The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
“I thirst for you.”
I first encountered these words from St. Teresa of Calcutta in college during our annual fall formation day. Our campus minister gave us this meditation, asking us to sit with the Lord who thirsts for us. I remember entering prayer and picturing Jesus saying those words “I thirst for you,” then repeating those same words back to Him.
In today’s readings, we find ourselves saying those words “I thirst” to our Lord through the psalmist: “for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.” In our thirst, we cry out in praise and adoration for “with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.” Likewise, we may also cry out with a question: Lord, I thirst for you, how do I grow closer to You?
And He quenches our thirst through invitation to grow closer to Him through the cross.
Today, we receive Christ’s invitation to take up our crosses and follow Him, knowing that taking up the cross means laying down our lives. In laying down our lives, we lay down our desires, our dreams, our questions, and our doubts in order to pick up the cross and walk with our Lord. Our actions begin to point toward heaven, being offered as a sacrifice. Our hearts and minds are transformed and renewed as St. Paul reminds the Romans. We find ourselves quenched, knowing that everything given to the Lord is transformed into something good and beautiful, especially when tied to the cross as a sacrifice.
As we enter this week, may we continue to thirst for the Lord and answer His invitation to take up the cross with a steadfast heart. May we lay down what we have, whether it’s a pivotal life event or a small inconvenience, and offer it as a living sacrifice. May we continue to thirst for the Lord, knowing that we find life in Him.
Chrysta Joy Jaucian is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and singer from Houston, Texas. She loves sharing joy through laughter, sharing stories over coffee, and finding the Lord in the ordinary.
