I Thirst

The Catholic Liturgy for Good Friday, April 19, 2019. Gospel: John 18:1-19:42. Theme: I Thirst.

Jesus said, “I thirst.”  The thirst of Jesus on the cross can be heard and responded to in two different ways, depending upon the relationship we have with Him as either Casual Christians or Committed Christians.

It can he heard as a tortured man's cry for water after having been deprived of it for hours while undergoing abuse and torture. This would be the way of hearing that is common to the Casual Christian who feels sorrow for the Lord's suffering but then goes on with his or her life as with any other day.

And then there is the hearing of these words by the Committed Christian. This Christian who hears Jesus thirsting and simply cannot stand by idle.  They want to do something to quench his thirst.

This interpretation is not my own, but comes from someone who spent her entire life seeking to quench the thirst of Jesus: St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

If you go into the chapel of any convent of the Missionaries of Charity Sisters which she started, you will notice that their chapels are very sparse and bare. But there always will be a large crucifix on a wall next to the tabernacle. And under the arms of the cross you will see the words, “I Thirst” in large letters.   Mother Teresa said that those two words mean that Jesus thirsts for our love, for the love of each one of us individually.

Mother Teresa would often tell people to add their first names to those two words in order to experience what Jesus really means by them. “Teresa. I thirst.”  Put your own name there and realize that He thirsts for your love. Not the love of the impersonal large anonymous crowd of humanity for whom he died, but the love of each and every one of us individually, personally, passionately.

And so, I would think that this should make us stop and ask: How can I, living in 2019, quench the thirst of Jesus on the cross? Well...Mother Teresa is only too happy to tell us!

She would first remind us that Jesus is really and truly present among us today in two very personal ways, but ways that require faith to see Him because he is hidden. Two different forms of Presence but only the One Same Jesus.

·       He is present in the Eucharist, the reality of the Blessed Sacrament, hidden under the appearances of bread and wine.

·       And He is present in the persons of the Needy and Poor, hidden under the distressful disguise of a suffering human being.

Mother Teresa taught that we can quench the thirst of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by receiving Holy Communion mindfully and worthily, with faith and devotion instead of out of mindless habit and routine. Then once he is within us we can tell him of our love and entrust ourselves to his care. We can commune heart to heart, person to person, in a divine romance of the soul.

                       

And then she spoke always of how we can quench the love of Jesus in the Needy Poor by ministering to them in whatever ways we can.  She taught us to expand our understanding of what it means to be “poor”.  That we do not need to go to a Third World country or to the worst parts of town to find Jesus thirsting for our love.  She told us to remember that loneliness, sadness and rejection are all expressions of emotional poverty that everyone can encounter no matter their social class or situation in life. Especially among our families and in our own neighborhoods.

So, I think some very important questions to ask ourselves today is this:

·       Do I hear the cry of Jesus, “I thirst”? How do I respond?

·       Do I really believe that Jesus thirsts for MY love? That he loves me so much he embraced the cross so that I can be with Him for all eternity?

·       Am I Casual Christian or a Committed Christian? Which one do I most truly want to be? 

The Hope of Good Friday and the Promise of Easter Sunday is that it’s never ever too late for us to change and begin quenching the thirst of Jesus whenever and wherever we encounter it.