22nd Sunday Ordinary Time

Deacon Tom Vert

Preached: August 30, 2026

I am so thirsty!!!

Do you ever get that feeling just after some exercise, or after a lot of yardwork around the house on a hot summer’s day.

Some of you may know that my wife and I like to hike, and we have been hiking all around the city, in the Rockies, and many other places. One weakness we have is that we do not like to carry water with us all the time, and sometimes we get to the end of our hike and we say, “I am so thirsty!”, and then we drink a whole litre of water down quickly!

This thirst must be quenched, and I imagine that this is how the psalmist felt when he said, “my soul is thirsting for you O’ my God!” He cries out “like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water,” and we can picture a dry, cracked riverbed, waiting for the rain to come!

The psalmist wants an experience with God, to behold the face of God, to interact with Him and nourish his soul – this is the solution to the thirst that he has.

We see that urgency and yearning for God in the other readings today also. In the first reading we see Jeremiah the prophet frustrated with lack of progress – no one is listening to his message, and he has been thrown into jail for preaching it, and not one person is on his side. He wants to give up, but his close relationship with God will not let him!

The message we are told “is like a fire burning in my heart”, and he must proclaim God’s word to all, essentially, he thirsts to connect the people of God with their Creator.

In the second reading, Paul urges his brothers and sisters and us, to this same relationship! He tells us to offer our whole self, our skills, gifts, worries, cares, praises and love to God, especially during the Eucharistic prayers, to the one who created and cares for us.

The word urge here symbolizes this yearning, this thirst for God! And the thirst is not just one-sided; St. Teresa of Calcutta famously tells us that “Jesus thirsts for us!” He yearns to have a close relationship with us and is constantly reaching out to us to touch our lives.

St. Augustine once said that God puts salt on our lips that we may thirst for him. This yearning, this desire goes both ways, and it should remind us of Christ who tells the Samaritan woman at the well, that the only way to quench the thirst is to come close to the living water which is Christ himself.

This thirst is always there pulling us forward in the spiritual life, and it allows us to carry our crosses in life, with the knowledge and promise that God will be with us. It doesn’t mean it will be easy, it doesn’t mean we will enjoy it, or even carry the cross happily, but it does mean that we will be given the strength, through the living water that Jesus promised to be able to move forward.

So, how do we quench this thirst of ours with God’s living water? The Catechism tells us to pray as prayer is “the encounter of God’s thirst with ours”. A simple prayer of “I need you today Lord as it’s going to be a tough one”, is what God loves – from the heart, reaching out to connect with Him, seeking the streams of water that flow.

We also need to continue to seek knowledge of Him through reading and meditating on Scripture as St. Paul says in the 2 nd reading – to be transformed by the renewal of our minds, so that we will know the will of God – what is good, what is pleasing and what is perfect.

To focus on a relationship with God, this mutual thirsting, is what Christ tells the disciples and us in the gospel message.

Christ tells us, that if you wish to be my follower, my disciple, a Catholic Christian in today’s world, you will have to put me first as a priority and that will orient your life well.

As an example, Father Mark and I are both involved with training of new deacons in our Diocese, and we will tell them repeatedly over the five years as they are discerning their vocation, that the order of priorities is: God, family, work and then the role of deacon.

This is because if you have God first, with his ability to quench our thirst, then he will help with all other aspects of our lives, and as we see Him acting in our lives, we can offer up our praise and thanksgiving.

So, this week, if you are feeling down, disheartened, or frustrated, or just tired, reach out to God with a simple prayer and say “Lord, I am so thirsty”.