Homily for Lent 3 - March 19, 2017

Homily for Lent 3

March 19, 2017

Hungry and Thirsty

 

            Back in 1944 as World War II was ending, many places in Europe experienced starvation on a mass scale. Realizing that there was really no scientific understanding of how starvation could be prevented or how to help people recover from famine, a doctor named Ancel Keys decided he needed to study this. He recruited 36 men – all of whom were conscientious objectors to the war, but who wanted to help the cause in a non-military way – to participate in a year-long study about starvation.

            It was called the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. For six months, these men were starved. They ate only half of their usual daily calories, losing 25% of their body weight. They were amazed at the psychological changes that happened: during this six-month period, their thoughts were mainly all about food! They fantasized about it, talked to each other about it, savored every tiny meal they were allowed. The starving men found it hard to think about anything else. Dr. Keys was amazed at how much their lives revolved around the one thing they lacked: food!

            The one thing the men were allowed to have unlimitedly was coffee and gum. As a substitute for food, some men reported chewing up to 30 packs of gum per day, or drinking over 15 cups of black coffee! Since they couldn’t have food, they tried to make up for it with substitutes – ultimately empty, though, since they didn’t satisfy them.

            Why am I talking about starvation? Because just as our bodies were designed to run on food and water, our souls were designed to run on an intimate union with God. Nothing else will satisfy us. We thirst for Him – but often we don’t know it.

            This woman comes to meet Jesus at a well – she wants to satisfy her physical thirst because she doesn’t yet realize her spiritual thirst. Oh, she’s been thirsty all right. Thirsting for love – which is why she’s gone through six different men trying to find the love she’s longed for all along.

            Jesus asks her for a drink, not because He is thirsty, but because He wants to make an exchange – He will take her water if she will drink from Him, the Living Water. They begin speaking, and she recognizes that He is a prophet. She starts to recognize her thirst for God, so she asks Him about the proper way to worship. He tells her that she will someday soon be able to worship God in spirit and truth, and she affirms that she does believe in the Messiah. When Jesus reveals Himself as the Messiah, her thirst is finally quenched – she knows that in and through Jesus Christ, all can drink deeply of the love of God.

            But how deeply are you aware that you are thirsting for God? We don’t often think about food until we are starving – then we can think of nothing BUT food! We often don’t think about God – perhaps we need to be starving, we need to be thirsty, we need to increase our desire for God! We will only find Him when we desperately desire Him!

            Unfortunately, much like the men who tried to satisfy their craving for food with gum and coffee, we often try to fill our desire for God with things that won’t satisfy. We distract ourselves with TV and the internet and our iPhones. We look for love in sinful relationships. We seek approval from our boss, our friends, our spouse, instead of seeking to love the Lord first. We allow our hobbies and sports to fill our lives with such busyness that we can’t desire the Lord.

            My friends, God will only be found by those who hunger and thirst for Him alone. He won’t come into your soul if you only give Him a half-hearted welcome. Rather, let’s stir up our desire for Him, a holy longing to be in friendship with Him. Thirst for His presence in the Eucharist, in the Scriptures. What you desire will determine your choices and your life. Burn with desire for Him, and you will find Him.