Give Drink to the Thirsty

This week's Corporal Works of Mercy is "Give drink to the thirsty."

I thought I would start by getting a better understanding of why we as humans need water.  In my research I learned that our bodies are made up of 60% of water.  And our bodies use water in many ways - regulates our temperature, protects our nervous system, cushions our joints, along with ridding our body of waste and keeping our skin moist.  Without water, our body does not make enough blood and causes our heart to beat harder; it also effects our brain functions.   We can only survive one week without water.

So, why is this important to my Corporal Works of Mercy this week?  I wanted to be able to understand what is really happening when we are thirsty.  I know many times when we think we are hungry, we are actually thirsty.

When we say we are thirsty, we are communicating the need of something that is important to our existence, it is something that without, we would surely die.  So, when Jesus said from the cross "I thirst" (John 19:28) he was calling our his powerful thirst for us.  St. Mother Teresa heard Jesus' cry and made it her mission to satiate Jesus' thirst for souls.

Now with this understanding, I began to pray as to what I could do to give drink to the thirsty.  Two things kept coming to mind - help those who are fiscally thirsty and to pray for those about to receive the living waters of Baptism.  I am buying a few cases of water to give to our parish's food pantry and I've begun to pray for the Catecumens; and not just the ones at our parish, but all the Catecumens who will experience the Living Waters at the Easter Vigil.  I searched for a prayer and did find one that met what I wanted to pray - so I made my own prayer:

O' Holy Father,

I pray for all the Catecumens who will soon

experience your love and mercy throught

the living waters of Baptism.

May they continually thirst for your

love and find their hearts yearning

for your mercy.

Amen

I know this is not as eloquent as the works of our Saints, but it is from the heart.  So I ask you to consider donating a case of water to a local food pantry and to pray for our Catecumens.  It is in our joining of work and prayer that we can partner with St. Mother Teresa in helping to satisfy Jesus' thirst.

Up next week, shelter the homeless.