Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,

Among the last utterances of Jesus from the Cross is the short statement from the Gospel of John: John 19:28 “I thirst.”

I find this a distressing cry from the parched lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. The God who made the rain, rivers and seas is now reduced to begging for a drink. At this point, the humility of our Lord makes me stand in awe before Him. Jesus lowers Himself to accept our human suffering. He hangs on the shameful cross in tremendous pain and now is          crying out in distress.

The passage goes on to tell us that a sponge is soaked in sour wine (vinegar) and held to His lips on a stick of hyssop (bitter herb) to be His last drink. If course this has reference to something from the Old Testament: Psalm 69:22 “Rather they put gall in my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

In her convents, Mother Teresa had a sign put near the crucifix in the chapel. The sign was printed with the words of Jesus that we reflect on today: “I thirst.” Mother Teresa reminded her sisters that when they ministered to the sick and dying, that they were in fact comforting Jesus. They were giving Him the drink that He was asking for.

In our country, we don’t always come into contact with the sick and dying, but we are still called to listen to the cry of Jesus.  Many people are dying of a spiritual thirst. Like the woman at the well, Jesus is offering them living water to well up in them and become the fountain of life. So we are to give the thirsty body of Christ a life giving drink.

The faith that Jesus has put into our hearts is what He is thirsty for. The more we live the Faith, the more we do charitable works, the more we show concern and love to others, the more we pray and live the Ten Commandments, then the more we are slaking the thirst of Jesus. God chooses to allow us to be His feet, His voice, His hands in our suffering world. Let us answer the cry of our Lord and minister to His needs by serving the needs of our brothers and sisters. May we see the presence of Christ in those around us. 
~Msgr. Cox