Two Theresas with One Thirst

Are you and I as thirsty for the good for others as Jesus is?

Recently I have been convicted how little my conscious motivation is to bring the love of God and His good to souls. I was remnded once again of Jesus' great passion for souls, a passion shared by many of his saints, including Therese of Liseux and Mother Teresa.

In that connection, I bring an excerpt from a recent book,

I THIRST: SAINT THERESE OF LISIEUX AND MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA by Jacques Gauthier. (Staten Island, New York: Society of St. Paul)

"The thirst of Jesus, his thirst for love and for souls, is one of the major reasons for the mission and extraordinary significance of St. Therese. It is this thirst which explains the mission of Mother Teresa.

She wrote in her Spiritual Testament that everything about the Missionaries of Charity is intended to quench the Thirst of Jesus. As Mother Teresa stated, "As long as you do not know in a very intimate way that Jesus is thirsty for you, it will be impossible for you to know who He wants to be for you, nor who He wants you to be for Him."

It was quite evident that Mother Teresa quenched the thirst of Jesus in loving the poorest of the poor. The author calls upon the imagery of the Samaritan woman to illustrate the awareness of thirst within the Gospel narrative.

A second major connection between Mother Teresa and St. Therese was their call "to be love" in the Church. St. Therese in writing to her sister Celine illustrates: Jesus wills that the salvation of souls depends on the sacrifices of our love. He is begging for souls from us. . . Let us make our life a continual sacrifice, a martyrdom of love, in order to console Jesus.

In a later piece of correspondence the following year, she states: "He has so much need of love and He is so thirsty, that He expects from us the drop of water that must refresh Him! Ah! Let us give without counting the cost."