At the hospital in Boston where I volunteered, the Lord sent me to the patients in most dire need of spiritual support. What a privilege to see the Lord’s Heart first hand with his precious ones!
One day the chaplain sent me with the Lord in the Eucharist to visit a patient Carolyn. She had cancer, and it was terminal. When We entered the room, I noticed she had the bald head, and I could see that she was tired and depressed. But she welcomed Us and I listened to her as she told me about what was on her heart and mind. “Why me?” She said. “Why is this happening to me? I’m angry at God.”
I could only tell her what I thought the Lord wanted me to say. “I see a woman who is just like Jesus in the Eucharist. In the tabernacle, He has a small room, just like you. He has one little door that other people open and close, just like you. He can’t get up and leave when He wants, just like you. He has to be carried around (like I’m doing now), just like you. He is suffering, just like you. And He is lonely, just like you. And He’s been waiting there for a long time just for this moment to be brought to you. You see, Carolyn, you are closer to Jesus than me and probably anyone else in this hospital right now. That’s why God has given you this disease: to be with His Son. You are very precious to Him. And He sends me to people He wants to be with, and you’re the only one I’m visiting today.”
She began to weep, and in between breaths, she exclaimed with a mixture of joy and gratitude: “So, I’m chosen!” Everything changed in her after that. At the end of the visit, I gave her a Divine Mercy prayer card to pray the chaplet and keep His presence with her, and I left.
I’m not sure what happened after I left, but a week or so later, she died.
That, I tell you, is the Good Shepherd. That is the infinite Mercy of His Heart. What He can do with just one person who says Yes to His call! What a humbling privilege and joy it is to serve Jesus Christ.
Here’s the question: What if I never said Yes to the Lord? I mean, what if I never gave in to listening to Him, what if I never decided that I would follow Him? What if I didn’t say Yes to His call to bring Him to patients? Not only would I have missed out on the gift of experiencing the Heart of Jesus firsthand, but a human life may have been lost for all eternity. What if there were no one to bring Him to Carolyn?
The greatest moment in the Gospel for all the disciples is the moment they said Yes to God. It was the day they allowed themselves to be chosen. “And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving all things, he rose up and followed him.” (Lk 5:27-28 )
You are chosen.
Will you say Yes?