Jesus Thirsts
[Lord Jesus] help me consider that I have never profited from the mysterious thirst of our Lord Jesus Christ, expressed by him on the Cross … May he help me in making … the most perfect correspondence with his thirst. (OOCC, X, pp. 414, 415; STA, 471)
With the offering of his mother to John to be his mother, Jesus had given up everything in his life. There was nothing which he could call his own in this world. Jesus felt within himself a sense of having lost everything. His life along with its mission given by the Father seemed to be a failure. Even his disciples on whom he counted, were not with him in his last moment except John, the disciple Jesus loved. One of them betrayed him and another denied him, while the others left him disappointed and discouraged at what had happened to him. This was a moment in which Jesus experienced a sense of loneliness and being left alone. A desperate feeling overwhelmed him. His heart was yearning for all that he missed at this moment. This, indeed, was the thirst Jesus expressed in the fourth words from the cross. St. Vincent Pallotti referred to this state of Jesus as the “mysterious thirst.” He often prayed that Jesus would help him to make a perfect correspondence with the “thirst of Jesus.” Being in touch with the state of mind of Jesus in his “mysterious thirst” was a great consolation to St. Vincent as he was able to cope with similar experiences in his own life with courage and determination.
Do I understand the true meaning of Jesus’ thirst which he expressed from the cross? Have I come across such meaningless and lonely moments in my life? How have I coped with such moments? Have I, like St. Vincent Pallotti, drawn inspiration to cope with my lonely moments from the “mysterious thirst of Jesus”?
After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” (Jn. 19: 28)