What Are We Waiting For?

Ivonne J. Hernandez

Have you ever been asked to do something you think you are not very good at? Perhaps it is public speaking or singing… Maybe we’ve been asked about our faith, and we don’t think we have the right words, or enough education to answer properly. How often do we forward someone a YouTube link as an answer rather than sharing what’s in our hearts? When someone comes to us, they are not looking for information; they are looking for connection. They are looking for a witness to point them in the right direction.

We are built for witness. Whether we are giving words to our experience or being the one listening, bearing witness is a powerful experience. To bear witness is “to show that something exists or is true” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). And when we get to “witness” someone “witnessing to love” our hearts respond. Sometimes we bear witness with our words but let us remember… love is a verb.
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When a priest for whom singing is not a gift, sings during the Liturgy, my heart is deeply moved. It feels as though I am witnessing a very intimate moment between Jesus and his priest, a moment of pure love. It reminds me of when a child’s Mother’s Day gift comes as a messy kitchen and half-burnt toast but is really a gift of love. In these moments of vulnerability, the imperfectness of the gift is inversely proportionate to the perfectness of the love.

“The gift of self is the only proof of true love.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard)
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Moments that pull at our heartstrings are a gift from God. When we allow the notes to resonate in the chambers of our hearts, they expand our capacity to love. It is as if when God knit us in our mother’s womb (Ps 139), he left strings hanging from our hearts on purpose. Strings to bind us to one another, strings to guide us deeper into his love.

​“I drew them with human cords, with bands of love. …Yet, …They did not know that I was their healer.” (Hosea 11:4-5)

So many broken hearts need to hear that “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons” (Matthew 10:8). This is what we are told to do, but how can we do this if we forget who is our healer? If we forget to look for Him on the cross? It is in the ugliness, the messiness, the vulnerability of the cross, that we see the perfect love of God. Let us look at the cross and allow our hearts to be pulled, stretched, and tugged, until, becoming completely vulnerable, we share the gift of our very selves for love. 

Ivonne J. Hernandez

Ivonne is a Catholic wife, mother, Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament, President of Elisheba House, speaker, and writer. Author of The Rosary: Eucharistic Meditations. Regular contributor for CatholicMom.com and the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament's Daily Eucharistic Reflection. She has written for other publications, including Emmanuel Publishing and Shalom Magazine. She and her husband, Rick Hernandez, coordinate the RCIA program at their home parish. She loves choral music and is a member of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. She lives in Trinity, FL with her husband and two of her young adult sons.