The ‘I Thirst’ of Modernism: Denying Christ’s Kingship for Naturalistic Justice

The National Catholic Register publishes a meditation by Father Raymond J. de Souza on the Fifth Word from the Cross, “I thirst.” The article reinterprets this phrase through the lens of St. Teresa of Calcutta, claiming it expresses Jesus’s thirst for souls and links it to the Beatitudinal “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” It then pivots to a discussion of justice in politics, contrasting the “thirst for justice” with St. Augustine’s “libido dominandi” (lust for domination). The piece praises the new “Pope Leo XIV” as a “son of St. Augustine” and concludes with a call to adore Christ’s sacrifice, framed within a naturalistic political contest. The article’s core thesis is that “I thirst” primarily calls for a horizontal, societal pursuit of justice, defeating domination through Christ’s example, while omitting the supernatural, ecclesiological, and dogmatic dimensions of the Cross.