Reflection on the 5th Last Word of our Lord Jesus

On Good Friday, I invite you to join me, as we keep our Lord Jesus Christ company in the place called Golgotha, or the Skull.

Behold our Lord hanging on that cross for all of us, for our sins. For we are the sinners, not our Lord. But he is the one crucified, not us. Is that fair, is that justice? Ask ourselves.

The sun is scourging hot. Our Lord is near the end of his human life. He senses it. He has hung on that cross for some agonizing hours by now.

Look at our Lord on the cross. It has become hard for Jesus to even get a breath. Hung from his arms, he must pull himself up each time he wants to breathe. His shoulders ache, his mouth is parched. He is physically exhausted.

And yet he does not want to die without a final word. He asks for something to drink to wet his lips for some relief.

St. John the evangelist wrote (Jn 19:28): After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said:

"I THIRST."

In the physical sense, thirst is our body's reaction to the loss of fluid. From his agony in the Garden of Olives, the scourging at the pillar, the agonizing way of the cross, our Lord has lost a lot of blood and body fluids with the extreme cruelty of his suffering. That is why he is now thirsty. He thirsts for water.

Now we know that we can live some days without food, but we cannot survive for long without water. We need water to survive. That is why we feel thirsty when there is an imbalance of fluids in our body. The mind triggers something to replenish immediately the loss of water in our body. Otherwise, we dehydrate and die. So under the intense heat of the sun and the physical suffering he endures, Jesus said, "I thirst."

Yet, more than the physical thirst for water, our Lord thirsts for our LOVE.

Remember that in his public ministry, Jesus healed so many sick, cured the lepers, preached God's kingdom to many people, and even fed the multitude who followed him. But now hanging on that cross of salvation, Jesus finds himself all alone, except for his mother, Mary, and the beloved disciple, John.

Earlier, his disciples deserted him. Judas has betrayed him to his enemies. Simon Peter denied him not once but thrice. All the people who followed him were gone. Jesus is left alone on his own, hanging on the cross and dying.

Can you imagine being in solitary confinement for a long time, cut off from all human contacts? You'd thirst for love, you'd thirst for human company. They say that the greatest sacrifice of our overseas Filipino workers, or OFWs, is loneliness, being separated from their loved ones, and that is a great sacrifice in the name of love for their families.

So our Lord in his dying moments thirsts for LOVE; he thirsts for your love; he thirsts for our love. He gives up his life for our sins, and all he asks in return is our love.

Do we respond to his invitation of love? How do we respond to his invitation of love?

Well, the Lord is not with us physically now, until we see him again in glory on judgement day. But he left us with his commandment of love: Love one another just as I have loved you. And the Lord loves us unto his death.

Today, hanging on that cross Jesus challenges us to witness our love for him through our love for our neighbors. Because whatever we do to the least of our neighbors, we do that for the Lord himself.

Jesus says, "I thirst"... he thirsts for love, he thirsts for compassion, for kindness on behalf of the poor, the suffering, the marginalized members of society.

Are we ready to take up the Lord's challenge? Are we ready to respond to his invitation of LOVE?

Our new Pope Francis calls for a Church of compassion, especially a Church that loves the poor among us.

As we await the Lord's resurrection on Easter Sunday, let us commit ourselves to follow his commandment by being faithful to all the teaching of his Church. In that way we quench the Lord's thirst for love with concrete actions of Christian living.

So that on judgement day before the Lord, we can say that the Lord was hungry and we gave him food to eat; the Lord was thirsty and we gave him water to drink; the Lord was homeless and we gave him our home to dwell... through genuine caring for the poor and the needy in our midst. Amen.


Deo Optimo Maximo!