman from another culture. There was some enmity between the Samaritans and the Jews though they had common ancestors.  The woman is bothered that Jesus was addressing her not only as man, but also as Jew. She says “you people” which really shows her nationalistic tendencies.  Her country had failed her as well.  And most importantly, as Jesus stated she had five different husbands, and the current one wasn’t even her husband.  All the men in her life had failed her.  No wonder there was so much hurt in her life.  She had the same  attitude as the people in the first  reading. Perhaps she had asked herself many times the question “Why did you ever make me? Why am I even alive?” or “Is the LORD in our midst or not? Does God even care about me?”  The reactions of the Samaritan woman are also our reactions.  We feel the people all around us have failed us, even God, especially God.  We are angry at God; how could God fail us? The good news is that we see the process of recovery happening of this woman through the Gospel. Many of us hardly want to talk to God, but at the noon hour of our lives, God appears asking for water.  At first, we can have the same reaction of the woman, why bother me can you not see how am I working to stay alive?   Jesus is waiting at the well of our lives, so that we can start living refreshed by the Holy Spirit.  Instead of being angry at God, let us come to the wellspring of salvation, Jesus Christ who wants us to be reconciled. Lent is about reconciliation with God so that we may no longer feel like a failure but be healed by God who makes us whole with His living water.