THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Offaly columnist stresses importance on focusing on the present
Clara's Ronan Scully says living in the moment allows us to connect with God
"JESUS said: Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than them? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? … So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6:26-27, 34.
In our fast-paced world, it's all too easy to get lost in worries about tomorrow or regrets from yesterday. Yet, Jesus reminds us to focus on the present, where true life unfolds. Living in the moment allows us to connect with God, who is always with us, right here and now. Imagine taking a moment to pause, breathe, and reflect on the beauty around you.
Whether you're at home, in your car, or sharing a meal, these ordinary moments can become sacred when you invite God into them. Cultivating a relationship with God is like nurturing a garden; it requires time and attention. Spend moments in solitude, releasing your fears in prayer, and you'll find His love washing over you.
Remember, every life is unique and special, and your purpose is to live fully in each moment. So, stop searching for your destiny in the future or dwelling on the past. Embrace today, for it is in this moment that you will find peace and a deeper connection with your Creator. Life is fragile and fleeting, as I well know, so make every second count! God wants to free us from the shackles of the past and the paralysis of the future.
He wants us to bear fruit in the present moment. He wants to refresh us, to give us the grace to understand that any moment offered to Him is a blessed, sanctified moment. Now is the very moment to respond to this calling to walk with Him in the present. Living in the present moment is about fully engaging with life as it unfolds, rather than getting lost in the past or worrying about the future. It’s a practice that invites us to experience each moment with awareness, connecting our mind, body, and spirit.
Present in the now
Striving to be present and to live one's life in the present moment, that’s what a lot of people are trying to do, only to find it very difficult. And why is that? Possibly because so many of us are trying to do too much. We get bogged down with anxious thoughts. And who wants to live like that? The author, Ida Scott Taylor, wrote this about striving to live one day at a time and be present, “This is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for its gone. And do not be troubled about the future. For it hasn’t come yet. Live in the present and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.”
Also a highly successful country songwriter by the name of Marijohn Wilkin drifted away from her faith after finding success. Later on her journey through life, at a time of crisis and personal desperation, as the story goes, she stopped at a church for some counselling and prayer. The young priest who was on duty had apparently asked her during the conversation whether she had ever considered being thankful to God for her problems. As she went home and pondered over that statement, she began to play her piano and the words of a song came to her. Needing some help to complete the lyrics that she had written down, she approached Kris Kristofferson who helped her with some of the remaining words.
The completed song goes like this. "I’m only human, I’m just a woman. Help me believe in what I could be, and all that I am. Show me the stairway, I have to climb. Lord for my sake, teach me to take, one day at a time. One day at a time sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking from you." When we are totally in the present, we often feel more peaceful. Living in the past or future, most of the time, can feel worrisome or chaotic. But when we let ourselves just be, for this moment, we are better able to tap into God’s peace. 'Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." (John 14:27). Our world does not give us peace, Jesus does. And when we are present in the now, we experience that peace.
Let’s learn to live in the present moment
It is difficult to live in and enjoy the present moment or to live one day at a time or to be present when you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future. A quote from St. Padre Pio whose heavenly birthday was recently I love to hear or pray goes as follows, "Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry." I
can’t tell you exactly how I heard this quote for the first time. I think it was part of a homily a while back by a Franciscan Friar about the life of St. Padre Pio in the Poor Clares church I like to go to, but I remember my initial thought was, "Don’t worry? It’s useless?! How?! I need to worry!" Then I realized how useless worry actually is. I’ve always known it’s useless, but I still feel it regardless. I don’t want to feel worried, but I still do. I realized this is a symptom of anxiety. I never knew I had anxiety, and never defined myself as having it.
The symptoms of anxiety, like being in a constant state of worry or having restless sleep cycles, were never symptoms to me, it was just life and how I survived life. Worry is a cause of a lot of the problems in our world. It is a warning sign that God is not central or first in our life or world at this present time.
Trust God
In today's fast-paced world, anxiety seems to be a common companion for many of us. Whether it's the lingering effects of the pandemic or the weight of societal pressures, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. I used to think that admitting I had anxiety meant I was broken, but I've come to realize that being human means embracing our flaws. We all have our struggles, but we shouldn't let them overshadow our pursuit of a meaningful life filled with love. Worry often stems from envisioning a future without faith. It's essential to remember that God is in control, and placing our trust in Him can liberate us from anxiety.
As we navigate our challenges, let’s hold onto the comforting words of St. Padre Pio: "Pray, hope, and don’t worry." These simple phrases can transform our fears into trust, reminding us to surrender our burdens to a loving God who welcomes our worries. As we embark on a new week, let’s focus on guarding our hearts against anxiety. Prayer is our most powerful tool. When we share our concerns with God, He listens and understands our deepest needs. Whether through attending Mass, spending time in Adoration, fasting or immersing ourselves in scripture, we can find peace in His presence. I often remind myself to take life one day at a time, repeating the Serenity Prayer to find strength and clarity. Each day is an opportunity to express gratitude, seek forgiveness, and embrace the love and mercy of God. While we cannot change the past or predict the future, we can choose to live fully in the present. Worrying only drains our energy and steals our peace. Instead, let’s trust God with our lives, surrendering our problems and plans to Him. Remember, your future is safe in His hands. So, let’s take a moment to be still, appreciate the present, and trust that everything will be alright.
Try loving and prayer
When trying to truly love and pray always it will entail many hardships and costs. But you have to keep trying. I know myself for I have failed miserably at times. True love when it's for real gets its hands dirty. It takes a chance. It goes out on a limb. It takes a gamble. Love makes a statement and leaves a legacy. It does the unexpected, surprising, and stirring. It performs acts that steal the heart and will leave an impression on our souls.
Often these acts or legacies are never forgotten. I recently read a moving story about Bob Pierce, the founder of an international charity. He had advanced leukemia, but he chose to visit a colleague in Indonesia before he died. As he and others walked together through a small village, they came upon a young girl lying on a bamboo mat next to a river. She was dying of cancer and had only a short time to live. Bob was indignant. He demanded to know why she wasn't in a clinic. But his friend explained that she was from the jungle and wished to spend her last days next to the river, where it was cool and familiar. As Bob gazed at her, he felt such compassion that he got down on his knees in the mud, took her hand, and began stroking it and started praying. Although she didn't understand him, he prayed for her. Afterwards she looked up and said something, "What did she say? Bob asked his friend. His friend replied, "She said, 'If I could only sleep again, if I could only sleep again.'" It seemed that her pain was too great to allow her the relief of rest. Bob began to weep. Then he reached into his pocket and took out his own sleeping pills, the ones his doctor had given him because the pain from his leukemia was too great for him to sleep at night. He handed the bottle to his friend. "You make sure this young lady gets a good night's sleep," he said, "as long as these pills last."
Bob was ten days away from where he could get his prescription refilled. That meant ten painful and restless nights. That day his love and prayers cost him greatly. But even in the midst of his suffering, God infused him with a supernatural sense of satisfaction that he had done the right thing. Real love and prayer inevitably carries costs and true love and prayer always costs. If there is no cost there is no love. God's love always helps us do the right thing.
Love and pray deeply
Loving, praying and living deeply from the heart is not easy. It takes work. Very hard work. It demands self-sacrifice, a generous spirit, great tenderness and goodness and an expansive embrace. It implies the risk of loving and living without barriers and obstacles. It suggests walking in someone else's shoes, leaving behind one's own baggage that makes the walk heavier, and letting go of old habits that become burdens on the journey. It is to speak and act with compassion, kindness, honesty, forgiveness and mercy. Loving, praying and living deeply from the heart is intentional. It does not happen accidentally.
It happens because we decide to live that way. We love in spite of us, even if it hurts. It means going beyond what holds us back, beyond what bothers us about another person and looking for the good in them. Loving, praying and living deeply from the heart is about forgiveness. Forgiving others and previous generations for their actions. And in the case of some of the most difficult and painful situations, loving deeply from the heart also means praying: God forgives us, even though we know what we do. Deep-hearted love does not just contemplate the wrongs that have been done or the mistakes that have been made; it also calls us to active repentance. It says, "Don't just sit there feeling bad; do something to make it better. It gets beyond that which keeps us stuck in the past and prevents us from moving into the future.
At the center of it all, deep heart love and life is a call to conversion and, if we're honest with ourselves, most of us need this wake-up call to conversion. Maybe loving deeply from the heart should be part of everyone's new beginnings as we hopefully continue along the road on this journey called Life. Our families, our friends, our work colleagues, our communities, our towns, our cities, our country and our world need it.
Thought for the week
As your thought for the week, don't ever forget for even a second how very important and how very special each and every one of us are. Please try to love and pray deeply from your heart always and for the good of everyone. In the end, the goal of real life is love and to be present to that love. The measure of our maturity is our love for God and our love for others. If we fail in our love we have missed what it means to be a truly good person. To anyone who also may be struggling like me at this moment with questions and worry right now, I offer again the simple words of St. Padre Pio: “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”
Our God is massively bigger than any problem we perceive. Our God is working all things for our good (Romans 8:28). Our God is merciful (Ephesians 2:4). Our God loves us beyond measure (Ephesians 3:18), and it is impossible for our God to lie. Unlike so many things in our world, He is truly trustworthy (Hebrews 6:18). “Pray, hope, and don’t worry” is probably Padre Pio’s most famous saying. However, we cannot forget about the second part of his prayer statement, which is: “Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.” We can be certain God knows what we need even before we ask him. I feel Padre Pio’s peacefulness as he listens to my worries now as I pray to him, as he listened to many during his life, and he reassures me daily that all my worries are in God’s hands. The saints advise us to live in the present moment with trust and a spirit of childlikeness. St. Faustina of Kowalska gave us this beautiful Prayer for the Present Moment which is at my bedside to pray daily :- Oh My God, When I look into the future, I am frightened, But why plunge into the future? Only the present moment is precious to me. As the future may never enter my soul at all. It is no longer in my power to change, correct or add to the past; For neither sages nor prophets could do that. And so what the past has embraced I must entrust to God. O present moment, you belong to me, whole and entire. I desire to use you as best I can. And although I am weak and small, You grant me the grace of Your omnipotence. And so, trusting in Your mercy, I walk through life like a little child, Offering You each day this heart. Burning with love for Your greater Glory. Amen. As Romans 8:38-39 reminds us, "nothing can separate us from the love of God." Let this truth anchor you in the present, allowing you to live peacefully and joyfully. Let’s cherish today and make the most of every moment. I pray that we all discover the treasure of the present moment and that it brings us true joy, hope and peace. Enjoy the journey of your life, there is no need to rush through life, stop and be present.