More Than Wonderful

“Behind me and before, you hem me in and rest your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain.” Psalm 139:4-6

Mother Teresa had a devotion to Jesus’ thirsting for us, for our souls. In the Chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, the religious order that this Saint founded, there is usually a crucifix behind the altar with the words, “I THIRST” in big, bold, black capitals. We are familiar with these words, as these are some of the last words of Jesus as he was dying on the cross. 

Jesus not only sacrificed His life for us, He also wanted to satiate our longing for the infinite. St. Augustine’s prayer sums it up for us beautifully in the opening of his Confessions: “…our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Jesus constantly waits for us to say yes to Him. He is the hound of heaven that English poet Francis Thompson described, always after us, hemming us in, behind us and before us. Perhaps for some this is suffocating, but for those who realize how real God’s love and passion for us is, “it it more than wonderful”. 

As Sandi Patti’s song goes, 

“For He's more wonderful than my mind can conceive

He's more wonderful than my heart can believe

He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams

He's everything (He's everything) that my soul ever longed for

Everything that He's promised and so much more

He's more than amazing, more than marvelous

More than miraculous could ever be

He's more than wonderful, (wonderful)

That's what Jesus is to me

Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh

I stand amazed when I think that the King of glory

Would come to dwell within the heart of man

Oh, I marvel just to know He really loves me

When I think of who He is, and who I am…”