Salesian Perspective: “My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord, My God”

Today's Psalm response is “My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord, My God” (from Psalm 63:2).

In today's "Sundays Salesian" perspective, Fr. Michael S. Murray, OSFS (Executive Director of the De Sales Spirituality Center), writes:

"What does it mean to 'thirst for God'?

    * To desire to be close to God.
    * To desire to know God.
    * To desire to walk with God here on earth.
    * To desire to live with God forever in heaven.

"Our desire for union with God must be expressed by our efforts to be in union with each other. It is not enough to be with God. We must also act like God, perhaps best described by the Beatitude: 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to see right prevail; they shall be satisfied.'

"William Barclay suggests that this hunger – this thirst - is the hunger of those who are starving, the thirst of one who will die without drink. This raises the question: how deeply do we want/desire righteousness? Of all the things about which/for which we hunger, how close to the top of the list is a desire to see right prevail?

"Those who have this desire may not necessarily see it come to fulfillment on this earth. This is not a perfect world – we are not perfect people – therefore, it should not surprise or shock us that we still have a long way to go in making righteousness a reality in the lives of all people. Still, blessedness comes to those who, in spite of failings and failures, still cling to the hunger and thirst for what is right and just…and struggle to make it real in their own little corners of the world.

"Francis de Sales once wrote: 'I see you have a debt…never withhold from others anything that belongs to them.' (Stopp, Letters, p. 69) To hunger and thirst for God righteousness means that we must be righteous: we strive to fulfill our debts to others. Which, of course, begs the question: For what am I indebted to others? What do I owe other people?

    * Respect.
    * Reverence.
    * Courtesy.
    * Patience.
    * Honesty.
    * Truthfulness.
    * Generosity.

"To hunger for God – to thirst for God – requires (among other things) that we act like God: that we strive to treat others with the same respect, reverence, courtesy, patience, honesty, truthfulness and generosity with which God treats us.

"How hungry – and thirsty – are we?"