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| (grabbed from http://ccdumaguete.com) |
The dry season is in the air. The green grasses around our
homes are turning brown. The soil is starting to become parched. The rain is
scarce. The heat is on. We perspire a lot and our thirst intensifies. Under
these circumstances, we cannot but “obey our thirst” as the ads remind us over
and over again. Actually, we do not need even a modicum of reminder when it
comes to obeying our thirst as we cannot do otherwise. We obey it by necessity.
What needs a great amount of reminding in us is our choice of the things with
which we try to quench our thirst. The ads entice us to patronize a certain
brand of beverage which promises optimum satisfaction. Still, we all know that nothing
beats fresh water. Yet whether we drink the advertised refreshing beverages or
simply the ice-cold fresh water, what we experience is only provisional
satisfaction. We keep coming back as we grow thirsty again and again.
Our thirst seems to be infinite. As such, it cannot be
completely slaked by finite things this world can offer. Hence, if we keep on going back to the
temporary answers to our thirst expecting to be fully satisfied, we sure will
end up in restless frustrations.
Two Kinds of Thirst.
I find very helpful our awareness of the distinction between two levels of
thirst that we all experience in life.
The first level of thirst is the horizontal yearning. We yearn for the good things that this
world offers: refreshing drink,
delicious food, a cozy house, a decent income, pleasures and entertainment,
friendship and companionship. It is but natural to desire these things and when
sought within reasonable limits, these are actually not bad. But much deeper
than this yearning for earthly goods is our experience of the vertical
yearning. This is our thirst for meaning. All human beings are in search for this
meaning. Experience tells us that no
amount of goods in this world can totally satisfy this thirst. Only the vertical
friendship with God provides the answer to this infinite longing. Only the infinite love of God satisfies this
deepest thirst.
Obeying our thirst wisely, then, means distinguishing
between these two kinds of thirst which are naturally operating in us. It is foolish to seek satisfaction of our
deepest longing for meaning in the temporary horizontal goods like food,
wealth, fame, pleasure, human relationships.
They all provide temporary
answers. People who have tried this
foolish way ended up frustrated, lonely, unhappy, and empty. St. Augustine had tried this for many years
before he realized that, as he wrote in his Confession,
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it
rests in you."
Source of Living
Water. In today’s gospel reading (Jn
4: 5-42), Jesus is in conversation with a Samaritan woman who is drawing water
from Jacob’s well. Jesus takes the
opportunity to enlighten this woman regarding the source of living water that
can truly quench her thirst. Commentaries explain that this woman had lived in
disappointment, loneliness, and insecurities.
She had lived with five husbands and now she was
with another man whom she hadn't even married. On account of this
status, she was drawing water from Jacob’s well at the hottest time of
the day in order to avoid the other women in the town as they would just
ridicule her.
We can discern that this woman had been trying to quench
her deepest thirst for meaning and for infinite love with worldly
goods like human love, comfort, and earthly pleasures. In the process, she ended up miserable and
lonely. But her meeting with the Lord at Jacob’s well changed everything. She
came to the cistern to draw water that had kept her coming back for more but
she encountered the source of living water, the “spring of water welling up to
eternal life,” Jesus Christ. With her
encounter with Christ and her acceptance of him in faith, not only did her life
turned around completely, she even became an enthusiastic missionary to the
people in her village announcing the good news.
The whole town came to believe in Jesus.
A Season for Obeying
our Thirst. Lent is a time for obeying our thirst—not so much the thirst
for horizontal stuff which leave us craving for more but our deepest thirst for
meaning, our thirst for the infinite love of God. In this season of grace, let us allow Jesus
to quench our thirst as we unmask the emptiness of the promise of satisfaction
offered to us by the things of this world:
To what well do I
keep coming back in life in order to seek satisfaction of my thirst? Just
like the Samaritan woman, we can go through life, searching for the little
things in life that satisfy our thirst – perhaps pleasure, material things, a
challenging job or a friendship. All these things satisfy, but their
satisfaction is provisional and we must return to them again and again. Again,
to what do you turn to satisfy your thirst? Don’t you think you have enough of
these?
Have I discovered the
source of the living water that truly satisfies? Just as Jesus offered the
living water, the life of grace, to the Samaritan woman, He offers the same to
all. He shares this life of grace with us in abundance. When we accept his offer of life-giving
grace, our lives can turn around from endless frustrations to a meaningful and
joyful life. This season of Lent is our
opportunity to make this change happen. Am I ready to open my heart to Jesus the
source of the living water?
Obey your thirst. Like the Samaritan woman, beg the Lord to
give you the living water that you may not be thirsty or have to keep coming
back to the well that never satisfies.
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