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LIVING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT

A sign outside a pub reads "Free beer tomorrow!" The next day the sign will be there. Do you remember hearing the phrase: "Time is flying!" Indeed, time passes relentlessly; some times we wish we had a remote control to stop or to fast-forward it.

The ancient Romans used to say: "Carpe diem", seize the day, meaning: "Don't waste it, enjoy it." In Renaissance Florence, late 1400's, a poem, loosely translated, went like this: "Oh how beautiful the time of youth is, and yet it runs away from us; he who wants to be happy, be happy because there may not be a tomorrow." "He who wants to be happy." is the refrain that goes through all the poem. Certainly this is not a Christian vision of life.

In the light of Sacred Scripture, time is seen in a quite different perspective.

In the New Testament there are numerous exhortations to live in the present: "So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Mt 6,34); Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4,6); "Unload all your worries on to him, since he is looking after you (1 Pt 5,7).

At the bases of this attitude there is the certainty that there is a Father in heaven who loves us and cares for us. God the Father knows what we need and follows us moment by moment more than the most affectionate mother would do.

So living the present with the certainty of the love of a father, is one of the essential aspects of Christian spirituality.

Christians in Europe who lived during World War II, when there were continual bombings and were not sure if they would be alive in the next moment, concentrated on the moment they had available at the present to love God and their neighbors.

Chiara Lubich was one of those Christians who experienced this reality when she wrote: "The Lord taught us to live the present moment in various ways. In the Gospel for instance, it is evident that we should live the present moment, because we are told to ask the Father for bread only for "this day". "Give us this day our daily bread" and we learn that "today has troubles enough of it own" (Mt. 6:34); and we are warned: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God" (Lk. 9:62)." As a follower of Jesus Christ, we don't look back, rather with our hearts fixed in Eternity and our feet on the ground we look at this moment and we are challenged: "Your Kingdom come!"

In reading the lives of the Saints, Chiara realized that we could imitate them in the way they did the will of God in the present moment. Here is what some of them said: Catherine of Siena: "The fatigue of the past is no longer ours, because its time has gone; what is to come we do not possess, because we are not sure if its time will ever come."

Another saint from the third century was Anthony the abbot. His biography said: "He took no account of the time which had passed, but day by day, as if beginning his life as a monk for the first time, he made great efforts to advance, constantly repeating to himself Saint Paul's words: 'I forget the past and strain ahead for what is still to come' (Phil. 3:13-14).

St. Therese' of the Little Flower is another expert on how to live the present moment. She said:

“Let’s take advantage of every single moment of our suffering, let’s us see each instant as if there were no other. An instant is a treasure…”
“My life is a flash of lightning, an hour that passes, a moment that fast escapes me and is gone. My God, you know that to love you on earth I have nothing but today.” Do you love Jesus in the present moment or are you distracted and thinking that someday you are going to start loving Him? “Free beer tomorrow!”

Soren Kierkegaard the Danish Christian philosopher from the 1800’s sees the present moment as the way of inserting us into eternity. It is outside of time.

We understand that the present moment is a topic in spiritual life that contains great wisdom. It is a key element not only in Christian spirituality but in other religions as well. For instance, in the Buddhist tradition there is a simple story that underlines it. When asked why his disciples, who conduct a simple and calm life, eating only one meal a day, look so radiant? Buddha answered: “They don’t regret their past and they are not worried about their future. Instead, they live in the present. That is why they are radiant. Foolish are those who worry about the future or regret the past; they are drained like green bamboo left under the sun. “Do you worry about next week’s exams? What’s going to happen when you graduate?

Also in Islam, which actually means, ‘total surrender to God’; to live the present moment according to the divine will has great importance. A hadith (or saying) of Muhammad is: “When evening comes, don’t wait for the morning, and when morning comes, don’t wait for the evening.” The Sufi are called the “Sons of the present moment.”

Chiara later on had a new insight about the present, she said that many people considered talents as “things” or as “qualities – skills” to possess but many forget that one of the talents that God has given us is Time and it’s lived only in the present moment…by the time you think about it, it’s gone. She then made a list of all the advantages she found in living the present moment.

The first advantage is that it helps us to live the Will of God.
This is how Chiara explains it: “I have a passion for living this way. We do many things…we love our neighbor out of love for God…But, do we love God the Father for Himself? Is my heart entirely His? In living the present this love springs up in my heart, because in every moment I can speak to Him, I talk over with Him what I have to do. I tell Him: Now I’m going to stop working, or now I’m going out, or now I’m doing this or that, I do everything together with Him.

…Therefore the more I tried to live that moment well, the more I loved God with my whole heart, and mind, and strength.” Do you pray before class? Before you go to bed? Before coaching? Asking Jesus to reveal to you His plan at every moment. Wake up the past does not exist, the future does not exist, it’s only in your memory or in your imagination. What is real is “now”. What is real is Jesus calling you and me only in the present…not the future but now… “What must I do” (Acts 22:10) that’s what we call vocation.

Take a minute and in quiet ask yourself “what’s in my heart right now? What is God saying to me?”

The second advantage is that we are called to greatness or to become saints. It seems that in our modern times the majority of people don’t give any thought to sanctity, to the call to holiness. The primary meaning of holy is separate. It comes from an ancient work that meant, “to cut”, or “to separate”. The work for “saint” is hagios. Paul applied this term to the true child of God “set apart for God”. Have you been baptized? Then you have been set apart, consecrated for God alone.

The difference between a holy person and a saint is that a saint is someone whom the church confirmed that lived a life of heroic virtue: Heroic love, heroic faith, and heroic hope.

We certainly don’t find much support from the society around us for such a choice, and even if we did, we wouldn’t know how to reach this goal without guidance. The word “saint” brings to mind people like Mother Teresa.

Chiara also said: “If I have to fast all day I will do it, if I have to do penances, I will do it, if I have to pray all day, I will do that, but I don’t know what to do to become a saint.” And that is when she discovered that there is a way to sanctity, good for everyone open to anyone, and that is to do the will of God wherever we are at the present moment. I had a hard time understanding what the will of God is, what does that mean? Do you want to know?

Jesus gave us the new norm of greatness, he said “love God with all your heart…and love one another…” and added, “He who is great among you shall be your servant”. That’s the new definition of greatness…that’s a Mother Teresa!

- Your vocation is always in the present moment -

The third advantage is that God’s grace only happens in the present moment. We will lose the grace when we are living in the illusion of the past or in the future.

Chiara writes, “One experience I had trying to live the present moment took place a year ago. One morning I was in church attending mass and I was not feeling well. Communion time came and I forced myself out of my pew to approach the altar. I should have remained seated, in fact a few seconds after I found myself on the floor surrounded by people, among them a doctor who happened to be there. Even though I had quickly regained consciousness, the doctor suggested that I should be taken to the hospital. For the first time in my life I was in an ambulance not knowing what was coming next. I felt I should concentrate on the present moment reminding myself that ultimately I was in God’s loving hands. I was in the hospital for three days being checked head to toe to see if they could find something wrong. After each test I would wait for the results and, instinctively, I would think of what they could find wrong. But I chased away these thoughts and concentrated to live the present well. Living the present well meant to remain serene and be kind with the people who were performing the tests on me. After all, if I had been overly concerned about my health it would have been useless because I was found to be in good health. After this experience I resolved to continue to live as intensely as possible the present moment as I did during my hospital stay.”

The difference between pain and suffering is that pain could be an objective infliction apart from us, when we reject it and focus on the past or the future it becomes suffering. Past and future are not real. A sign outside a pub reads “Free beer tomorrow!” When people come back the next day the sign will always point to an illusion. If you forget everything that is to know about life, religion and the world and only remember to be in the present. To answer to God’s personal call to you in the present, You will be a successful person, my friend.