To Never Be Thirsty Again

"Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee oh Lord."- St. Augustine

I'm currently out on maternity leave and have had so much more recognition of how much we rely on our human needs of being thirsty and hungry. Whether it's my kindergartner asking for food and drink, a baby crying, or myself breastfeeding, I am constantly having to replenish my supply of food and drink. How much more would the Samaritan woman, working in the heat of the day, have been in physical thirst? 

And yet, the needs of human thirst are nothing in comparison to the infinite comfort we would derive from feeding ourselves spiritually! We often try to fill ourselves up with all the wrong things, the things of this world- money, prestige, hedonism, being loved by others.  True joy however can only be found through Jesus. 

In today’s Gospel, He declares, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Subsequently, He reveals himself as the Savior of the world (4:42). Nowhere else in the Gospels is Jesus more explicit about his identity as the Messiah (4:26) as here. 

Initially the Samaritan woman doesn’t recognize that Jesus is living water, or God. But maybe she has more of a spiritual thirst than a physical thirst. Like the first Apostles who left their fishing boats to follow Christ, she ultimately leaves behind her water jar to proclaim Christ is Lord. The leaving behind of the physical water symbolizes the renouncing of our Earthly possessions; after all, it is only Jesus who can fulfill our deepest desires. (CCC 2544). Today, let us recognize the same- Jesus Christ is Lord, the Bread of Life!