fountain of living water, but who was now worn out and parched by
the heat of His ardent love, when he could truly say, "I am poured
out like water," and "My strength is dried up like a potsherd." For
not only did He shed all His own blood, and pour out moisture by
tears, but the very marrow of His bones, and all His heart's blood,
were consumed for our sakes by the heat and flame of love. Therefore
He said rightly, "I thirst."

But, secondly, the word may be understood spiritually, as if Christ
said to all men, "I thirst for your salvation." Hence St Bernard
says: "Jesus cried, I thirst, not, I grieve. O Lord, what dost Thou
thirst for? For your faith, your joy. I thirst because of the
torments of your souls, far more than for My own bodily sufferings.
Have pity on yourselves, if not on Me." And again, "O good Jesus,
Thou wearest the crown of thorns; Thou art silent about Thy Cross
and wounds, yet Thou criest out, I thirst. For what, then, dost Thou
thirst? Truly, for the redemption of mankind only, and for the
felicity of the human race." This thirst of Christ was a hundred
times more keen and intense than His natural thirst. And, besides,
He had another sort of thirst--that is to say, a thirst to suffer
more, and to prove to us still more clearly His immeasurable love,
as if He said to man, "See how I am worn out and exhausted for thy
salvation. See how terrible are the pains and anguish which I
endure. The fierce cruelty of man has almost brought Me to nothing;
the sinners of earth have drunk out all My blood, and yet I thirst.
Not yet is My heart satisfied, nor My desire accomplished, nor the
fire of My love quenched. For if it were possible for Me, and
according to My Father's will, that I should be crucified again a
thousand times for your salvation and conversion, or that I should
hang here, in all this pain and anguish, till the day of judgment, I