The old expression, "out of sight, out of mind," reminds us that the moment we no longer see someone, we are naturally moved to believe they are gone completely from our lives. That's a perennial problem with belief in God, who is present to us in a very real way at every moment of our lives, but often in an unseen manner.

Moses was the first to see God, in the burning bush. He heard God's voice, and when, on Mount Sinai, he stood face to face with God, his hair turned white and his face was radiant.

In Jesus, we have seen God face to face. He became a man "like us in all things but sin," he walked among us, taught us how to be holy, and was nailed to a cross for our salvation. He rose in bodily form and walked among us and, even now, gives us his Body and Blood as our food and drink. He remains dwelling in us, as we remain dwelling in him.

Yet there are times, particularly when we must face suffering or pain, when we find it hard to believe in the presence of God. At such times, when prayers seems empty and dry, we have been taught by the great saints of the Church to pray for the gift of faith, for the grace of awareness of the presence of God in the midst of our greatest trials.

Indeed, the Lord Jesus himself, knew a feeling of desolation, when from the wood of the cross he knew "the crushing burden of a mission which had to pass through humiliation and destruction. For this reason he cried out to the Father. ... "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me" (Psalm 22:1)

"Sacred history," Pope Benedict XVI has reminded us, "has been a history of cries for help from the people, and of salvific responses from God." Psalm 22 concludes, however, with a prayer "which rends the heavens because it proclaims a faith, a certainty, that is beyond all doubt. By placing all our trust and hope in God the Father, we can pray to Him with faith at all moments of anguish, and our cry for help will turn into a hymn of praise." (Pope Benedict XVI, Sept. 14, 2011).

Then, like the disciples, we will be found "persevering with one mind in prayer with ... Mary, the Mother of Jesus" (Acts 1:14), awaiting the gift of the Holy Spirit, and waiting in joyful hope for the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ in glory at the end of time.

Msgr. James P. Moroney, presently professor of liturgy at St. John's Seminary, Brighton becomes the 20th rector there on July 1, 2012. This is the seventh of a series of reflections on the collects of the Easter season.