“‘I thirst’ – are we too busy to think about that? The words, ‘I thirst’ – do they echo in our souls?”
– St. Mother Teresa
Reflection:
Mother Teresa was a woman full of passion and zeal to serve the poorest of the poor. But how did she have this passion? She knew how much God was in love with her.
Mother teaches us that Jesus thirsts for souls. God didn’t have to create us – but He did. He is the fullness of love without our love; that is, He doesn’t need our love. But God created each human being with love in His image. This means God created us with a thirst for His love. At the same time, He desires us to be in love with Him, and so He thirsts for our love.
This was the thirst of Jesus on the cross, and the reason He died for us. Jesus thirsts for our love, and wants nothing more than for us to be totally united with Him in love.
At the same time, our deep, inner thirst will never be satisfied unless we allow Jesus into our deepest self. It is by quenching the thirst of Jesus that He quenches our thirst.
In the Gospel of John, we hear the story of the woman at the well quenching Jesus’ thirst. However, in this process, Jesus helps the woman to realize her true thirst for Him.
Mother Teresa knew of her thirst for Jesus, and Jesus’ deep thirst for her. Mother’s entire mission of serving the poorest of poor was centered around this reality.
Are we aware of our thirst for Christ? How are we quenching Jesus’ thirst for us? Let us ponder these questions and take them to heart this Lent!
Challenge: “Jesus shows us that ‘giving him something to drink’ is not ultimately our gift to him, but rather his gift to us.”
– Fr. Joseph Langford, I Thirst, 40 days with Mother Teresa
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