Inge: thirst for God

Tuesday, October 9, 2012
    Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258
    Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253
Meditation:
    On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
    —John 7:37-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The soul of man, when it is healthy, is athirst for God; and God only, through Christ, can slake the soul’s thirst. Longing for God, for the eternally good and true and lovely, is natural to man; it is man’s most divine endowment. The thirst, as well as the living water, is a gift of God. As Christ is both Priest and Victim, so He gives both the thirst and the life-giving draught... This is what Christ always assumed in His teaching. Man wants to find his way to God. That is why we come to Church; that is why we pray. And our Saviour cries to us with a loud voice, as He did on the great day of the feast, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”
    ... William R. Inge (1860-1954), Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion, London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1924, p. 37 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church seeks You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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