Gazing in the Same Direction

Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle. // Psalm 144:1

“I believe in you. You’ve already begun your new ministry with me.” These words reverberated as I gazed at the courageous young person whose body language stated, “Look at me and see evidence.” I was stunned, so she nodded too, beckoning me to listen and soak it in. 

We had been simply discussing how very difficult it can be to hold on to faith even though it’s the only game for sanity in town, and we were marveling at how staying close to our Blessed Lord and His Mother is our lifeline even though it seems outlandish sometimes to belong to the Church. 

She was a convert and I am a revert. 

“This is reality!” she declared. “I’ve nowhere else to go,” she reflected as she opened her hands and expanded her shoulders. Cruciform! I thought. Wow. She gets it in a deep way!

We’d repeat the phrase “This is reality!” for fun because it had become packed with meaning. 

Like so many young people, she was discovering things I rediscovered years ago in the intense continuity of the Faith. We reflected on how wild it is that the Most Sacred Heart, the Real Presence, Divine Mercy, and Sacred Scripture are all one movement that holds together. She was discovering what I rediscovered or what rediscovered me when God taught me how He is present at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

She told me that day and many others how much I’ve helped her to stay in the flowing current of grace which is the Church. I never cease to be amazed at this because I simply share what I know to be true and the One Who is Truth. I do not presume to grasp the fullness, but rather, I’m like a friend standing with another, identifying star constellations. 

Sister, perhaps you are also being called to reach out to those who have left the Church and are furthest from her heart. We are called, dear sister, to be prophets—ones who speak of reality in God. He trains us to love our brothers and sisters enough to invite them home.