Mother Teresa once said, “Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of Himself.” This reflects a favorite verse of St. Teresa of Avila: “I will run in the way of your commands for you have enlarged my heart.” (Ps 119:32). Everything in our lives is directed at expanding the hearts of people to make room for God. This “enlargement” or “expansion” is necessary because God is so much bigger than our hearts. God desires and longs for our love in return. This is the meaning of Jesus’s words on the cross, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28). In his humanity, Jesus is dying of thirst but, in his divinity, is always thirsting for the return of love.
