“I am with you always to the close of the age.” (Matthew
28:20)
by
Sr. Therese Maria Touma, MSCL
In Going Deeper this
month, excerpts from chapter two
(Freedom and the Present Moment) of the book Interior Freedom written by Jacques Philippe are shared for further
reflection. We are encouraged to take some quiet time to invite the Holy Spirit
to guide us to prayerfully ponder some of these ideas on growing in interior
freedom. According to Philippe, interior freedom requires that a person have
the capacity to live and embrace the reality of the present moment. He affirms
that it is only then that we can truly exercise our freedom. (Pg. 81)
In today’s fast paced and hi-tech society it is difficult to be “present”
in the present moment, and in particular to be attentive to the person before
us. There are so many distractions, advertisements, social media, and competing
voices clamoring for our attention. Moreover, it is easy to get stuck dwelling
on our past mistakes and/or be bogged down by the demands and anxieties of the
future. If we are honest with ourselves we realize that we have forgotten how
to embrace the gift of the “now,” where God is communicating to us his life, tenderness
and merciful love.
I appreciate Philippe’s thought on how the merciful presence of God
is found within each instant of our lives:
“Every
moment, whatever it brings, is filled with God’s presence, rich with the
possibility of communion with God. We do not commune with God in the past or
the future, but by welcoming each instant as the place where he gives himself
to us. We should learn to live in each moment as sufficient to itself for God
is there; and if God is there, we lack nothing. We feel we are missing this or
that, simply because we are living in the past or in the future instead of
dwelling in each second. There is something very liberating in this
understanding of the grace of the present moment. Even if the whole of our past
has been a disaster, even if our future seems like at a dead end, now we can
establish communion with God through an act of faith, trust, and abandonment.
God is eternally present, eternally young; eternally new, and our past and
future are his. He can forgive everything, purify everything, and renew
everything.” (Pg. 82)
In addition, Philippe provides practical insights to assist us to
be aware of the “shadows of the past,” thoughts and attitudes that make us fret
about old disappointments and choices. He aptly suggests that we should genuinely
ask God‘s forgiveness for past mistakes and grow from them; he goes on to
advise that while seeking to make restitution for any injury caused, we should humbly
surrender things into God’s hands with confidence, living in the present and
trusting that God will work everything for our good. (Pg. 86)
When we are overwhelmed by thoughts of how much we still have to
do, feeling threatened by our inadequacies, or paralyzed by the feelings that
we are not good enough, we are encouraged to make an act of faith and hope,
such as: thank you, God, for everything.
I trust in you. Philippe emphasizes that nothing can please God more than
us coming to him with child-like trust and relinquishing to him the messiness
of our daily lives:
“I firmly
believe that you can bring good out of everything I have lived through. I want
to have no regrets, and I resolve today to begin from zero, with exactly the
same trust as if all my past history were made up of nothing but faithfulness
in holiness.” (Pg. 87)
To avoid the mistake of burdening the present with the future,
Philippe suggests that we reflect on the lesson contained in the Gospel (Matthew
6:25-34) about abandonment to God’s providence, and to ask for God‘s grace to live
it. He notes that living in the present and relying on God’s providence does
not mean being negligent or imprudent. Indeed, we need to plan for the future
and consider tomorrow’s undertakings. But we should do it without agonizing or being
anxious. Often this added stress thwarts us from putting our hearts into what we
need to do and prevents us from being open to the grace that God desires to
offer us. (Pg. 87)
It no surprise that things don’t always happen in life as we
anticipate or hope. Philippe points out that most of our anxieties and worries
turn out to be entirely imagined. He writes: “That difficulties we anticipated become very simple in reality; and
the real difficulties are things that didn’t occur to us. It’s better to accept
things as they come, one after another, trusting that we will have the grace to
deal with them at the right moment, then to invent a host of scenarios about
what may happen—scenarios that normally turn out to be wrong.”
If there was one take away point from Philippe’s chapter:
it is to do our best in being mindful of the present where God is, and to be
intentional in putting our whole heart into whatever we are doing in that
moment.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, give
us the grace to be mindful of your loving and merciful presence in each moment
of our lives. May we strive to do your will, knowing that it is in doing your
will that we find true peace and freedom. Amen.
Are you looking for good spiritual reading? We highly encourage you to purchase and read this insightful book on Interior Freedom which can be found online.