NOW is the Present Moment!

     “The present moment is like an ambassador who declares the will of God. The heart must ever answer, ‘Let it be so.’ Then the soul will go steadily on by all means towards its target and goal—never pausing in its course, spreading its sails to all winds. All routes and methods advance it equally in its journey toward the great sea, the infinite. Everything becomes an instrument of sanctification. The soul always finds the ‘one thing needful’ in the present moment.

     It is no longer a matter of prayer or silence, privacy or conversation with others, reading or writing, thinking or abandonment of thought, seeking spirituality or avoiding overconcern with it, abundance or want, illness or health, life or death; the one thing needful is simply what comes to the soul each moment by the will of God. This includes the stripping, the self-denial, the renunciation of earthly things, in order that the soul may be nothing in itself or live for itself, but may live wholly by God’s will, and at His good pleasure content itself with the duty of the present moment, as though that were the one thing in the whole world.”                                                                                                                                                                                            Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade


     I had prayed and asked God for guidance in choosing a book to read this Lent; One which would strengthen my walk with Him.

      To my surprise, The Joy of Full Surrender by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, an adaptation of Abandonment to Divine Providence, was the book that kept coming into my mind. I had read it many years ago and it had had a great impact on me. “It must be the time to re-read this again, due to certain situations in my life.”


     Fr. de-Caussade’s words, were like a steady drip of water, that over time, penetrated deep within my mind, heart and soul.

     God was calling me to say, “Let it be so,” to all that was happening in my life. With His generous grace, I was able to say yes, but little did I know at the time, what the future held in store for each of us—the Coronavirus, and the impact it would have upon our lives!

     Initially, I was not worried. I was filled with peace and trust. God was in charge and as long as I could cling to Him in prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, the Mass and the sacraments, I could get through anything.

     The first blow came when I received an email announcing that as of Friday evening, Adoration would be suspended, till further notice.

     The second blow came when our arch-bishop announced obligation from Sunday Mass was removed, although Mass would still be celebrated.

     “Praise be to God,” I thought, “they are not taking Mass from us!”

     Little did I realize; this too would change.

     On Tuesday morning, after daily Mass, an announcement was made from the altar: “Because of the growing concern over the spread of the Coronavirus, our arch-bishop has suspended all public Masses effective at 12:00 pm on Wednesday, March 18 until further notice.”

    I felt stunned and could not believe what I had just heard! Tears welled up in my eyes and I felt like someone had yanked my heart out of my chest!

     How could they do this? How could this happen at a time when we needed God’s graces as never before? Why, Papa? Why?

     I did not have any answers to my questions. I did not know how to even wrap my head around this turn of events. The cessation of Mass until further notice? This was unprecedented in my lifetime and seemed unfair. I knew I was being called to surrender and accept what God had allowed, even if I didn’t like it. In order to regain the peace within my being, I laid down my will, and embraced God’s.

     With God’s grace, I accepted that “the present moment is still like an ambassador that is declaring the will of God,” even in all of this!

     God has not abandoned us; His graces are abundant in the present moment, in which we are living!

     Lent will be different from here on out. That doesn’t mean it can’t be even more fruitful than it would have been, if we were living in ordinary times.

     Our good God is stretching us, by asking us to offer up all the sacrifices that are now impacting us. It is unknown, the duration with which we will be called to continue our lives in this manner.

     Not being able to receive our dear sweet Jesus in Holy Communion is such a tremendous loss, but if our Papa has asked for even this, He will give us the grace to say, “Let it be so!”

     Let us use our sacrifice of not being able to attend Mass and receive Sacramental Holy Communion, for all of those who are indifferent to God, as well as those who do not know Him or love Him. Let us pray that God will use our hunger and thirst for His Body and Blood, to give a hunger and thirst to those who do not believe in the real Presence of Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament. Let’s not waste an ounce of the sacrifices we are being asked to make, by remembering to unite them to Christ’ to bring glory to God and His Church!

     Praise be to God; our churches are not closed! We can still visit “the Hidden Jesus,” present in all the tabernacles in our Catholic Churches. There are many churches that are still having Eucharistic Adoration, as well as websites, where the Blessed Sacrament is live streamed.

     We can continue to stay in the rhythm of the season of Lent, by doing the daily Mass readings. Although we cannot receive Jesus Sacramentally, we can make a spiritual Communions, by asking Jesus to come into our hearts.

     Our God and our Church has not deserted us! We must make the most of this time to pray for all who are impacted by this virus: the doctors, nurses, and hospital personal, who are taking care of the sick, the clerks at the supermarkets, who are there making sure we have food to eat, the people at the pharmacies, so we can get our medical supplies. All public workers, whose aim is to keep our lives as normal as possible, at this difficult time. And of course, those who are sick, or who will get sick, as well as their families.

    Let us remain steadfast in the knowledge, that we are loved by our heavenly Father. He will not forsake us nor desert us, but will give us all that we need to through this difficult time, and grow in holiness.

     Let’s do our best, to stay in the present moment. It is there where God grace abides. Let the grace of the present moment become for us, the instrument of our sanctification. It is where we will find the "one thing needful" to lead us to God’s peace and joy!