The Sacrament of the Present Moment

I’m reading Scott Peck’s ‘In Search of Stones’. Yesterday I read: ‘Some Catholics have a concept I much admire: the Sacrament of the Present Moment. It suggests that every moment is sacred, and that we should make each moment a sacrament.’

It set me musing…

Many years ago I was taught that a sacrament was ‘an outward sign of an inward grace, instituted by Jesus Christ’. I later learnt that that definition came from Augustine of Hippo…

The word ‘sacrament’ includes the notion of ‘sacred’ and ‘mystery’; there’s also an awareness of God’s loving presence in a special way. Several friends who aren’t Christians speak of times in their lives when they believe that someone or something was there with them… a powerful protecting presence.

Son-in-law Allan took pictures of a Lowestoft sunset… there are times when friends talk about feeling close to God in nature… an awareness of God’s presence, of mystery, of the sacred, on the beach, in the woods, up a mountain…

The church tradition that I was brought up with, maintained that there were two sacraments: Baptism, happened once, Communion (or ‘The Lord’s Supper’) we celebrated each week. I learnt that other Christian traditions – like our Catholic friends – extend the number of sacraments to seven…

…but none include ‘The Sacrament of the Present Moment’. I looked it up. Apparently this came from the Jesuit mystic Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) who insisted that Jesus, by His Spirit is constantly present with us, that God provides his grace every moment… so each moment can be a sacrament.

I think back on yesterday… time spent with friends and family, visits to the hospital, the theatre, the church… I think of what’s planned for today – coffee at Costa, lunch at ‘Oddfellows’, playing cards at Men’s Shed… ‘The Sacrament of the Present Moment’ points to God’s loving presence there with me each moment, in every situation.

It’s up to me to have the desire, the sensitivity, the humility, to learn to appreciate and receive it.