At some points, our lives can seem an endless round of appointments, treatments, and/ or responsibilities.
Or are you in the middle of crises and tragedies right now?
When we look at how changeable our lives are, how filled with endless crises and challenges, how can we find contentment? How can we find happiness when there are land-mines of grief throughout the year? When life can fold in on itself and all we want is for pain, anxiety, worry, and responsibility to end?
And how can we find contentment in a society that ties contentment and happiness to greater and greater consumerism?
We can find contentment in every moment of every day, once we acknowledge the Presence of God in every moment, and focus, not on ourselves, but on being fully present to God. And God is here, with us, in events, in relationships, in challenges, in darkness, in light. God is here to fill us with life overflowing, and contentment that steadies our souls to recognize what is ultimately important and real.
Another way of saying this is that every moment in our lives is a sacrament - an opportunity for us to encounter God.
Yet so often, we ignore or discount the obvious moments of simple contentment that are our greatest gifts. God is present to us often when we are with our family - Blood, or Chosen - and when we are with our friends. Or when we are with a trusted professional - a doctor, nurse, counselor, teacher, priest, deacon, or minister, whom we can also consider friends. And the people whom we meet and greet in stores, and restaurants. At bus stops. On walks.
How often have you felt dry and bleak and the simple touch of a loved one's hand, a kiss on your cheek, an embrace, a smile, sent sudden warmth, energy, and electricity through your body and soul? How often have a friend's understanding words lifted you out of confusion or despair? How often has someone's attentive, compassionate listening allowed you to speak and make sense of your life?
God works through us, with us, and in us to connect us all more and more closely in love. But - how often do we say "thank you" to those who literally keep us physically, emotionally, and spiritually alive? How often do we thank God that we have them? How often do we recognize that these significant or transitory people in our lives are also sacraments - living opportunities for us to intimately encounter God?
Jesus, the most significant Person in our lives, is our Supreme Sacrament, the God-Man, whom through his Presence to us ignites us, focuses us, rekindles love and hope and joy in us. My Church restores Jesus' Presence to us in a unique way through the beautiful rituals and prayers in which we celebrate seven key, sacramental times in our lives. These are times when, because of our heightened awareness of personal change, we especially can be open to encountering God. These seven sacraments allow us to encounter the Presence of Jesus, whom God has given to us as our Supreme Sacrament, through Jesus' actions of making us His own - through touching, speaking, uniting, healing, anointing, and forgiving.
In faith, we encounter Jesus as we celebrate these significant times in our lives: the Birth of a Child (Baptism), Acknowledging our Sinfulness (Reconciliation), seeking God's Real Presence (Eucharist), Coming-Of-Age (Confirmation), Marriage, Holy Orders, and Sickness and Death (the Anointing of the Sick.)
If we choose an attitude of celebration - celebrating these seven sacraments, celebrating that life is a sacrament, celebrating the people who are sacraments in our lives - God deepens our love and hope, helps us find contentment in the simplicity of daily events and daily encounters. Because we know in faith that "just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy." (Abraham Joshua Heschel.)