You Are Never Alone

05-03-2026Pastor's CornerFr. Bob Deehan

Lay Catholic evangelist and speaker, Chris Stefanick, shares about a letter he received recently that touched him deeply. He writes, “A man had made a donation in honor of his recently passed mom, because she loved our ministry so much. He described the joy she kept in the midst of so much pain during the last years of her life. She had lost her husband of many years who died. Not long after that she lost most of her possessions in a fire. Then she lost her best friend to cancer. Her faith never wavered. Nor did her joy.

She got sepsis and after 48 days of tremendous suffering in the hospital, she succumbed to it and died. The sheer amount of suffering she went through is enough to make anyone doubt a good God, to make anyone question, to make anyone angry,” he wrote. ‘But I laid beside her in that hospital bed at night and I heard her cry out “Jesus!…Jesus!…He is so good to me.”’ She didn’t cry out His name to save her. She didn’t cry it out in anger. She cried it out in gratitude. No doubt, she is one of those Saints we won’t know in this life, but who we will see shining with the greats forever. “Jesus. Jesus.”

We know very little about the couple on the road to Emmaus, but we do know that Jesus was everything to them. Their goal wasn’t an easy life, health, or wealth. They had left their normal life to follow Him. When they thought they lost Him they were walking home. But they instantly turned around and headed back to Jerusalem after He appeared to them, alive. We don’t know how their lives ended, but we do know the one thing that mattered to them above all else: Jesus. Jesus. If we live that way, we’ll experience the words he spoke to his apostles ringing true in our lives, “No one will take away your joy” (John 16:22). He spoke this knowing all they’d suffer, and how they’d die. And why? Because no one in this world gave it to them. He did. And, He is so good to us…”

Where are you looking for your joy today? Take time each day to deepen your knowledge of and relationship with Jesus – especially by reading one of the Gospels… a little bit at a time. After reading what Jesus said and did in that passage, ask Him to reveal to you what He would like you to “take away” from that Scripture passage, which He invites you to hold in your heart and ponder. Repeat, as that woman did: “Jesus! Jesus!” Ask Him for a taste of the joy He wants you to experience, no matter what your circumstances are. Remember - you are never alone!

God bless you!