With Week 1 of Steubenville STL Mid-America just three weeks away, it’s time to take a minute to unpack the theme of this year’s conference: “THIRST”. Such a simple word, yet it carries so much depth and meaning for our human hearts. Imagine what it feels like to thirst. Your mouth is dry. Your throat feels scratchy. Your body is tired and weak. All you can think about is finding a cool glass of water, longing for anything that will satiate this overwhelming thirst.
Christ Thirsts for You
Now multiply whatever you just imagined by infinity and you may begin to scratch the surface of how Christ thirsts for you. He longs for you. He desires your heart. He loves you deeply, personally and intimately. You have done nothing to deserve this love and you don’t have to. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past or what you will do in the future, Christ loves you as you are.
He “proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). When Christ hung on the cross some two thousand years ago, blood dripping down his face, pure agony overtaking every part of his body, he cried out “I thirst”. His desire was so strong that he undertook the excruciatingly painful process of lifting himself up just enough to allow him to make his thirst known to us. Imagine how painful it must have been for him to even take a breath. Yet, he wanted you to know that he loves you.
When Christ uttered those two words on the cross, “I thirst,” he was thinking of you. He thirsts for your soul. He desires your heart to be totally his. All he wants is to love you. You are the only one that can satiate his thirst. You are the only one that can give him permission to pour his boundless mercy and love into your heart.
You Thirst for Christ
The Catechism says, “God thirsts that we may thirst for him” (CCC 2560). What is it you thirst for? When you look closely what are the deepest desires of your heart? To belong? To be wanted? To be known? To be understood? To be loved?
I know what you’re thinking. How does she know the innermost longings of my heart? Well, because they are the same desires that are stamped into the hearts of every human person, including mine. We were made with a thirst for love that can only be quenched by God who is love itself. Nothing else will ever satisfy out thirst.
What Does all of This Mean?
If you’ve put two and two together, you’ve realized by now that you are the only one who can satiate God’s thirst, and God is the only one who can satiate yours. When these two thirsts collide, we will be in perfect union with God. This perfect unity with God is called holiness. Now, you may have heard before that as Christians we have a universal call to holiness. All human beings are made to fulfill that call. Are you following this flow chart?
You satiating God’s thirst and God satiating yours=Perfect union with God=Holiness=Our universal call=Your purpose.
This is good stuff! Our partners over at Franciscan University knew what they were doing when they chose “Thirst” as the theme for Steubenville 2016. It’s not just a catchy title that looks good on t-shirts. This year’s theme is pointing to your fundamental purpose as a human being. Your purpose is to satiate God’s thirst for your soul by allowing him to satiate your thirst for love.
That sounds great and all but how do you actually do that? The Catechism gives us a very simple answer. It says, “Prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours” (CCC 2560). So, there’s your answer, the best way to fulfill your purpose is by prayer. As you begin to prepare for Steubenville, I challenge you to begin transforming your prayer life into a real encounter of your thirst with that of Christ’s by spending some time reading and praying with Mother Teresa’s “I Thirst” meditation. Then, each time you begin to pray be mindful of the depth of Christ’s longing for you and the reality that He is the cool glass of water that will quench your thirst too.
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