 Picture by Shawn Bailey and used with permission. Thank you. NOTE: about every 5 weeks, I show up on Salt and Light Radio’s Blessed and Beautiful Segment for 15 minutes to share thoughts and experiences on an assigned topic. While the interview plays out spontaneously, this is a more comprehensive reflection of what aired on Friday, April 4, 2025. This Lent, our Blessed and Beautiful theme was “sacraments and sacramentals.” What came to me, though, was not one of the seven sacraments or even a popular sacramental, but living a different sacrament, that of the present moment. The best way to go after this topic might be to break it down into a theology of sacraments versus a theology of the present moment and then an application to Lent.
Theology of the seven sacraments. The Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church #224 offers great definition of sacrament, but what sticks in my head from childhood is the old Baltimore Catechism definition of a sacrament as “an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.” In the Eucharist, for example, the signs of bread and wine are changed into spiritual food and drink. A few Latin phrases help unpack this. Ex opere operato means that the sacraments objectively dispense grace to us, whereas, ex opere operatis means that the sacramental grace is received subjectively. In other words, we can go to Mass and Jesus gives himself to us, but we can block the fruitfulness of this through poor disposition of heart. Unfortunately, this is why so many Catholics can attend Mass but are not transformed in heart and life. Theology of the present moment. Each moment of life is an avenue of grace, but the gift of that moment must be unwrapped. “All that happens to me will be food for my nourishment, water for my cleansing, fire for my purification, and a channel of grace for all my needs,” writes J.P. de Caussade, S.J., in Abandonment to Divine Providence. Wilfrid Stinissen, O.C.D., puts it this way, “there is not a single moment when God is not communicating himself…God speaks through events” (Into Your Hands, Father). The present moment is the here and now of God’s presence and will. We are called to surrender the past, entrust the future, and live fully in the present moment, for only in the present is grace available to us. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta talked about the people she served as, “Jesus in disguise.” Each moment offers the same, Jesus in disguise.  The phrase, “I did all the things,” keeps surfacing everywhere. Ironically, the Lord said that only, “one thing is necessary” (The Holy Bible, ESVCE, 2017; Lk. 10:42). In this Scripture, Martha was “burdened with much serving” and “anxious and worried about many things” (Lk. 10: 40-41). She is our mirror in times of desolation and false consolation (Ignatius, SpEx #317, 332). Are we not burdened by the many responsibilities on our never ending “to-do” list that weigh upon tried shoulders in a world spinning faster and faster? Are we not anxious and worried by the trials of life that inevitably visit us while alarming events haunt us? What is this one thing? This one thing is choosing to be with Him, to know His Heart, to enact His Will (as passive or as active as that might be) (Mt. 6: 10).  Dear Friends, Because the question of “how to pray” comes up so often in spiritual direction, I want to offer my own explainer on beginning interior prayer. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of three types of prayer: vocal (memorized prayers, typically prayed out loud), meditative (called discursive or mental, as it prioritizes active thinking), and contemplative (a word with many definitions, though generally passive and heart based) (#2699). Notice the progression. This instruction is for beginners or those moving into meditative prayer since those advanced in prayer need different advice. The word “interior” is preferable to “mental” because it facilitates the transition from head to heart as St. Theresa of Avila’s indicated with her treatise on prayer, The Interior Castle. Prayer is paying attention to God and intentionally spending time with Him. It is a dialogue, or mutual listening and speaking about what matters most. Try 7Rs to begin interior prayer:
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