This past month, a group of men and I read through a book called "The Sacrament of the Present Moment" by Jean-Pierre De Caussade. Jean-Pierre was a priest in France during the 1700's. During this time he wrote a series of letters to a group of nuns which was later published under the name "Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence."
This is something that resonates with me deeply! I have found that it has been in the turmoil, struggle, disappointments, and strife that God has done the most to change my heart and make me into a better person. This goes back to the topic of "purging" that I wrote about several weeks back.
We have a duty to the present. The past is gone and, though it affects us still, we are no longer living in it. We are here in the "now" and so is the will of God. His Spirit beckons us to be apart of the world that we are presently in and not to worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will come in it's time. We have a duty to those we engage with and to our jobs and our communities; with the understanding that God is with us and is active in this moment to bring us closer to perfection and to purer intimacy with Him.
Be here; be present.
Grace and Peace
Stephen
The book was the perfect read for me in this time in my life! I have entered into a significant time of transition and have been, as I have stated in a recent post, trying to live more in present and engage the people around me. This book spoke to my heart concerning this very issue that I have been wrestling with over the last several weeks!
Jean-Pierre wove together a beautiful picture of surrender as he spoke of the Christian life and our need to be aware of the Spirit's work in this very moment in our lives. He spoke often of suffering and of darkness as being a part of the will of God. One of the statements that most stood out to me was his writing about those who struggle to reach spiritual greatness and instead experience affliction and struggle. He says:
"Perfection come to them, not through reason, enlightenment of reflection, but through every affliction sent by God, through their duty to the present moment and through impulses with nothing good about them, though not actually sinful."He goes on to talk about the afflicted person being filled with despair and shame as he sees the weighty standards of "saintliness" that he sees others appearing to fulfill. He, in fact, finds himself "condemned: by the lives of the saints! He goes on to say that, "It is in these afflictions, which succeed one another each moment, that God, veiled and obscured, reveals Himself, mysteriously bestowing his grace in a manner quite unrecognized by souls who feel only weakness in bearing their cross, distaste for performing their duty, and capable of only mediocre spiritual practices."
This is something that resonates with me deeply! I have found that it has been in the turmoil, struggle, disappointments, and strife that God has done the most to change my heart and make me into a better person. This goes back to the topic of "purging" that I wrote about several weeks back.We have a duty to the present. The past is gone and, though it affects us still, we are no longer living in it. We are here in the "now" and so is the will of God. His Spirit beckons us to be apart of the world that we are presently in and not to worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will come in it's time. We have a duty to those we engage with and to our jobs and our communities; with the understanding that God is with us and is active in this moment to bring us closer to perfection and to purer intimacy with Him.
Be here; be present.
Grace and Peace
Stephen
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