Mary Thorne reflects on thirst as an image of spiritual longing. 

Life-giving, thirst-quenching water is a potent metaphor, perhaps less well understood in green Aotearoa than it was in semi-arid Israel where the scriptures tell of God as the source of living waters. The poet in Psalm 42 says:

As a deer yearns for streams of water, so I yearn for You, O God.
My whole being thirsts for God,
for the living God.

And Psalm 63 says:

God, my God, for You I search.
My throat thirsts for You,
my flesh yearns for You
in a land waste and parched with no water.

Longing and thirst are integral to our humanity. We thirst for knowledge and beauty and order. We thirst for connection and life-giving relationship. We hunger and thirst for justice. We long for peace. Mystics and spiritual teachers tell us that this continual longing is, in truth, a thirst for God. The Beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospel assure us that the thirst for justice and right order is in accord with the mind of Christ and those who experience this thirst are, indeed, blessed.

When we reflect on this aspect of the human spirit it may be easier to observe the thirsts and needs of others than it is to dwell deeply on our own existential thirst.

Blocks to Water

In my work with imprisoned women the thirst to be heard and known, accepted and cared for, is clear and urgent. I could write at length of their need. My own deep dissatisfactions and longings are harder to articulate but to do so seems a more authentic endeavour. You see, my own thirst is growing and it becomes disturbing to me. It may indicate that I have to face the responsibilities of adulthood as a Catholic Christian and speak. I thirst for a new wave of conversion within my Catholic Church which would bring about recognition of women as eligible to participate fully in decision making and leadership.

Pope Francis is reported as identifying clericalism as a sin in today’s Church which blocks personal conversion and structural renewal. The challenge of retrieving a Church that is derived more purely from the gospels than from imperial Rome, the feudal middle ages, and the divine right monarchies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, is monumental.

However, nowadays when lay women and men are better educated and more theologically aware, the consequence of not acknowledging and tackling this challenge may be dire. Many Catholic families find their young adult children completely indifferent to the Church, which they perceive as anachronistic and irrelevant — lacking what they need to quench their thirsts.

Drink for the Pilgrim People

The prevailing Vatican II image of the Church as God’s pilgrim people on Earth, alive with God’s own Spirit, awake to the signs of the times through which they move, is a dynamic and life affirming image.

When we participate in celebrations informed by this image the thirst and weariness we bring to Church are relieved. We are refreshed and renewed. The promise of Jesus, the anointed one of God, that he is Living Water, is experienced in our lives.

Access to Living Water

What, then, would assuage this thirst of mine?

That my Church recognise me as an adult Catholic Christian and forgo the benign superiority that says: “We are the experts in these matters. They are ancient and complex beyond your understanding. Leave them to us. We will not discuss it further.”

That my Church acknowledge that questions and challenges are motivated by profound respect and love for the Tradition and posed by people to whom it is precious and cherished.

That my Church be willing to listen and learn from the voices of its people, be open to new insights and points of view, sensitive to the signs of the times.

That my Church exhibit the courage and humility to implement all modern methods of scholarship in the investigation of our ancient Judeo-Christian roots and analyse factors which caused belief or practice to arise. And then carefully and prayerfully relinquish what is no longer relevant to us today.

That my Church have the integrity to apply the main elements of Catholic social teaching to the church itself and not preach about discrimination only outside its own perimeter.

That it hold itself to the same high standard within — opposing discrimination within the Church based on gender, on race, on ethnic background, on sexual orientation or on economic status.

Women Need Water

The longing and thirst of women within the Church is not a new theme to Tui Motu magazine. A growing number of ordinary Catholic women in parishes feel unheard and disheartened.

We hold our breath and pray that the Church will hear and accept the invitation of Pope Francis to return to the open and vigorous discussions that characterised Vatican Council II and to the practice of synodality.

Francis is quoted as saying that open debate on an equal basis, makes theological and pastoral thought grow. He says: “That doesn’t frighten me. What’s more, I look for it.” Certainly healthy communication requires it.

Drinking Living Water

In this season of Pentecost the Church rejoices that we are a people animated by the Holy Spirit. In our community celebrations of Pentecost let us grasp the understanding that this Spirit which formed the brand-new church is God’s own Spirit — a Spirit of outrageous, profligate love.

A Spirit which enables communication beyond the confines of individual limitation; communication as a result of seeing with eyes of love. It is characterised by openness, wonder and joy.

The Spirit perceives connection and beauty before any awareness of being “other”. It trusts that all things are possible.

As we are constantly renewed by God’s Spirit we grow in our understanding that our human thirst is quenched, our brokenness is healed by our experience of unconditional love.

We believe that the risen Jesus carries in his body the marks of torture and death signifying that this is an integral part of the path to liberation and fullness of life.

Steeped in Living Water

Together, we who believe are the Body of Christ on Earth. We bear the wounds of our struggle and difficulty yet to be fully transformed into marks of wisdom and mercy.

Together, we become Living Water called to give drink to the thirsty. May we be alert to the great thirsts of human-kind wherever they occur in ourselves or others.

Published in Tui Motu InterIslands Magazine, Issue 204, May 2016.