St. Norbert's Church - Sunday Reflections

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. It is our Lord Jesus Himself who tells us that we no longer need to thirst. This statement is clearly not about physical thirst, but about thirsting for spiritual wholeness.

Today's Gospel is really important in our understanding of the mystery of Jesus Christ. The Gospel invites us to meditate today and ponder that for which we long and thirst. Some people seem consumed by thirsting for money, others for power, others for physical relationships and others thirst just to have what they need for the day. There are countless other thirsts that we humans have.

Jesus is not inviting us to some kind of narrow religious bigotry in our thirsting. No, Jesus is inviting us to recognize that only God is worth thirsting for. Ultimately, life has no other meaning than doing the will of God. Perhaps we need to grow into that realization: only God matters in the long run.

This kind of realization is not to lure us into some kind of narrow religious consciousness, but is to help us set our hearts and God and keep our hearts set on God. Keeping our hearts set on God can happen when we are joyful and living our faith with great joy. It can also happen when we are sad and suffering. It can come to pass when we are reviled or when we are praised. When we live in the Lord we know both how to feast and how to fast.

The first reading from the Book of Exodus tells the story of our Israelite ancestors longing and thirsting for water. They wanted a physical water and it was given to them. They still turned against God later on. This tells us that we must always keep our eyes on the Lord so that we seek Him alone and not the physical realities of this world.

The passage from the Letter to the Romans today tells us that Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. This is again an assurance that Christ our Lord will free us from sin. We really need not flee the face of the Lord. Rather we should stand firm with Him in the recognition of His love for us.

May the readings this Sunday lead us to a deeper understanding of Our Lord Jesus Christ. More important than that understanding is our faithfulness in seeking His will and striving always to fulfill it.