July 27, 2010 Wednesday: 17th Week in Ordinary Time (A)
from Mother Teresa's Secret Fire by Fr. Joseph Langford, MC
Click to hear audio homily
Infinite Longing
The first light to come from Mother Teresa's experience touches on the central message of Jesus' thirst--the "infinite longing in the heart of God" for us, his children.
In the deepest part of our soul we all yearn to be loved--but most especially by the God who is the source of all love. What more consoling news can there be, then, than to know we are loved beyond all we could hope or imagine, with a love infinite in magnitude and intensity, beyond all measuring or conceiving? This mystery is so great that it requires effort on our part to approach it, since we have no concept of what an "infinite love" might be.
We have no analogies for infinity, nothing to compare it to, and so our best recourse in the quest to understand God's love are analogies that are within our grasp, such as "thirst"--human metaphors that help point us towards the divine reality. Those analogies that convey something of the intensity and immensity of God's love, like thirst and longing, help us to draw closer to the divine abyss.
St. Catherine of Siena, the great mystic and Doctor of the Church, speaks of the thirst of Jesus, as if saying: 'I have greater ardor and desire and thirst for your salvation than I am able to show you, [even] with my Passion." God not only loves us, but he is also in love with us. This profound mystery lies at the core of Mother Teresa's discovery. Mother Teresa said:
"When we look at Jesus during His humiliating Passion and death we ask--why all this? for what purpose...No one, not even Jesus could have gone through all that humiliating suffering if He was not in love."
Click to hear audio homily
Infinite Longing
The first light to come from Mother Teresa's experience touches on the central message of Jesus' thirst--the "infinite longing in the heart of God" for us, his children.
In the deepest part of our soul we all yearn to be loved--but most especially by the God who is the source of all love. What more consoling news can there be, then, than to know we are loved beyond all we could hope or imagine, with a love infinite in magnitude and intensity, beyond all measuring or conceiving? This mystery is so great that it requires effort on our part to approach it, since we have no concept of what an "infinite love" might be.
We have no analogies for infinity, nothing to compare it to, and so our best recourse in the quest to understand God's love are analogies that are within our grasp, such as "thirst"--human metaphors that help point us towards the divine reality. Those analogies that convey something of the intensity and immensity of God's love, like thirst and longing, help us to draw closer to the divine abyss.St. Catherine of Siena, the great mystic and Doctor of the Church, speaks of the thirst of Jesus, as if saying: 'I have greater ardor and desire and thirst for your salvation than I am able to show you, [even] with my Passion." God not only loves us, but he is also in love with us. This profound mystery lies at the core of Mother Teresa's discovery. Mother Teresa said:
"When we look at Jesus during His humiliating Passion and death we ask--why all this? for what purpose...No one, not even Jesus could have gone through all that humiliating suffering if He was not in love."
