Jesus living the moment in Resurrection grace!
Think of yourself! Does this fit you and your perspective right now? How many times in the last hour have you thought about God, or felt His presence with you somehow? In the second chapter, the prophet Jeremiah, writes inspired words from God: “My people hath forgotten Me days with out number.” He describes our major human defect that comes to us from original sin; principally, we tend to forget God and fend for ourselves.
Why is this important? It’s important because our eternity and the eternity of others hangs in the balance of how we live the present moments of our day. When we forget God, we see the present moment in a distorted way, solely on the horizontal plane of time, solely a moment in time, with the past gone and the future not yet here. There is a three dimensional sense of time that is important for Christians to consider. Otherwise, we won’t live our lives fully for eternity and we won’t cultivate our deepest goodness and spiritual enrichment of others. We are called to live Pentecost moments!
Father Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., author and spiritual master, says “the present moment is also on a vertical line which attaches it to the single instant of immobile eternity, and that there is a divine manner of living the present moment in order that by merit it may enter into eternity. To be immersed in time, is to forget the value of time, that is to say, its relation to eternity.”
In our fast paced lives, how do we mend our ways? The goal is to become lovingly attentive to God, like a sunflower that follows the sun” in everything we do, according to Venerable Father Felix Rougier, M.Sp.S. Father Lagrange goes further with this thought, we have to wake up, practice a certain discipline to “apply ourselves to the duty of the moment with a healthy realism directing the accomplishment of this duty to God, who should be loved above all.” We do this because, in the mercy of God’s plan, He chooses us to offer our lives in living sacrifice for the salvation of others. The present moment holds a vital energy that can be tapped, by gather it with intention, offering it to the sacrifice of Jesus to the Father, so He can direct sanctifying graces to others. In this, each moment can be knitted into eternity and make a real difference in the lives of people right now. The “children of light” are called to be co-redeemers of their brothers and sisters.
In the next moment, what ever it holds, keep your eternal bearings. Sometimes when the Lord knows you’re equipped, He allows such powerful opportunities for your growth. Someone talks about you behind your back, comes to the work group unprepared, cuts you off on the freeway; collect the gift that comes in this suffering; glance and share it with Jesus with the intention He’ll receive it and offer it to His Father…for the very culprit that caused the pain. Seek to ground yourself in the realization of God with you at the start of every hour, at 3 PM, the hour of Jesus’ crucifixan, or as often as you can muster yourself.
We stand on the horizon in our day of a new renewal in grace, if we learn to cultivate eternity in the midst of the here and now. Look around you! What do you see now?…a divine appointment right in front of you? A Pentecost Moment? ~ Mary
