Mother Teresa insisted on having Jesus’ words, “I thirst,” next to the crucifix in her communities. These were, of course, the words Jesus lovingly uttered on the cross moments before he gave up his spirit for our salvation. This saint wanted all of the Sisters in her religious institute, the Missionaries of Charity (MCs), to be reminded again and again of how much the Lord desires to be in communion with them.

Consider a time you were extremely thirsty, almost desperately desiring a drink. Consider how refreshing and life-giving a drink of cold water feels on a hot day. When Jesus says, “I thirst,” this is what he means.

As Mother Teresa explained: “We have these words in every chapel of the MCs to remind us what an MC is here for: to quench the thirst of Jesus for souls, for love, for kindness, for compassion, for delicate love.” And in the founding Rules for her Sisters, she included this line: “The General End of the Missionaries of Charity is to satiate the thirst of Jesus Christ on the Cross for Love and Souls.”

“God is love,” as Scripture tells us.

God is also infinite and perfect, with no needs and nothing lacking.

So here is the mystery:

God, who does not need us, is crazily in love with us and desires our loving response. He wants us to be in profound holy communion with him. Even though we are sinners, he thirsts for our love. His desire for a bond of intimate communion with us lies behind Jesus’ urgent plea that we abide in him – that we have an intimate loving relationship with him and the Father and the Holy Spirit:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. …Remain in me, as I remain in you.  … As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. (Jn 15:1, 4-5, 8-11)

“If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” is a phrase that applies powerfully to Holy Communion. Some of our brothers and sisters can go to Mass and be somewhat indifferent about receiving Holy Communion. But as long as a baptized Catholic has kept the Lord’s commandments and not fallen into grave, unrepented sin, he or she should know that behind the “disguise” of the consecrated bread and wine, the Lord himself waits for us in the Eucharist.

He not only waits for us, he thirsts for us to be in loving communion with him, to abide in his love just as a branch abides in the vine. Let us eagerly, gratefully come into communion with One who so thirsts for our love.