A Thirst for Healing & Unity
As we journey through Lent, we are invited to meditate on the profound words of Christ from the cross – “I thirst.” On one level, Jesus was simply expressing the terrible physical thirst that tormented him after the scourging and crucifixion his body endured. As the psalmist foretold, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws” (Psalm 22:15).
Yet Christ’s words carried a deeper spiritual meaning as well. By taking on the fullness of human suffering, as he became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), Jesus was consumed by a “thirst” to defeat sin, evil and death once and for all. His passion quenched the eternal thirst of humanity for redemption.
Today, we see a world still ravaged by destructive thirsts – for power, wealth, twisted ideologies that breed violence, conflict and division. The horrific war in the Middle East, crushing poverty, human rights abuses, and unspeakable suffering reveal how desperately we need the living waters that only Christ can provide. Closer to home, we confront a unique set of challenges. Despite its cultural richness and diversity, Malaysia faces issues such as economic disparities, social injustices and the need for greater unity among its people.
This Lent, we are called to cultivate a new thirst – a thirst for justice, peace, human dignity and unity in our fractured world. A thirst for deeper communion with God and each other. Just as Jesus embraced the anguished thirst of all humanity, we too must embrace the sufferings of our brothers and sisters as our own.
In this year of communion in our Parish, we have a unique opportunity to share the living waters that quench the world’s deepest thirsts. Through prayer, fasting, almsgiving and loving service, we can be vessels of God’s mercy, easing spiritual and physical hunger. We can build bridges across the chasms that divide peoples.
United to Christ in his thirst, we become the living presence of the One who promises: “Whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst again; no, the water I give shall become a fountain within, leaping up to provide eternal life” (John 4:14). This Lent, let us drink deeply of that fountain, allowing it to flow outward as a wellspring of hope for a world consumed by thirst.