Quenching Our Thirst for God

March 24, 2025 Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Daily Readings: 2 Kings 5:1-15; Luke 4:24-30

Today's Psalm cries out: “My soul is thirsting for the living God; when shall I see Him face to face?” This deep longing exists in all of us, but often, we fail to recognize the ways God is already satisfying our thirst.

We thirst because we seek love, peace, healing, or direction. Yet, we often miss God's response simply because it doesn't come as we expect. Consider Naaman, the leper in today's first reading. He was told to wash in the Jordan River to be healed, but at first, he resisted. Why? Because he expected something grander. He almost rejected God's healing simply because it did not match his idea of how it should happen.

In the Gospel, the people of Nazareth had the same problem. They longed for the Messiah but couldn’t accept Jesus because He didn’t fit their expectations. Instead of embracing the salvation they had been waiting for, they turned away in anger.

God is constantly offering us His grace, but we often say, “No, this can’t be right!” Maybe it’s through a struggle that is teaching us patience. Maybe it’s through a Church teaching we find difficult to accept. Maybe it’s through an unexpected answer to prayer. When we resist, our souls remain parched—not because God is absent, but because we refuse to drink from the well He provides.

Today, let us surrender our expectations. Let us trust that God’s ways are higher than ours. When we accept His answers, no matter how unexpected, we will find that our thirst is quenched, our burdens are lightened, and our souls will be filled with His living water.

Call to Action for Catholic Living: Be open to unexpected blessings. Sometimes, the very thing we resist is God’s greatest gift. Let us not be like Naaman or the people of Nazareth, who nearly missed out on His grace.