The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Unfulfilled desire coupled with long suffering is the sweet tension we live in. As believers, we know the importance of living in the glory of Christ resurrected. Yet, on this side of heaven, we also face the reality that this life is passing. Though God intends for us to experience joy, the greatest joy we experience here on earth pales in comparison to the joy of heaven.
Although we know our call to take up our cross, the actual carrying of that cross is a lot easier said than done. When I returned to the faith, I was eager to evangelize the world, unafraid of the cost, ready to stand for Jesus. Those moments have come. However, most of the time, following Jesus is found in the slow burn of a daily "yes," in loving God and neighbor, and in how we hold the desires of our hearts as we journey to Heaven.
In the story of Elijah and the woman of Shunem, I am struck by her attentive heart. Though a woman of influence, she recognized God’s anointed in her midst and used her means to serve a divine purpose.
We can infer she lived with longing. Yet, she shows us how to hold desire in God's grace without letting it consume our identity. Her life was one of forever singing the goodness of the Lord. As such, it is only fitting that God would grant her a share in that goodness.
Even more than the gift she received, what stands out is the posture of her heart before it ever came. Holiness is not found in obtaining what we long for in a season, but in the deeper longing we carry for eternity. It is found in choosing to make room for God, to prepare a place for Him, to recognize Him in the hidden, and to serve Him without needing fulfillment of a particular desire on this side of heaven.
The deeper invitation for us is to not simply hope that God will answer our desires, but to allow our desires to draw us deeper into communion with Him. To trust that even when a longing remains unmet, it is not wasted, but being transformed into something eternal.
We live in the tension of unfulfilled desire. However, we know when we die to our desires, the tension becomes the place where our deepest desire will be eternally fulfilled.
Allie Moroney is a Catholic writer and creative whose work invites others into deeper intimacy with Christ through beauty, presence, and truth. Read more from Allie on her Substack or follow her on Instagram.
