Thirsting For Lent

Whether or not we know it, we are all thirsting for Christ.

Even more amazing is that — despite our sinfulness or brokenness — Christ is thirsting for us, too.

This photo below was taken in 2016 at the Canonization of Mother Teresa. I guess you could say she’s one of my heroes.

Perhaps more than anybody else in recent years, Mother Teresa recognized that thirst in all of us.

She recognized it, because she felt it more keenly than most.

In every chapel of every convent that Mother Teresa established, she wrote 2 words over the main crucifix: “I thirst”.

They were some of the last words Jesus spoke from the cross. In those last moments, a solider lifted a sponge to Jesus lips to drink — but he refused.

Jesus didn’t want a drink. He was thirsting for souls and for their salvation. It’s why He established a Church in the first place.

Those who are closest to Christ soon discover this love Christ had for other souls. All of a sudden, they begin to love the people around them in heroic ways.

Mother Teresa was one of those closest to Christ. She dedicated her entire life to satisfying that thirst — both in Christ and in man.

As she dressed wounds and fed bellies, she also taught people how to pray, because she knew that prayer was the only way to truly satisfy the deepest longings of their heart.

She introduced the dying and destitute to Jesus. She led them to springs of Living Water and their thirst was finally satisfied.

Make no mistake, Mother Teresa was not, first and foremost, a social worker.

Yes, she tried to address the physical needs of the poorest of the poor of Calcutta and around the world — but her sights were set on bringing the poor to Christ, on satisfying their deeper thirst.

Mother Teresa had her eyes set on Heaven. She knew that, no matter the sufferings of this world, that God loved these souls who were overlooked in society and He wanted them in Heaven, too.

Heaven for the poor was her ultimate goal.

Many a “forgotten” soul died in complete happiness in the arms of Mother Teresa or one of her nuns — knowing they were loved by God and loving Him back.

What Mother Teresa and her nuns accomplished in worldly terms was amazing, but their motivation came from love and that love came from their profoundly deep life of prayer.

Love was the secret to her success. It’s why she’s now a Saint.

If there is one lesson we can take from Mother Teresa and her nuns, I think it would be that all of their actions flowed from their prayer life.

Every morning began with prayer and Mass and then they allowed that encounter to fuel them to do beautiful things for this world.

Only after they had prayed did they go out and do lasting good in the world. Their love for Christ fueled their love for the poor.

It helped them overcome their natural limitations and do truly amazing things that would last beyond this world.

Which brings us to Lent.

We are being offered living waters this Lent, too.

Sometimes I think we can begin to look at Lent like obligations or a checklist of things we “ought to do” — but what if we began to look at Lent like things we “get to do” because Christ is on the other end of all of it?

Traditionally, prayer, fasting & almsgiving are considered the three pillars of Lent.

They have earned their place, because they are tried and true means of growing closer to Christ — which is basically the entire goal of Lent in the first place.

It is why millions of Catholics around the world are getting ready for next week’s deep dive into doing things that make us uncomfortable for 40 days of our year.

It’s not that we’re all a bunch of people who just really love to suffer or have wills of steel — in fact, most of us are pretty darn bad at it and fail miserably.

But darn it, we know it’s worth the try. It’s worth the dive. So we do it.

We go for it because we know that prayer, fasting and almsgiving are basically the “Chip and Joanna” of heart renovations😊.

That’s right, they can make our hearts beautiful.

We have hope that somehow all those little things we choose to take on and give up just might make our hearts a more fitting home for Christ.

We believe that they just might make our heart a place that Christ loves to dwell. Imagine that!

What if your ultimate goal was to make your heart a place that Christ loves to dwell this Lent? Let your prayer guide the ways you try to do that.

Before you finalize your plans for Lent, I highly recommend you read what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about prayer.

What ever you do this Lent, make sure prayer has a central place in it. Make sure the things you add or give up are rooted in prayer and fueled by prayer throughout the 40 days.

Without prayer, fasting and almsgiving will lose their deeper meaning.

Fasting will just become a physical feat and almsgiving an act of social justice — we need prayer to draw out the greater love and fruitfulness of those acts.

So let this Lent begin and end with prayer.

Maybe allow that prayer to inspire you to go beyond your comfort zone and discover the strength to do things you aren’t capable of on your own.

Ultimately prayer isn’t about giving up the most or proving you are better than the desert Fathers — it’s about discovering your thirst for Christ and encountering His Thirst for you, until it changes you.

That’s how I’m trying to look at this Lent.

I’m trying to see Christ on the other end of all the things I will choose to do. The goal of all of it is Christ.

Less than a week to go. Godspeed, good people.