The sacrament of the present moment

‘This moment will never come again
I know it because it has never been before
I listen to the rain outside the door
A thousand voices singing songs that ain't been sung before
Some days while lost in reverie
I find the very hours have slipped away from me
Well as the sunlight dances through the leaves
The patterns they awaken me
And I say hey ho
This moment will never come again
I know it because it has never been before
Here we are now
Soon it will be then
Here we are now
Soon it will be then
Here we are now
Soon it will be then
It's nothing more, nothing less
Than the place that we are in
This moment will never come again
I know it because it has never been before
And I listen to the wind
And I see the trees are shaking’

(Victoria Williams, ‘This Moment’)

Jean Pierre de ‘Caussade's ... original term 'The Sacrament of the Present Moment' refers to God's coming to us at each moment, as really and truly as God is present in the Sacraments of the Church ... In other words, in each moment of our lives God is present under the signs of what is ordinary and mundane. Only those who are spiritually aware and alert discover God's presence in what can seem like nothing at all. This keeps us from thinking and behaving as if only grand deeds and high flown sentiments are 'Godly'. Rather, God is equally present in the small things of life as in the great. God is there in life's daily routine, in dull moments, in dry prayers ... There is nothing that happens to us in which God cannot be found. What we need are the eyes of faith to discern God as God comes at each moment - truly present, truly living, truly attentive to the needs of each one.’

(Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, Life in God's NOW, New City, 2012)

'Contemplative prayer is the art of paying attention to what is.

To pay profound attention to reality is prayer, because to enter the depths of this moment is to encounter God. There is always only now. It is the only place that God can be found.

Our minds find paying full attention to now very difficult. This is because our minds live in time. Our thoughts are preoccupied with past and future, and the present moment is missed. We live in a dream; contemplation is waking up.

There are many forms of contemplative prayer ['Repeating a word or phrase in the mind, slowly and rhythmically; holding a visualization of an image; watching the breath; or bringing awareness to different parts of the body are some of the methods used'], but they all involve bringing the mind into the present moment. It is the only goal, but not the only fruit. In the practice of contemplative prayer we wait attentively for the Now to express itself. The form this takes will always be unique and sometimes hidden. The moment when the depths of now are revealed is when contemplative prayer becomes contemplation.'

(Simon Small, 'From the Bottom of the Pond', O Books, 2007)

"Men invent means and methods of coming at God's love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God's presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?"

"Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do. . . We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God."

"The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament."

(Brother Lawrence, Practising the presence of God)

There are miracles,
In the strangest of places
There are miracles,
Everywhere you go
I see fathers,
Hold a little child's hand
I see mothers,
Holding a little child's hand
I see trees, trees,
Blowing in the wind
I see seeds,
Being sown by the wind
It's a cosmic concerto,
and it stirs my soul

I see grandmas,
Blowing kisses into a pram
I see grandpas,
Scratching their head in amazement
It's a cosmic concerto,
and it stirs my soul
It's a cosmic concerto,
and it stirs my soul

Like my old dad said,
Life is people,
life is people
In the space of a human face,
There's infinite variation
It's a cosmic concerto,
and it stirs my soul
It's a cosmic concerto,
and it stirs my soul
Like my old dad said,
Life is people,
life is people
In the space of a human face,
There's infinite variation
Life is people,
life is people,
life is people
Life is people,
life is people,
life is people
Life is people’

(Bill Fay, ‘Life Is People’)

Help me become attentive to this moment
which will never come again.
May I know you in the sacrament of the present moment
seeing that you are there
in life's daily routine, in dull moments, in dry prayers.
More than that, that all is in you,
all is held in the palms of your hands.
May I see the present moment as though I were
walking on my hands, seeing the world hanging upside
to know dependence and rest
in the Maker’s hands. Amen.

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Matthew Sweet - This Moment.