Article by PhoenixOnline Writer Sophia Kelly ’26
I rushed to the doors of Sacred Heart, eager to escape the bitter winds and icy concrete below me. I sat down in my usual pew, the one with the most leg room, and began to think about how people never change. The same family of seven sits in the front row every Sunday, and the same cantor gets up and sings every hymn. I began to wonder if I would ever change; would my efforts of growing closer to God ever affect my faith life? When will I begin to feel His love and be “on fire” for the Lord?
The sitting down and standing up that every Catholic knows all too well feels like nothing more than a muscular response. I picked up the missal from underneath the pew and flipped to the reading. I followed along.
After the Gospel, I was still reflecting on the readings as Fr. Stephen began his homily, explaining the Gospel: St. John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus and telling all to repent.
Sadly, St. John the Baptist never saw how much good his proclamations did. He was beheaded, of course, by Herod Antipas.
I was then reminded of a quote from the Broadway musical Hamilton. After Hamilton has been shot and he is thinking back on his life and how people will remember him, he wonders, “What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.”
I suddenly felt a wave of realizations hit me, that nothing in our lives has instant gratification. The most meaningful things in our lives are the things that we work for and wait to see how they have paid off. Have I made my family proud? Am I a valued friend? Will I go to my hoped-for college? Will I be successful professionally?
We do not know what God’s plan for us is ; is it that the fruits of our labor are invisible but present, or will we only know them in God’s time, instead of our own?
No matter what His plan is, having faith is all we can do. Like St. John the Baptist, we won’t be guaranteed to see what our faith wins for us. Instead, our faith is the fruit itself and will inherently reward us.
There is nothing that could make our journey pay off quicker so we have to trust that God is doing his part and as long as we stick with Him, all will be well.
