“If God ever causes you to suffer from thirst as He guides you through this life, it is because He will give you drink and plenty in the next life without any fear of it ever failing you.” — Saint Teresa of Ávila
Lent can be a time of hunger and thirst in quite a literal way. But also in a metaphorical way. A spiritual way. An emotional way.
If at the end of Lent somebody asks you how it went and you said, “Ya know, it wasn’t too bad. It was pretty easy”— I think either you didn’t prepare well for Lent, or you went through a light Lent with your eyes closed.
As soon as you open yourself up to the cross, in ways big or small, the cross is what you’ll find.
Lent should be hard. It should cost you something. You should feel it.
Not because we enjoy pain. Nor because suffering is good in itself. But because following Christ to the cross is real. And real things cost something.
If you’re coasting through Lent, something’s wrong.
If you’re hungry and thirsty—spiritually, emotionally, even physically—you’re on the right track.
Because God doesn’t cause us to thirst for nothing.
He causes us to thirst now so He can give us drink and plenty in the next life, without any fear of it ever failing us.
That’s what we’re thirsting for. That’s what makes the cost worth it.
Let us pray.
Lord, help us embrace the thirst of Lent. When it’s hard, when we’re hungry, when we feel the weight of the cross—remind us that You’re not causing us to suffer for nothing. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.
