Читать книгу The Little Book of Lent: Daily Reflections from the World’s Greatest Spiritual Writers - Arthur Howells - Страница 16
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Cardinal Basil Hume, a member of the Order of St Benedict and formerly Abbot of Ampleforth, was Archbishop of Westminster for twenty-three years until his death in 1999. Basil in Blunderland, while written to inspire children with thoughts about the meaning of the spiritual life, helps all of us to make sense of our blundering and searching for God.
The Sacrament of the Present Moment
A great spiritual writer spoke about ‘the sacrament of the present moment’. Now you know that a sacrament is an event where God enters into our lives. It is an outward sign of an inner grace (either a share in God’s own life or a special help being given to us). Christ meets us in sacraments, especially in the Eucharist. There are only seven sacraments, so what is this ‘sacrament of the present moment’? Is there an eighth sacrament?
Before thinking further about this I began to think about ‘time’, or rather about the idea of the present moment … I say to myself, ‘now’, and no sooner have I said it than it has already passed. I cannot hang on to ‘now’. It’s gone. Another ‘now’ has taken its place. Life is a succession of ‘nows’. You cannot prevent the clock from showing us how time marches on. I remember once looking at a clock at the moment it stopped. I said ‘now’, and there wasn’t another one. I realised that eternity is like a ‘now’ which goes on and on. The earthly clock stops and we are riveted for ever in the presence of God. Sometimes as we go through life there are moments to which we just want to hang on. It may be a moment of total happiness, one that is completely satisfying or very thrilling. We just want time to stop. That tells me something about what it must be like in heaven. In heaven there is a ‘now’ of total happiness when we are with God. The vision of God is so fulfilling and totally satisfying. It is an ever-present ‘now’ of ecstatic love when we are one with the most lovable.
Where, then, does the ‘sacrament of the present moment’ come in? A sacrament, as I have already said, is an event when Christ meets us and we meet Him. When you come to think of it the present moment can be a meeting point between God and us. It is only ‘now’, in the present moment, that we meet Him, here and now. Some people spend a lot of time looking back on their lives, others spend time daydreaming about the future, but the important moment is ‘now’. In any present moment we can meet God. At any moment we can just think about God and send a quick message up to Him. It may be a fleeting thought or a word spoken. For instance, I can just say ‘I am trying to love you’, or ‘please help me’, or ‘I am sorry about this or that’. The present moment is always precious. Like a sacrament it is a meeting point between God and ourselves.
BASIL IN BLUNDERLAND CARDINAL BASIL HUME
Scripture Reading
COLOSSIANS 3:12–17
‘Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.’
Prayer
Lord God,
Thank you for your presence with me;
for your guidance and encouragement in the past.
Thank you for taking me into the future,
unknown and uncertain.
But, above all,
thank you for being with me now,
today, at this present moment,
when we can meet together –
for this is heaven on earth.
