Sunday Reflection | Fixing our Hearts on the One Always With Us

The eleven disciples saw the Lord Jesus and “they worshipped, but they doubted.” It’s as if they still wavered, wondering “Could Jesus be risen? Is Jesus Lord?” The gospel today sets before us this wavering between doubt and faith. Deuteronomy (the first reading) offers a remedy: “fix your hearts” on the Lord God. To fix our hearts on the Lord means accepting Jesus’ promise that He is with us always for in Him we see the face of God.

“They worshipped but they doubted” expresses a natural human struggle. It is not always easy to believe. It really helps to renew our decision for the Lord with acts of faith and love: “Lord I believe, help my unbelief”; “Jesus, I love you.” Sometimes, the struggle between doubt and faith can be part of the anguish and loneliness of a final illness. I have witnessed devout people ask: “is there anything after this at all? What if there isn’t?” Yet the next day, having renewed their decision of love for the Lord, they are full of confidence and peace again. Old Testament Job goes through this struggle. Relief and peace are restored when the Lord reveals His presence. Indeed, one of the effects of the Sacrament of the Sick is the overcoming of doubt and fear. The sick person is joined to the Suffering and Glorious Christ who is always with us. In the words of today’s second reading: “if only we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

This promise of His enduring presence changes everything because with the promise comes the gift. Our God is not a God of empty promises. With His promise to be with us, He gives the gift of His presence. He gives us this gift in so many ways.

This weekend (May 25, 2024), for example, Saint John’s Seminary rejoices in the ordination of eleven new priests for the Archdiocese of Boston. What a gift from the Lord and a reassurance that He is with us always! The eleven apostles in today’s gospel and the eleven new priests who receive a share in Christ’s priesthood this weekend reassure us of the Lord’s closeness to His Church and to us all.

Think of the ways Christ will be among us through the ministry of these eleven new priests—the Masses they will offer, the confessions they will hear, the anointings . . . Think of the preaching, the blessings they will give, the catechesis, the words of consolation, the counsel, the sacrifices, the witness of their lives . . .

Eleven new priests for Boston! Yet we cannot be complacent. There is a great need of priests. The words of Cardinal Ratzinger, preaching many years ago at a First Mass, are sobering. Speaking of his homeland which gave so many priests to the Church—and here I cannot but think of Ireland too—he observed: “One can statistically work out the day on which our homeland will give no more priests to Our Lord’s Church.” Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to His harvest (Matt 9:38)! Please pray for vocations to the priesthood, that the Word of God may not grow silent in the world.

The Lord, of course, works outside of trends and statistics. He does a new thing. He works today. He works in those open to hear His word and heed His call. He calls individuals, but he does this most of all through the witness of others, the witness described in the command of today’s gospel: “Go, make disciples of all nations.” No one is left out of this commission or this communion.

Our most convincing witness to Christ may well be our ongoing conversion—our own move from doubt to faith. Humility in weakness, fixing our heart on the Lord, and the desire to share His new life with others—these testify to the presence of the Lord among us.