​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 following article is adapted from Discovering God Together:  The Catholic Guide to Raising Faithful Kids

​Most people think that faith is something you either have or you don’t.  But research by Emory University’s Dr. James Fowler revealed that faith evolves in discernible stages throughout our lifespan.  At each stage, a person’s faith needs to be nourished in different ways if it is to grow and mature into the next stage. If we don’t receive the right kind of support, faith development can stall or even wither.  Because Fowler viewed faith as a natural and essential part of every human person’s search for meaning, significance, and transcendence, Fowler’s Stages of Faith track with other developmental stages you might remember from your Psych 101 class, such as Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development and Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development. What Stage of Faith are you at?  And what do you need to do to more effectively continue your search for meaning, significance, and transcendence?
 
STAGE 0: Primal Faith (Infancy)–  People might be surprised to realize that babies have faith.  It’s true that they don’t have a conscious experience of faith and can’t articulate specific beliefs,  but this stage is tremendously important because it sets the stage for baby’s view of God and the world.  If parents respond to baby’s needs promptly, generously, and consistently, baby learns the basic, gut-level sense of trust that is necessary to believe that when I call out, God will answer. If parents delay responding to baby’s cries, baby develops gut-level insecurity that anyone will respond when I cry out or that there is anyone to bother crying out to in the first place.