To thirst or not to thirst

According to what I am told, I am the son of man and woman; This astonishes me...I thought I was more (Lautréamont).

We all want more than mere birthright. We all long for something we think of as more. But as much as we long, so true too is the fact that this longing is unsettling, disturbing, and troubling. Often we don't know how to fill the void inside, or simple, that void, that unsettling feeling, that thirst hurts too much.

Bernard Bro says, as much as we long, we also fear. This is the tragic aspect of the grandeur of the mind. Each of us succeeds perfectly, if she so wishes, in suffocating the questions that disturb her, in anesthetizing them...we have a thirst for happiness, but we are afraid of being thirsty.

It is true; much of our frantic activities in life attempt to suffocate our thirst. Jesus would have us thirst for more. It is in pondering the questions that disturb that we find treasures hidden from our first glance.

Do not be afriad of your thirst. Instead, let it lead you to more.

Quenching Our Thirst

Knowledge can be theoretical or practical, something we know in our mind, or by the experience within our soul. There are many who know about God, can argue the fine points of theology on God, and who write volumes on these topics. Then there are those who know God, by lived experience, by the power in their heart, the spirit in their soul, the hope they maintain and the passion they live by.

The 18th century spiritual writer Jean-Pierre De Caussade speaks of this distinction and says it is fire and not the philosophy or scientific knowledge of fire that warms us...if we wish to quence our thirst, we must lay aside books that explain thirst and take a drink. Caussade goes on to explain our moment is the one presented to us in the here and now, in how we handle it, how we divinize it. Book learning is good. But it is not enough.

It's a challenge for us to take our knowledge and make it real through silent meditation; take that meditation and make it alive though daily acts; take those acts and make them fruitful through reflection. All done in search for a deeper understanding and relationship with God.

We all want to know more about God. The greatest knowledge comes by putting the book aside, and quenching our thirst with God himself.