2. And just as a person without faith could never see in the Eucharist anything but a small, white “cracker” (instead of the body of the Lord), so, too, a person without faith could never see the disguised reality behind the ordinary events of his day. That reality, of course, is God speaking to us (making known to us his loving will).
3. Again, without faith, all we would see is an unpleasant task to be accomplished or meaningless suffering (just as without faith, all we would see is a small, white cracker), but with faith, we are able to see through the disguise and recognize (in all that happens to us in the course of our day) the loving plan of God—the loving plan of God for us personally.[2]
4. To be sure, to see this reality (to recognize it) requires a high degree of recollection (faith). And how easy it is to get distracted and miss it altogether!
God comes to us in such humble disguises as a flat tire, an argument on the phone, a difficult co-worker or sibling. Do we notice him?
5. But how do we “receive” the sacrament of the present moment?
Obviously, you cannot eat it (as you might receive the Eucharist in holy communion).
We receive the sacrament of the present moment by responding well to all that happens to us moment by moment.
We respond well in 2 ways:
(1) by fulfilling our daily obligations with great love for God—for example, performing our professional work with intensity and perfection (no “short cuts”!), attending to our chores around the house (moving the chair before sweeping instead of sweeping around it), overcoming our laziness, etc. and
(2) by accepting with patience and cheerfulness all that bothers us—for example, a slow driver in front of us on the way to work, an irritating comment made by our spouse, etc.
In this way, we can make many small “communions” with the divine will throughout the course of our day. The effects of these communions are analogous to those of the holy communion—an increase of the new life of grace.[3]
6. But what about those circumstances or events which cause us mental or physical anguish—in a word, when the present moment brings us suffering?
Father Jacques Philippe (a contemporary master of the spiritual life) speaks of the importance of accepting (and accepting deeply) the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
Of course, he doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to improve our situation (for example, seeking the advice of a doctor if we are not feeling well), but, often, even after we have done all that we can, there remains that part which lies outside of our control.
By our “acceptance,” we freely choose that part (the part we can’t control), which is to say, we “choose what we didn’t choose.”[4]
7. This, then, is how we “receive” the sacrament of the present moment when that moment brings us suffering: “My Lord, I choose the seemingly negative situation in which I find myself. I have applied all the remedies that I can, but there still remains … my dysfunctional family, this serious illness for which there is no cure, my supervisor whose personality I cannot change, my present financial difficulties, all that I find burdensome in life. I freely choose not merely to endure but to embrace these!”
8. To live in this new way does not mean relying on my own feeble human strength, but on God.
It means trusting in the fact:
(1) that God is my Father,
(2) that he desires my happiness even more than I do,
(3) that somehow (in a mysterious way), these events—yes, these very events before me!—will somehow lead me to that supreme happiness, and
(4) that God will supply me with all the help that I need (called “actual graces”) to do what he asks of me now (to respond well to these events).
9. There’s no use worrying about the past (except by going to confession) or about the future (we don’t even know if we will be alive tomorrow!). What our Lord asks of me is to live in the present moment—meaning, to be attentive to (to recognize his plan in) what he has placed before me now (as reality unfolds moment by moment), and to put my heart into responding well, again,
(1) by fulfilling my daily obligations with great love for God,
(2) by accepting with patience and cheerfulness all that bothers me, or, to put it another way, by “choosing what I didn’t choose.”
And all of this with an unbounded confidence that my Father God will take care of tomorrow (see Matthew 6:25-34).
This is how I receive the “sacrament of the present moment” many times throughout the day!
10. Such a response, according to Father Philippe, “allows” God to work deeply in our life. That is because our acceptance of all that happens to us is an actual engagement with reality.
God who is supremely real, who is Reality itself, only deals in the realm of reality, not of the imaginary.[5]
But what does all this look like in practice?
11. Consider a typical day.
At 6am, your alarm clock goes off. It is Monday. You have slept poorly and you press the “snooze” button a few times. As your mind gradually comes into focus, you recall that you have an appointment this week with a medical specialist over something that came up in your physical, which fills you with dismay. (“What if it’s something serious? What will I do? What will my family do?”) But just at that moment, you recollect yourself and make a deep act of acceptance, “My Lord, I freely choose this appointment, its results, and my present anxiety—I embrace it for love of you, knowing that that is precisely what you ask of me!”
12. As you sip your first cup of coffee, you look at your phone and notice an email from your boss which he sent you last night at 11pm (“On Sunday night?”) summoning you to a meeting this morning about a “situation” at work. “Oh, no. Now what?” Again, you recollect yourself. “My Lord, I freely choose this meeting, unpleasant as it might be! In fact, if I had faith, I would say that there is nothing else that I would rather do than be at this meeting! (You have planned it—you have designed it—from all eternity—for me!) Give me the grace to respond with cheerfulness, optimism, and a little good humor!”
13. As you head out the door, you start your car, and the “check engine light” comes on. “I don’t have time for this!” Again, you recollect yourself and make a deep act of acceptance (you “receive” the sacrament of the present moment). “My God, I love this check engine light! I will bring my vehicle to the service station when I have time because I know that that is exactly what you want. I firmly believe that if there were anything on planet earth that would make me happier than this orange light, you would have given it to me! But you do not withhold the good from anyone, least of all, from your son (from your daughter).”
All of this even before you have left the house—3 “communions” with the divine will!
