Reflections From the Heart – November 12, 2023

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Fr. Ivan Olmo

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“My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.” One of the most striking gospel images that speaks directly to the core of one’s heart and penetrates the depths of one’s soul is Jesus crucified on the cross for you, Jesus crucified on the cross for me, Jesus crucified on the cross for all your family and all humanity. The cross speaks ever so loudly to those who choose to remain ever so ignorant and deaf to the words spoken by Jesus so clearly, humbly and freely from the wood of the cross. However, the cross speaks ever so softly and tenderly to the longing and thirsting of heart and soul of the immensity of God’s profound intimate love and the unfathomable depths of his unquenchable divine mercy. With the tender compassion that can only come from above, God tenderly speaks caring, hope filling words from his holy cross directly to us here below. After all the humiliation, all the suffering, all the rejection, all the lies and all the mockery, Jesus so graciously says from a heart filled with all the Father’s love and a soul drenched and flooded with an eternal love for all humanity, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” We might want to personalize what Jesus said so to not miss the intent of his words or to think that perhaps Jesus was only speaking to the crowd and not directly to us. We need to make the Word of God personal and relate it directly to our lives by hearing Jesus say, Father, forgive (say your name, fill in the blank). Make it personal and intimate for Jesus is speaking about you. Forgiveness is the work of the Father and the grace that drenches and floods the Sacred Heart of Jesus with so much joy of living out the Father’s divine and holy will. We hear Jesus weak and parched on the cross, exhausted and thirsty say, “I thirst.” He thirsts for you, for your salvation, for the opportunity to bring healing to your heart and mind, body and soul. Jesus thirsts for the opportunity to baptize your children, to confirm your teens, to reconcile you to the Father. Through his Word and in his Eucharist, Jesus enters your heart, his holy dwelling place. From the heart, Jesus thirsts to pray with you, to be and remain with you, work and minister with you never leaving your side. He will flood your soul with his loving presence. Jesus thirsts for you. Do you thirst for him?