by Chris Koellhoffer, IHM September 20, 2026
Hindsight can be such a grace, offering light to see more clearly and to break open levels of meaning not available to us at an earlier time. Have you ever, with the eyes of the present moment, looked at something or someone that came into your life years ago only to realize that you had glibly dismissed that at the time?
I remember that attitude with a bit of embarrassment every time I come across the book, “I Desire to Be Everywhere.” Written by Gilbert Ahr Enderle, it tells the story of the life of Redemptorist Father Louis Florent Gillet, a frontier missionary, co-founder of my congregation–the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary–and later, contemplative monk.
The title comes from Father Gillet’s guiding life principle, “I desire to be everywhere when I see so many needs.” Apparently, the last part of that quotation, “…when I see so many needs,” had escaped my memory. So when I first heard the title of the book, “I Desire to Be Everywhere,” my immediate reaction was dismissal, thinking, “Wow, that’s a quick recipe for burnout.”
I hang my head in shame over that remark, because, guess what, these many years later and now much more steeped in the heritage of my community, I find myself also longing to embody Father Gillet’s identical words, “I desire to be everywhere.” Perhaps you, minus my snarky early reaction, share that desire as well.
On the global stage, we may find ourselves deeply stirred when we view home after home obliterated by bombing in Gaza or see landscapes withered by drought in South Sudan while the haunted faces of now starving children are seared into our memory. Don’t we desire to be there, offering aid in person? We may weep for victims of climate change who are carried away by raging floods or left in ashes by out of control wildfires. Of course, we desire to be there, bearing food, blankets, comfort. When we hear an all too familiar story of violence and long to wrap our arms around families enduring the inconsolable loss of children taken by school shootings in America, yes, yes, yes, we desire to be there, don’t we?
Yesterday morning, with those thoughts in my consciousness, I went to a lab for basic blood work. The waiting room was overflowing because this particular lab was the only one open on a weekend. And so, a hundred stories surrounded me, filling the air with snippets of whispered conversations awaiting results, full of worry, of what ifs, of wonderings about what might be ahead. Whenever I heard a nurse call out a name, I gazed at the person being summoned and prayed them into comfort, reassurance, and a gentle way forward. With God’s grace, I was a witness and I was present. God’s grace also that, without leaving my chair, I was able to be everywhere, present to every need in the waiting room and far beyond. My constant prayer is that so we all may be, today and every day.
Takeaway
Sit in stillness with the Holy One.
Name some of the crying needs of the world around you.
What helps you to discern and choose how you’ll be respond to those needs?
Ask the Holy One to reveal how and where you’re most needed this day.
If you’re near enough to respond with physical presence, do that.
If you can’t, hold those who are suffering in your intention and in love.
Featured Image: Greg Rosenke, Unsplash; Akhil Nath, Unsplash
NOTE:
September 20-21
We hold in our hearts and prayer our Jewish sisters and brothers who are observing Yom Kippur, dedicated to atonement, repentance, and seeking forgiveness from God.
September 29 – October 3
I’d be most grateful if you would remember me in prayer as I spend time in reflection during my private retreat at Villa Maria by the Sea in Stone Harbor, NJ. Know that you and your intentions will be with me there as well. Thank you!
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