From the Cross, our Lord cries, “I thirst.” He not only pleads that his physical body be satiated, but he also utters his thirst for you from the depth of his suffering body! He underwent the suffering of the Cross for the love of us.

The Scriptures reveal this longing for life giving water. The prophet Isaiah says, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (2:3). This water will flow from the side of the temple.

The Jews understood the importance of water. Pope Francis tells us:

The Jewish festival of Booths ( Sukkot), which recalls the forty-year sojourn of Israel in the desert, gradually adopted the symbolism of water as a central element. It included a rite of offering water each morning, which became most solemn on the final day of the festival, when a great procession took place towards the Temple, the altar was circled seven times and the water was offered to God amid loud cries of joy (Delexit nos 94).

Christ is the new temple and from his side flow life giving water! He fulfills the prophecy:

I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and they shall look on him whom they have pierced… On that day, a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity (Zechariah 12:10; 13:1).

We are called to drink from side of Christ. The pope expounds on how this drink echoes in our theological history. He highlights figures like the Fathers of Asia Minor, Ambrose, Augustine, Bernard, William of Saint-Thierry, and Bonaventure.

Ambrose speaks of how drinking from the side of Christ is drinking the Spirit of God:

“Drink of Christ, for he is the rock that pours forth a flood of water. Drink of Christ, for he is the source of life. Drink of Christ, for he is the river whose streams gladden the city of God. Drink of Christ, for he is our peace. Drink of Christ, for from his side flows living water”.

This is not some far away idea. This is intimately close to us. We drink from the side of Christ at the Eucharist! In this regard, Bonaventure presents “the heart of Christ as the source of the sacraments and of grace, and urges that our contemplation of that heart become a relationship between friends, a personal encounter of love” (Delexit nos 106).

We drink form his side to be his personal friends. Such friendship fills the thirst of his heart that burns for love of us. Run to the source and hide in the heart of Christ!