I thirst

"I thirst"

Good Friday meditation from Sr. Kathleen Bryant, RSC

April 14, 2017

Jesus asked me for a drink one day a couple of years ago.  He asked me, a woman!, for a drink.  I was an outsider, alienated from the community.  I had many men in my life.  Why would he bother spending time with me?

“Give me something to drink.”  I gave him something from my own well.  I wondered why he asked me for a drink.  And now I’m here at the foot of the cross, remembering that I, a sinner, quenched his thirst that day.

How did the Samaritan woman hear “I thirst”?

As an infant, I nursed Jesus from my breast until he was old enough to drink on his own, but he still needed me.  Day after day, year after year, I heard him ask me for a drink.  He asked me for a drink as a young child and now, at the foot of his cross, I hear him ask again, and I'm helpless.

See Mary, mother of Jesus, at the foot of the cross, remembering the times she quenched his thirst.

How did Mary hear “I thirst”?

Jesus would come to our home in Bethany to relax with my sister Martha and our brother Lazarus.  He arrived tired and stressed and just wanted to relax, so I gave him our finest wine, remembering how he spared one newlywed couple from embarrassment in Cana.  I often quenched his thirst to belong and to be loved, especially when I anointed his tired feet, massaging them lovingly.  And here I am at the foot of his cross, hearing him cry out, “I thirst” and I’m helpless.

How does Mary of Bethany hear "I thirst"? 

What is Jesus thirsting for today?  As he hangs on the cross, stretched in all directions, what does he long for?  What is he thirsting for?  As he hangs between heaven and earth, he longs for a drink from your own deep well.  Can you give Jesus something to drink from your very own well?  What in your deeper self is Jesus thirsting for?

Visualize yourself being lifted up the cross to give him a drink.  What do you offer to quench his thirst?  Jesus invited you and me, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.”  He has given us Living Water.  How can you return the gift of living water he has given you?

He told us how to respond to his thirst.  Do you remember?  When you give a drink to a thirsty sister or brother, you quench my thirst that all may be recognized and valued.  Who else is thirsting for your attention and love?  Your aging parent, the child afraid to talk about his or her orientation, a troubled spouse, a lonely neighbor?  The trafficked teen standing on the corner, the homeless person, the refugee, the immigrant, the person waiting on death row?

I pray that we thirst like Jesus did and share his longing for that revolution of love that invites every single person to the table.  He died to extend compassion and forgiveness to each person.  You give him to drink as you see him in the thirsty ones.  Keep hearing him cry out “I thirst” today, and each tomorrow.

“I thirst.”  What will you do about it?  Search deep down in your own well for that part of you that Jesus longs to share.  You respond to his cry from the cross every time you help one of the thirsty members of his broken Body.

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