From the Friars: Thirst in the Desert

My High School basketball coach was old school. No one was allowed to wear any shoes but white Converse All Star Chuck Taylor high tops, affectionately known as “Chuck’s,” and no one was allowed to drink any water during practice. After two and a half hours of drills, hard running and much sweat, we learned the meaning of the word “thirsty.” When finally dismissed, it was a fifteen-man sprint to the locker room and the nearest drinking fountain or faucet.

In today’s first reading the Israelites complain to Moses in the desert that they are thirsty. In the Gospel Jesus is tired and thirsty after a long journey, and He asks the Samaritan woman for a drink. The human body needs water like every living thing in the universe. Water is an amazing substance that has many fascinating properties. But most of all it is life giving and nourishing. It is one of the most clear and powerful symbols of the Holy Spirit in the Sacred Scriptures.

At the end of the Bible St. John is shown the Heavenly Jerusalem and “the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Rev 22:1) This is the living water that Our Lord speaks of and is pre-figured in the desert when Moses strikes the rock. The Holy Spirit is the Bond of Love between the Father and the Son, “the Lord, the Giver of Life” as we say in the Creed. He is Life in the sense that to be alive spiritually means to be in a right relationship with God, in love and truth.

Our need for water is meant to help us recognize our need for Divine Love. Once received, it can become a spring of living water, as Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, flowing through us to those we encounter in this world. “I thirst” He cried from the Cross. (Jn 19:28) St. Theresa of Calcutta based her charism and spirituality on these words.

As we should thirst for His Love, so He thirsts for our response.

As we enter the desert this Lent, may we seek the only water that will satisfy our thirst forever.

–Fr. Peter