Jn 4, 5-42
We thirst for God. Nothing else can satisfy this deep longing of our soul. Not being able to know Jesus is the worst poverty St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta says. The desire for God is written in the human heart, because we are created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw us to Himself. Only in God will we find the truth and happiness we never stop searching for.
The truth is God thirsts for us! On the cross Jesus says, “I thirst.” But he refuses to drink the vinegar which they give him. It must be a different kind of thirst. When Jesus asks the Samaritan woman, “Give me a drink” he spends a long time talking with her. He is not thirsty for water but for our love and he offers us his life-giving water.
“The water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” “Love consists in this: not that we have loved God but that He has loved us and has sent His Son as an offering for our sins.” (1Jn 4,10.)
A man gets lost and is dying of thirst after walking across a vast wasteland. “Please, give me some water. I am dying of thirst” he begs a vendor selling neckties who replies, “I have no water here but if you buy a necktie, I can help you get some.”
The man is angry. “What’s wrong with you? I need water and you offer me ugly neckties!” “If you do not buy one it’s alright. A kilometre from here, there is a restaurant where you can get water.” The man hurriedly leaves but returns exhausted. “Let me buy a necktie! They would not let me in unless I wear one!”
In the story, we are the weary travellers. The restaurant with life-sustaining water is God’s kingdom. Our only access to the kingdom is Jesus. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Heavenly Father, help us discover the life-giving water in Jesus by intimately relating with him in prayer.
Brothers and sisters, thirsting for God let our hearts resonate with Psalm 42,1. “As a deer that longs for running streams, so my soul longs for you, my God.”
+Manny Cabajar, C.Ss.R. D.D.
