“Jesus answered, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I will give them, with never thirst.” John 4:13-14
A captivating book we read during my study, to be a spiritual director, was “The Holy Longing” by Ronald Rolheiser. In it he wrote, “Everyone has to have a spirituality, and everyone does have one, either a life-giving one or a destructive one.” The woman at the well, seems to have felt unworthy. She seems to have succumbed, to a life of isolation and set apart from community. She may have chosen to live in the thorns of pain. Jesus invites this Samaritan woman, his daughter, to drink ‘living water’. This precious soul, with eyes fixed on the fleshly need of thirst, asks Jesus about a jug for his water. This precious daughter, perhaps sought ways to live, which quench thirst in the human body. Jesus is persistent. We get this sense of Jesus, deeply probing and asking. This call that whispers to the soul, ‘see me’. The surface of the flesh is shallow for this call. Sins, that may have burdened her, she begins to see perhaps were not the will of a loving Lord. Sins can call to redemption. Call us to compassion for others. Compassion towards ourselves. I pray and offer to God, my own struggle and difficulty, in forgiving myself. Like this precious woman at the well, Jesus offers us living water. Eternal life. How can we receive Him?
Mother Teresa wrote a powerful prayer, “I Thirst”. It touches deep parts of me, that compel me to gaze upon the heart of Jesus, with awe and wonder. With great love. Mother Teresa, delves into how Jesus ‘stands at the door’, yearning for our love and life. How Jesus offers light, peace and strength to heal our wounds. She speaks of this divine thirst, that can transform and transfigure our lives. She speaks of this detachment from worldly desires. A thirst, of divine love to a relationship with Jesus through prayer and silence. When prayer is fostered, we can become outpouring love for God, self and as missionaries of his love in the world. This perfectly created, daughter of God, perhaps hid in the darkness. Jesus calling to her, ‘come into the light’. Gaze upon me.
My Lenten prayer journey has stirred up worldly waters that swirl in my soul. In prayer, I sit in silence and receive, God’s love and message. It quiets my soul. It allows me to hear, God’s truth. Be not afraid, Jesus says. Come drink from the eternal living water. This woman, who perhaps believed, her sins defined her. Sins may have held her captive. When she opened her eyes, a burst of joy flooded her soul, perhaps, seeing for the first time, Jesus inside her.
Meditate: Look upon a person, nature, or event with awe and wonder. Sit in silence for a short period to receive.
God bless,
Claudia
Our Nourished Soul