This program consists of scripture reading, meditations on the reading led by a bishop or priest and minute-long silences for reflection and prayer, intended to move the listeners to open themselves to the gift of contemplation.

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    It is said about Jesus, in Scripture, "Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)

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     When He encountered the woman at the well, Jesus invited us to ask Him for this living water, saying, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
     “The woman said to him, ‘Sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, and his and his cattle?
     “Jesus said to her, ‘Every one who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
     The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst…'" (John 4:11-15)
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     As the Fathers have interpreted it, Jacob’s Well is the Scriptures and Living water is the Holy Spirit.
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    The Scriptural Meditations on WAOB are intended to move the listeners to prayer and contemplation through meditation on the Lord's love and mercy as it is revealed in the texts of Sacred Scripture. WAOB seeks to follow the process of lectio divina described by Pope Benedict in Verbum Domini. We begin with reading (lectio): a chapter of Sacred Scripture is proclaimed by a priest. This is followed by meditation (meditatio) on that chapter, led by another priest. The priest offering meditations is simply leading the listener, getting the meditation started. At the end of the meditation, the priest encourages the listener to take up the meditation and respond in prayer (oratio) during a minute-long period of silence. The hope is that the listener will use the time of silence for meditation and prayer that is open to contemplation (contemplatio).

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(Drawing Life-Giving Water from Jacob's Well is a Registered Trademark of Saint Joseph Missions)