After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that
the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was
a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in
wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus
had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head,
he handed over the spirit. John 19:28–30
Consider the thirst of Jesus. Though His physical thirst must have
been excruciating as He hung upon the Cross, pouring forth His
precious blood upon the world, the spiritual thirst our Lord felt
would have greatly overshadowed His physical thirst. His spiritual
thirst is for you, for your soul, for your salvation. As He hung
upon the Cross, Jesus did not think of Himself, His suffering or
His wretched physical condition. Instead, He thought of you and of
all those for whom He was giving His life.
Psalm 69:22 says, “Instead they gave me poison for my food; and for
my thirst they gave me vinegar.” Jesus fulfilled this Scripture
passage as He thirsted on the Cross. The vinegar symbolically
refers to each one of us. The vinegar given to our Lord on the
Cross was spoiled wine. Each one of us, symbolically speaking, is
this spoiled wine. The purity of our humanity has been corrupted by
original sin. As a result, we are not the people God intended us to
be by nature. But in our fallen state, we have the potential to
satiate Jesus’ spiritual thirst.
As you think about your own life, what do you see? Can you see
yourself as spoiled wine? Perhaps it is a bit humiliating to think
of yourself this way. But humility is good, especially when we
understand that our Lord longs for us in our brokenness. Upon the
Cross, Jesus did not cry out for the best of wine, the finest and
most delicious. As He thirsted on the Cross, He longed to be
satiated by you, in your weakened and broken state, just as you
are, so that He can pour forth His cleansing mercy upon you.
As soon as Jesus tasted the sour wine, He cried out, “It is
finished.” This symbolically represents His soul being satiated by
you every time you turn to Him in your need. It’s amazing to
consider the fact that you have the ability to console the Heart of
Jesus and satiate His thirst this way. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was
very fond of a devotion dedicated to consoling Jesus’ Heart. As a
child, she was given a prayer card that pictured Jesus in prison,
looking out at one small flower. Thérèse saw herself as that one
small flower who was given the mission to console Jesus’ Heart by
visiting Him regularly in the prison of the tabernacle.
Spiritually speaking, that moment of Jesus’ thirst on the Cross
permeates all time and continues today. Every time you come to Him
in your need, especially when you come before Him in the Eucharist,
He turns His eyes to you and calls to you, inviting you to console
Him by offering Him the humility and brokenness of your life.
Today our churches are empty. The Blessed Sacrament has been
removed. As a result, we should seek to satiate the thirst of our
Lord by thirsting for His divine presence that will return on
Easter when the Mass is celebrated once again. Today is a day to
grow in our desire for the presence of our Lord in our lives. We
must allow ourselves to feel His loss, experience His death, and
mourn His suffering. As we do, we must open ourselves to a deep
spiritual longing to consume His broken Body and precious Blood
once again. Doing so will not only prepare us to be satiated
ourselves, it will also enable us to satiate the Heart of our
Lord.
Reflect, today, upon Jesus on the Cross. Gaze at Him as He gazes at
you. See the longing in His Heart for you. Know that He gave His
life for you, so that you could receive the gift of new life. Know,
also, that your openness to this gift of His life poured out for
you will console our Lord’s Heart and bring His divine mission of
salvation to fruition. Satiate our Lord’s thirst today so that He
can once again say, “It is finished.”
My thirsting Lord, Your Sacred Heart longs for me with a love
that is infinite and incomprehensible. You desire that I come to
You, receive Your love and satiate Your thirst. As I gaze upon You
in Your suffering state, I open myself to You and to the gift of
Your Precious Blood poured out for me. May my openness to You be a
consolation to You as I receive Your divine love. Jesus, I trust in
You.
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