I Thirst For...You -- Jesus

“I Thirst for You”

The divine words, “I thirst,” first spoken on Calvary, still echo throughout every time and place.  God still speaks them in the empty space, the dark and lonely place in every human heart.

“Jesus is thirsting for us right now….Do we listen to Him saying, ‘I thirst for your love?’… Do we really hear Him… He is saying it right now” (Mother Teresa).

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20).

Click here to listen to Fr. John Riccardo read it, he includes his comments afterwards.

It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it could be me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of your response, even the slightest hint of invitation that will allow me to enter.

I want you to know that whenever you invite me, I come. Always, without fail. Silent and unseen I come, but with infinite power and love, bringing the many gifts of my Father. I come with my mercy; with my desire to forgive and heal you, and with a love for you beyond your comprehension—a love every bit as great as the love I myself have received from the Father. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (Jn. 15:9). I come longing to console you and give you strength, to lift you up and bind your wounds. I bring you my light, to dispel your darkness and all your doubts. I come with my power, that I might carry you and all of your burdens; with my grace, to touch your heart and transform your life; and my peace I give to still your soul.

I know you through and through. I know everything about you. The very hairs on your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to me. I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you, even in your wanderings. I know everyone of your problems; I know your needs, your fears, and your worries. I hear your every whispered prayer, always. Even when it seems I am silent, I am ever at work in your life to bless you and protect you.

Every movement of your hearts I follow, and your every thought. I know all your pain, your struggles and your trials, your failures and heartaches. And yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you, and not for what you have or haven’t done. I love you for you. I love you because you are. I love you for the beauty and dignity my Father gave you, creating you in His own image. It is a dignity you have forgotten, a beauty you have tarnished with ego and sin. But I love as you are, infinitely, completely, without reserve; and I have shed my blood to win you back. If you only ask me with faith, my grace will touch all that needs changing in your life, and I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and from all that binds and burdens you, and from all that takes you away from me.

I know what is in your heart. I know your loneliness and all your hurts: the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you so that you might share my strength and my victory. I know especially your need for love, how you thirst to be accepted and appreciated, loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, seeking that love outside of me – I who am its Source – striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures, and often with the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? “If anyone thirst, let him come to me….” (Jn. 7:37). I will satisfy your desire for love beyond your dreams. Do you thirst to be appreciated and cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine, to the point leaving heaven for you, and of dying on a cross to make you one with me.

Don’t you realize that your thirst for love is a thirst for me, I who am Love? I am myself the answer to your deepest desires.

I THIRST FOR YOU…. Yes, that is the only way to describe my love for you: I thirst for you: I thirst to love you and to be loved by you—that is how precious you are to me.

· Come to me and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a new creation, and give you peace in all your trials.

· You must never doubt my mercy, my acceptance of you, my desire to forgive, my longing to bless you and live my life in you.

· If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For, there is no one more important than you.

· Open to me, come to me, thirst for me, give my your life—and I will prove to you how important you are to my heart.

Don’t you realize that my Father already has a perfect plan to transform your life, beginning from this moment? Trust in me. Ask me very day to enter and take charge of your life—and I will. I promise you before my Father in heaven that I will work miracles in your life. Why should I do this? Because I thirst for you. All I ask is that you entrust yourself to me completely. I will do the rest.

Even now I behold the place my Father has prepared for you in my kingdom. Remember that you are a pilgrim in this life, on a journey home. The things of this world can never satisfy you, nor bring peace you seek. All that you have sought outside of me has only left you more empty, so do not cling to material things. Above all, do not run from me when you fall. Come to me without delay. Wen you give me your sins, you give me the joy of being your Savior. There is nothing I cannot forgive and heal. So come now, and unburden your soul.

No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life, there is one thing I want you to always remember, one thing that will never change: I thirst for you – just as you are. You don’t need to change to believe in my love, for it will be your belief in my love that will change you. You forget me, and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day, standing at the door of your heart and knocking. Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross—look at my heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood my cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there, for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28). Yes, I thirst for you as the rest of the psalm-verse I was reciting says of me: “I looked for pity, but there was none” (Ps. 69:20). All your life I have been looking for your love and to be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness. Why not try opening your heart to me, right now, more than you ever have before?

Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit:

No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake. Come to me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and will all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to me, for I thirst for you.

“Jesus is God, therefore His Love, His Thirst is infinite. He the Creator of the universe, asked for the love of His creatures.”

“He thirsts for our love….”

“These words: ‘I thirst’ – do they echo in your souls?”

“Today, Jesus had His arms extended to embrace you. Today Jesus’ Heart was opened to receive you. Were you there?”

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta 

Courtesy of Deacon Edward Kleinguetl

Taken from Joseph Langford MC, Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire: The Encounter That Changed Her Life, and How It Can Transform Your Own, Our Sunday Visitor Press, Huntington, Indiana, 2008, 133-137.

Parable of the Second Chance - Kleinguetl

Edward Kleinguetl      
Third Sunday of Lent (C)

March 3, 2013

Homily

Gospel:  Luke 13:1-9

Our Gospel today contains what is often referred to as the Parable of the Second Chance.1 The fig tree is an appropriate image for our Lenten reflection as we consider our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Probably many of us in our lives can relate to the fig tree which appeared to be lifeless.  We have periods where we feel barren or are thirsting for something greater.  Yet, I can say with absolute certainty that every human heart, no matter how barren, has the capacity for immense love, mercy, and compassion.  How do I know this?  Because all are created in the image of God; each of us has the Divine Image impressed within.  Yes, it is true that sometimes that image is not as brilliant as it should be, perhaps coated with dust and neglect. However, the image is part of who we are. Lent is one of seasons of the Church where we re-examine our relationship with Jesus, to start scrubbing away the decay in order to draw closer to Him, for we are told, whoever remains in Him bears much fruit.2

The second chance is ours to accept.  We can choose to seek Jesus in our lives or not.  However, we can simply look to the crucifix above and know our Father’s desire for us – we can see the depth of His love.  Look up and reflect for a moment on Jesus, in anguish on the cross.  Hear his words:  “I thirst.”  He thirsts for each of us, just as we are.  When we are weak, when we doubt, or when we feel like we are failing, look upon the cross.  It is a reminder we are never left alone.  When we consider Jesus on the cross, by human standards one could say his life was a defeat, a disappointment, and a failure.  Even most of his disciples scattered in fear and doubt.  Think of Jesus, “reduced to absolute immobility, nailed on the cross.  He was no longer able to encounter people, to cure the sick, to teach…. Yet in the eyes of God, that was the most important moment of his life, because it was then that he poured out his blood for the salvation of humanity.”3

It was through this act of perfect self-giving that we can begin to appreciate the depths of the Father’s love for us.  He gave humanity a second chance after Adam’s rejection in the Garden of Eden; God sent us His Son. It also helps us to understand how we are called to live in own our lives.  We too are asked to completely surrender and trust in God’s plan.  Like the fig tree, we are given the chance to bear fruit.  He will never give up on us.  The rest is up to us.

Next week in the Gospel, we will hear the Parable of the Prodigal Son; another story of a second chance.  There is no more beautiful image in the Bible, in my opinion, than the Loving Father embracing and unconditionally forgiving his wayward son.  Yet, if we stop with this image in our mind, we will miss one of the most important messages of the parable:  We too are called to be like the Loving Father, to forgive unconditionally, even when it hurts.  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta would tell us: “Love is a one-way street.  It always moves away from self in the direction of the other.  It is through love (even when it hurts) that we encounter God.”4  Thus, without love, we will be like the barren fig tree, exhausting the soil and squandering our gifts.

If you would say to me, this is too hard, I would agree.  I struggle with this each day. Yet, this is the standard to which each of us is called; we have the capacity to love deeply because we have the Divine Image impressed within us.  Alone, of course, it is impossible.  However with God, nothing is impossible.5  That is why during this Lenten season, we strive to deepen our relationship with Jesus, who is the way to the Father.6

What should we do?  How do we deepen our relationship with Jesus?  In our parable today, the gardener cultivated the soil and fertilized it.  We can cultivate the soil of our hearts; we have the three traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Today, let me just concentrate for a moment on prayer because so many people in the world hunger to know Jesus.

Prayer, specifically contemplative prayer, is to listen to voice of Jesus within the silent depths of our hearts; to hear His knocking and to let Him in.7  If you want a close, personal relationship with Jesus, contemplative prayer is the way.  The most ancient form of contemplative prayer is the Jesus Prayer – my personal favorite and Fr. Alfonso’s as well.  Can we make time in our lives during this Lenten season to encounter Jesus in prayer?  

How much time?  This is up to each individual; some of the great mystics will say to start with 15 to 20 minutes per day8 – just be consistent; taking time each day, making it a discipline.

Of course, there are other forms of fertilizer, too, such as reading Scripture, particularly the Gospels, receiving Eucharist, and of course, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the “forgotten medicine,”9 in which we are truly able to have our burdens lifted and hear the words of Jesus, “You are forgiven!”  

This is how we deepen our relationship with Jesus, to take advantage of the second chance given us.  

Over this remaining Lenten season, let us actively seek to deepen our relationship with Jesus, taking time to encounter Jesus in the depths of our hearts; simply listening to Him in the silence.

As we approach the Holy Table today, before we receive the Precious Body and Life-giving Blood or Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, let us each take a moment to look up at the cross and hear those words of Jesus, “I thirst.”  Know that he thirsts for every single one of us; he accepts us just as we are.  Like the fig tree and the Prodigal Son, he offers everyone another chance. Take a moment to offer a brief prayer such as, “Lord Jesus, you died for love of me.  Help me to die to self for love of you."

Then, as we receive Him in Holy Communion, let us allow Him to give us the grace we need to surrender and draw closer to Him during this Lenten season.  He will give us the grace we need.  All we have to do is ask.  The choice is ours.



1. William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, taken from The Daily Bible Study series, rev. ed., (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2001): 208.

2. Cf. John 15:5. 

3. Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Testimony of Hope: The Spiritual Exercises of John Paul II, transl. Julia Mary Darrenkamp, FSP, and Anne Eileen Hefferman, FSP, (Pauline Books & Media, Boston, 2000): 205.

4. Cf. Mother Teresa, Where There is Love, There is God, Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC, PhD, (Image Books, New York, 2010): 26.

5. Cf. Matt. 19:26 

6. See John 14:6.

7. Cf. Rev. 3:20.

8. St. Theophan the Recluse suggests 15 minutes per day and Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO suggests 20 minutes a day, twice a day. 

9. See Seraphim Aleksiev, The Forgotten Medicine: The Mystery of Repentance, Transl. by Ralitsa Doynova, St. Xenia Skete Press, Wildwood, California, 1994.