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LIVING IN PRESENCE (Part One)
November 21, 2011
 Living
in the
present would
seem to
be the
simplest of
things.
It
is certainly
the most
natural: it
is where
our bodies
always find
themselves,
even if
our minds
and spirits
do not always
follow.
If the
present moment
is a
sacrament, why
don't we
experience it
as such?
If the
present moment
is in
fact always
a point
of contact
with Eternity,
why do
we not
experience our
lives as
constantly immersed
in divine
reality?
Being
present turns
out to
be a
challenge for
us.
The
present and
its
possibilities often
escape us.
Is it because
we ourselves
are distant
and
unavailable?
Why
should this
be so?
The
following passages may guide us as we consider these questions.
The first
is a passage
from St. Gregory
of Nyssa (c.330-
c. 395),
“On
the Lord’s
Prayer”:
Let us remember that
the life
in which
we ought
to be
interested is
“daily”
life.
We
can, each
of us,
only call
the present time
our own
... Our
Lord tells
us to pray for
today, and
so he
prevents us
from tormenting
ourselves about
tomorrow.
It
is as
if [God]
were to say
to us:
“It
is I
who gives
you this
day [and]
who will
also give
you what
you need
for this day.
[It is
I] who makes
the sun
to rise.
[It
is I] who
scatters the
darkness of
night and
reveals to you
the rays of
the sun.”
The
second passage is from the opening stanza of
“My Song
for Today,”
a poem
written by St.Therese of Lisieux:
My
life is
but an
instant, a
passing hour.
My
life is
but a
day that
escapes and
flies away.
O my
God! You
know that
to love
you on
earth
I only have
today!
When
she died
early in the
twentieth
century, Therese
was only 24
years old.
In her
short life she
wrote an
autobiography
and a
book’s worth
of poems,
served as
novice
mistress of her
Carmelite community,
and managed
to “become a
saint,” whether
or not
she would have
considered herself
one. Her
poem-prayer
reveals an
extraordinary
focus on
the present.
In the
third stanza,
for example,
she declares:
“To pray
for tomorrow,
oh no,
I cannot! ...”
Sufficient
unto the
day are
the worries
thereof.
The
present is
the testing
ground for
faith, and
she prays
that “her
little boat”
will be
guided over
the stormy
waves in peace
‒ just
for today!
The
spiritual
traditions of
humanity, and
ancient
philosophy as
well, are
filled with
teachings about
the importance
of living
well in
the present.
Therese gives
testimony to
this tradition
when she
resolves to
pray for
tomorrow only once it has arrived.
In
the meantime,
she prays
for the
grace to
give her
all to
the day
before her.
Gregory
of Nyssa, who
lived in
the 4th
century,
presents the
same message
and adds
that in
instructing us
to pray for
today, the
Lord seeks
to “prevent
us from
tormenting
ourselves about
tomorrow.”
Our
tendency to
project
ourselves into
the future
is a great
source of anxiety for us.
Clearly we
need reminding
that it
is God
who gives
us this
day, and
it is
also God who
gives what
we need
for this day. Gregory’s message is
firm: “we
can only
call the
present our
own”; and
he urges
us to
avoid getting
ahead of
ourselves.
He
would have
recognized the
wisdom of
Therese’s
saying later
in her
poem-prayer,
“Near your
divine Heart,
I forget
all passing
things./I no
longer dread
the fears
of the
night.”
Because the
call to
presence evokes
anxiety in
us and
because, at
least
initially, we
avoid it
out of fear,
presence requires practice.
We shall consider aspects of that presence in upcoming
reflections.
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