Fifth Word from the Cross: Thirst for Righteousness — Thirst for Domination

National Catholic Register, 1 April 2026

‘I thirst.’

Editor’s note: Father Raymond J. de Souza recorded meditations on the Seven Last Words at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg, New York. They will air on EWTN on Good Friday at 1 p.m. (EDT). It will also be available at ewtn.com and EWTN+. The Register will publish those meditations through Good Friday.

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“After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth” (John 19:28-29).

St. Teresa of Calcutta taught us that the fifth word, “I thirst,” expresses the thirst of Jesus for souls. From the Cross, his mercy desires the salvation of all. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declares blessed “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). We might think of righteousness as “justice.” The desire for justice is cruciform. Vertically, we desire justification with God, and horizontally, we desire right relationships with others throughout society.

Justice is the work of politics. It is a noble work, and the Church esteems those who work for justice. In the sphere of politics, though, not all are so motivated. Many are motivated by ignoble motives, corrupting both themselves and the people seduced by them.

We have a new pope this Holy Week; this is Pope Leo’s first Good Friday as Vicar of Christ.

The Holy Father introduced himself to the City and the World last May as a “son of St. Augustine.” A happy consequence of Leo’s election is that more people are reading St. Augustine.

Sixteen hundred years ago, Augustine published The City of God on the social and political order. Augustine identified a danger in the world of politics. He called it the libido dominandi, usually translated as the “lust for domination.”

In the ancient world, libido was not narrowly restricted to the sexual appetite, though; but meant more broadly our powerful appetites. We might then speak of a “hunger and thirst” for domination, for power, for aggrandizement.

It is a perennial contest, between the thirst for justice, for righteousness, and the thirst for power, for domination. Indeed, for St. Augustine, the city of God and the city of Man were distinguished by what the citizens of the two cities love.

In the city of Man there is the libido dominandi, the thirst for power, the desire to dominate, and an eagerness to exploit others for one’s own vainglory. In the city of God, there is the thirst for justice, for salvation and a willingness to sacrifice.

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