Sunday, January 1, 2017

New Year's Resolution

Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) was a French Jesuit priest and spiritual director whose theology is articulated in a little (but dense) book called The Sacrament of the Present Moment. The quotation below is a reflection on de Caussade's work that comes from J. Neville Ward, in his book Enquiring Within, published by Epworth Press in 1988Ward writes: 

Jesus was a practical, one item at a time man, with no admiration at all for minds that rush ahead... In the huge pile of stuff that is recommended to Christians for spiritual reading I have not found anyone who so clearly and practically interpreted this part of his teaching as J. P. de Caussade in his thoughts on the sacrament of the present moment. 

It is part of that idea that if the present is not exactly wonderful for you, then it's worth finding out why, finding out whether or not there is a problem at this moment, and, if there is one, doing now whatever can be done about it now. If there isn't any problem just now, then there's nothing to stop us looking around to see if there isn't on the contrary something to be enjoyed, and simply enjoying it...

Whatever is present is in front of me now; it is also impermanently there; being momentary, it is fading, and it must pass away sooner or later...

If the desired situation is with me now, it is, even so, time-driven. To live intelligently means to be ready, even if it is mostly at some great depth of being, for it to go.

If it is not with me yet, let that be so too. I must let it not be yet. It's possible to use up all your days seeing happiness mistily in the future, unaware that you are always sure to see some blemish on what is present because your faith is that somewhere else is nearer the centre of joy. In time I shall be a happier person...

God is the universally present one. It's a belief that is at the centre of many religions. The present moment is always his presence. His presence is always the present moment. The present moment invariably consists principally in something to be done or something to be put up with or something to be enjoyed. Attending wholeheartedly to whichever of these it the case is what is meant by responding to God and doing his will....

I don't tend to be very big on "new year's resolutions" as a rule, but I resolve to try to live more intentionally by this creed in 2017. With God's help. I do believe this truth and that it does go the heart of Jesus' teachings about the Kingdom of God, which is breaking into our midst even now, if only we have eyes to see. The Old Testament writer, Qoheleth (the "Preacher" in Ecclesiastes), was on to this same truth I think when he invited his readers to see in each moment an opportunity to either enjoy or to consider. In good moments, to enjoy: to eat, drink, and be merry. And in challenging moments: to consider, to learn, to wonder, to be curious about what it might mean. But in both cases, not to get stuck in the past nor to worry about the future, but rather to fully embrace the sacredness of each successive present moment. This wisdom rings true for me as this new year begins. 

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