July 3, 2012      Martin Mallon   (Ireland)       Martin's previous articles

                                   How to Live Today

I came across an interesting book this week on freedom, which touches on how to live in today. This led me to wonder how the People of God should live today when there is dissatisfaction with the attack on the teachings of Vatican II. What should we do now while we wait for changes in the structure of the institutional church, changes in discipline, such as priestly celibacy, changes in church governance and real dialogue between the hierarchy and other members of the People of God who do not agree with all the official church teachings?

 Some useful pointers can be found in this intriguing book, referred to above, by Fr Jacques Philippe, a member of the Community of the Beatitudes, titled Interior Freedom. Philippe writes that:  

Our present life is always something good, for the Creator has endowed it with a blessing he will never cancel, even though sin has complicated things. “God saw that it was good,” the Book of Genesis tells us. For God, “seeing”, means not merely taking note but actually conferring reality. This fundamental goodness of life is also expressed by Jesus: “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matt 6:25 )

The fact that our life is “always something good” must never be forgotten; no matter how bad our life may feel at times it is “good”. No matter what the position is with our Church or other institutions our life is “something good”. Philippe advises us to live in the present moment while not neglecting future needs. He writes that “For life to be bearable, we must practice bearing today’s problems only.” He quotes Matt 6:25-34 on relying on God’s Providence and advises us to ask for grace from God to carry out this reliance.  

Naturally, Philippe does not intend for us to be “improvident and irresponsible” and we must plan sensibly for the future. However, he emphasises that we must make our plans “without worrying, without the care that gnaws at the heart but doesn’t solve anything – and often prevents us from putting our hearts into what we have to do here and now. Hearts anxious about tomorrow can’t be open to the grace of the present moment.”

 Practically Philippe points out that if we project our fears into the future that this “cuts us off from reality and prevents us from dealing with the present situation as we should. It saps our best energies.”  

It is essential that we “live each moment to the full” otherwise we do not put our whole being into today’s activities and “so miss graces we should be receiving.” We should also remember that to live today well “God only asks for one thing at a time, never two.”  

We may hope that our church will be better in the future and plan to effect that, but we must not neglect today, which is “good” according to God, or we will miss out on God’s graces which are available now. However, planning for a better church in the future can be part of our activities and our compassion for others today.