We gather here because we are all thirsty,
and we’d like to know the best sources to quench our thirst.
Our thirst is for love, belonging, nourishment and meaningful action.
The purpose of this little vlog/blog combo is to connect each of us to the practices, habits and flow that will best quench our thirst.
Every week when we gather in person around The Table, in a community we like to think of as a studio of love, we help to Set The Table for each other through a set of ground-rules that govern our practice of love.
We remind ourselves that:
It’s possible to leave the circle with whatever it was that we needed when we arrived.
Knowing the seeds planted here can keep growing to nourish our hunger and quench our thirst in the days ahead.
So, when we gather here online for Thirsty Thursdays, the point is to water those seeds,
so that our hunger & thirst can be quenched every day.
Right now around The Table we are exploring the four curriculums so to speak of
The Greatest Commandment - a summary of all the important stuff in relationship to God.
During the month of March we are exploring the element inherent to all the other loves:
love of self
“The first (commandment) in importance is,
[…] to love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.
And here is the second: Love others as well as you love yourself.
There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”
— Jesus (Mark 12:29-31)
[…] to love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.
And here is the second: Love others as well as you love yourself.
There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”
— Jesus (Mark 12:29-31)
Phileena Heuertz reflects in her book, “Pilgrimage of a Soul” (page 104) that:
“The patients [of the Home for the Dying] are invited into the humblest of circumstances that offer a sanitary place to lay their head, the easy of pain and distress through limited resources, and the opportunity to die not alone but in the company of love.
Along the central stair case hangs a large crucifix that reads, ‘I thirst.”
[ which are the words that Jesus spoke when he was dying by crucifixion ]
Mother Teresa believed that tending to the poorest of the poor — was a way to quench the thirst of Christ in his distress.
‘Jesus is God,’ she wrote; ‘therefore his love, His Thirst, is infinite.
He, the creator of the universe, asked for the love of his creatures. He thirsts for our love.
These words, ‘I thirst’ — do they echo in our souls?’”
So my question to you today echoes Mother Teresa’s:
do Jesus’ words echo in your soul?
Do you thirst? Do you thirst for love?
Do you thirst for companionship, the ease of your pain and distress,
a sanitary and safe place to find rest from what ales you?
Perhaps the first way to begin to quench this thirst is to love yourself enough to
recognize and seek the love that can quench it.
I believe that self-love begins with embrace, it begins with welcome,
it begins with kindness toward yourself.
“Place Your Life Before God
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
— Romans 12 The Message (MSG)
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
— Romans 12 The Message (MSG)
So this week friends: embrace yourself.
Embrace how God is loving you.
Through Your thirst. Your needs. Your quirks. Your dreams. Your hopes and fears.
A well centered self love will bring out the best in you, a well-formed maturity that will turn your every day life into a force of love and transformation.
Resources
I’ve done some other writing on my experience of being a woman and relating to God. My most recent contribution in the form of a chapter was to this special book:A New Liturgy {Sacred Space Wherever You Are}
Pilgrimage of a Soul by Phileena Heuretz
Guided Prayer App
Father Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations
Follow this link to download a free PDF as a starting point for eliminating what isn’t serving, and adding what can serve how to love yourself, others, earth & God best:
Questions for Reflection
What do you thirst for?Understanding that Christ thirsted for love, how do you aim to meet that thirst?
Practices for Lent:
We’re called to Love God with all of our passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.
What is not serving you this month?
What is getting in the way of your alignment with love?
What habits can you eliminate?
What practices can you add?
Gateway to Prayer:
Beginning to love begins with myself.